Why I Was Out

So I couldn’t post yesterday but I think I have enough for two posts today to right the scales.

The reason I couldn’t do any typing yesterday was that I had to go to the hospital. Picture some big dude in a black t shirt and jeans walking away with a slight swagger going to the restroom only for them to not come back. The big man who was swaying lightly now is suddenly dizzy enough that without the walls to walk he cannot go anywhere.

Take all that and suddenly everything is spinning all you know is your feet are under you in some fashion. After the retching, the loss of feeling in your arms, you keep trying to push yourself through the day. Day after day just trying to get something started and for it to be struck down again was something that really got to me. I am usually the person that can do something and just over the past few months the only news received was something is wrong and we just do not know what.

Right now typing this everything feels like its spinning around me and if I go any faster then a snail’s pace then I will find myself in a wall or on the ground. Now for a while I have been trying to get some insurance to get checked out properly. Without proper use of one’s arms, without the ability to balance properly, without the ability to even stay standing makes work a touch difficult. Actually I was swaying so much that even working at getting to my desk was an adventure, and work thought I should go the hospital. Really though it killed me because even typing this the spinning has not stopped, but when I sit down it does get a little better. Still cannot move as fast as I had wish, but that does not mean we will stop. We just have to rebuild again, and I have to keep my head up to do it.

It really sucks because that was not the case about a year ago. All this started with a case of cellulitis in my legs. Since then it has been more and more problems that just seemed to knock me back when I take a step forward. Aggravating in any case over the year it took am moment to decide on a picture for this one. Being the wrestling fan and considering that there is a fight club wallpaper on my laptop right now the most sense for stuff I had found.redesign

 

Shattered Reflections -R.D Excerpt

To Be The Best

Jamie was someone who did not really know me. We met through her boyfriend who was sympathetic towards everything that happened as well as playing me in Yu-Gi-Oh. She has wanted to spend more time with him, and thought the best idea was to play the game next year. The summer was coming up fast, and mom was trying to light all of her finances that were joint with pops in to a bonfire. Wondering why I was the one she had asked to teach her, and she told how everyone would ask for different handicaps to play against me.

Others had believed me to be one of the best especially since we had our five on one contest that I still had won. Considering she also wanted to be competitive against him then she would like to learn from the best person she could find. She knew how I would take jobs, and just wanted to spend one summer training how to play this game. Hearing how much her boyfriend complained about me winning nearly every time we decided to talk over the job. Adding the cherry to the cake was that there was no female players despite the group being fairly large when it came to trading card game groups. She wanted to be the representative.

She would need multiple sessions a week to catch up as her boyfriend had been playing for a few years. Payment would be in cards after she felt comfortable playing, soda when I was there, and an open mind. Living a few blocks away from the house it would not that hard to walk there. There was enough cards in my own stores that we could use until she felt comfortable. Each training session would be for an hour minimum. We could go longer if we were both up for it and no plans had to be changed.

Going over the various basics, media, mistakes that were common, how to test a deck, how to make a deck, what you want in a deck, sizes and proportions. After that it turned into how to play the people because the person’s style was a strong variable when it came to preferred strategy. We would have lessons once or twice and sometimes three times a week. We had asked her boyfriend to play seriously against her after the first day of school giving a good test of her skills. I couldn’t help her in any way when they had their game, but I could watch.

Over the summer her ability to learn was on full display taking more time with the difference between the actual game. The difference of the card types working in to combinations were something that intrigued her. Working from my extras after half the summer she had begun to get cards to flesh out a style that was her own. Teaching someone to play that was always one of the hardest parts I found out because when you teach someone one of the things that you would need to be clear is where style differs from technical ability. You do not want someone to just mirror your style because while the teacher has had experiences over their time that maybe the student would not understand. While she would gather information there was extra efforts to go over what was more of style. Doing that she had actually began to feel comfortable with cards that while I would not play could be used in a very competitive match.

Harpies were the cards that she had really fallen in love with. That was a set of cards based around the Harpie Lady all the cards that worked well with were tracked down within reason of cost because one would be surprised how expensive some cards can be. Building her own deck she had asked for some of my extras that were not expensive, but as it was easier for her to use I had decided at the end of the summer to do something.

My tournament had not gone well, and it had gotten around from other sources. I was just boiled at the incident rather choosing to wave off the question. Judging seemed to be a better fit doing it when there was need at some of the smaller stores in the city. People enjoyed that it was more about the players and the experience while keeping things fair. A judge should never have to be calculated on in a game like that because it can ruin the entire experience. Back to the point at hand she picked the game very quickly and to act as the cherry because she did push herself to learn.

Respecting that intensity, and feeling that the game did not have a whole lot of love left. My deck became hers with it all the cards in it that she had hated when she was practicing were now hers. Black Tyranno had been able to find a new home with someone who had found a love of the game which was good enough for me. She wanted to use those cards in the deck in the match with her boyfriend, but she thought better of it. Playing him in a three match series she had swept it easily earning the ire of her boyfriend even going through a game without taking damage making him rage for a moment leaving a smile on my face.

When she left high school she had begun to make her way to California where her tournament lifetime in the state went better in mine, and one of my favorite moments was an email about her successes including a picture from one of her events after a match she had won. The picture showed her field with the various cards that could be called beautifully artistic cards except for one. Sitting in her monster field years after she had been taught was the Black Tyranno in attack mode ready to go. It was a sign of something that made me smile all those years later. Games really can be so magical when you think about it, and getting someone to find a passion for a game was a nice little thing in a world that seems to be bass ackwards.

Newgrounds Judging

One thing that happened in the spectrum of games. Newgrounds actually had me be part of a private panel judging on what games would be deemed the best of the month. I had been playing a lot of games from the website for my own little Youtube channel that deals with free indie games or demos.

(Which you can check out below just by hitting the link here (Youtube)

Playing games to find the good from the bad is difficult but also rewarding because I already have a list of games that should be on places like Xbox or Playstation markets for a couple bucks. I am finding the best values as a pc gamer because despite the venom the term free games can bring there is some mighty good stuff on the market that had gone that path for a little more polish. Some of these games already played and currently being put together in videos. This is about the games for the most part, and while I can be a bit of a goof sometime it is more about the game.

I am finding games that people would not believe you can play for free. Soon I will be incorporating more of the games from different website because a good game is just that, and with so many people mad at so many things in the triple A sector a little look in a different field would be good for some. Many people do not think about such things, but this where a lot of people will get their start and while eventually I would like to do some triple A games that is more of a long term side thing while this is the bread and butter.

I will most likely also try to keep opinion pieces on political or social issues on the channel in its own little series called teatime. Just a basic discussion that I think people will enjoy my points on so I can declare this place to be free of politics once again, and I think that will be a little bit better, because often time there is something so stifling about an article on a subject and, a recording of sound will allow a more free form thought process of understanding in the point and time.

Below is a screen capture of my voting screen and it is was based on originality, execution and fun I had playing them. I tried to make enough time for all of them to get a good fair shake, but the puzzle games caught my fancy more this time. It was well deserved because a good puzzle game can be hard to do sometimes, anyway under this is a picture from my voting. The left is the ballot while the right is the games released this month.

newground

There are so many chance there is some treasure just on this screen, and I can tell you that some of them will be part of videos in the future

My Biggest Problem In Blogging

I thought I should start off with the problems that I know I have doing this blog for so many years and getting some things out to be read. I feel it could be a touch more successful. I do a very small amount of advertising on it. Over time it has always been my biggest problem because I would want to put it in places where people could enjoy it, but on the flipside I don’t want to endlessly advertise it to the point that people are just sick of it. Doing it has to be done with a balance between the two because although I do not have a more focused subject blog there are things that I have learned that can be useful to others.

Youtube is the same way I want to advertise because there I games I find that are really fun, yet free to play. I do some other videos about subjects, but I find that having it be just on one subject as a blog or a channel makes things somewhat boring. There will always need to be some variety to make them really come through.

It is something I actually spent many hours poring over different strategies, and how business works on both sides to get a better understanding of how some may look at it. Putting it all in my head there was nothing that really felt right until while I was in bed rolling around from the pain of a popped tendon that it struck me.

Keeping all those things in mind made me lose the point. Something so astonishingly simple that looking at everything made me want to just slap my head. It will be something that kinda gave me some information that was sorely needed. Looking back, yes some mistakes were made and some things could have been done better, but I do some good stuff. Since I do good stuff between this blog and the channel I need to find ways where I can just take a step back and have more fun with it without it being a soul crushing defeat like so many projects of people tend to turn into.

Time To Switch It Up

I wanted Shattered Reflection to reach 65,000 word wise. It would be on the lower end of things and I can put in enough stories that a good number of people would find interesting. I had pushed hard to make it to 50,000 enough for about 77 pages which is pretty hard to do considering everything, but that was okay. Doing it had done a lot to look back learning little bits about myself.

Fighting under street lights, being shot at multiple times, betrayals and few true good friends. Everything that had been powered through in my life made a lot of interesting stories doing things that some people may not have had experience doing. I was a backyard wrestler, a problem solver, a doodler, cook, and an all around smart ass. Call it the passing of genetic talent when it comes to that last one because if there was anything my family had in the vein of born talent. Back to the point at hand though all the stuff to this point made me realize somethings.

Normally, I do not want to be really cocky for the most part, or I will turn in to a persona that is cocky to comedic effect. Looking back at everything in the format of a book made me really gain some perspective on some things. For all the work I did burn myself out on it so taking a moment away will do some good while I work on some other writing projects.

There is a short story I have been meaning to type up just on the thought of prom experiences. I never had any great ones, but I also am a fan of the sweet romances. Think like Kakashi from Naruto except even more saccharine romance being read.

Also, I have something going on where I may get a camera for the two food books that need them. Finally getting that portion done will make me happy, as it has been on the docket for quite a while. Getting those projects closer to completion would make me a happy person.

October Blogging Challenge

 

A thirty one day blogging challenge has seemed interesting to me. It also sounds very hard to do. Despite everything right now I cannot think of how things would go for thirty days of blog posts. I am going to try though. It never hurts to challenge yourself, except you know when you challenge yourself and it does hurt. I am sure you people understand the point I am trying to make.

I will give myself some rules to work by to prevent cheesing. I want to put stuff up I can get behind whether it is an opinion piece, writing, excerpt, project update, or something else.

Three hundred words is the minimum of things per blog post, and the reason why that is the minimum amount. Going under that would seem to be a post that does not allow itself some substance. If suddenly a ten thousand words or even a couple thousand words post may get a little boring to slog through. If there are going to be longer posts it may be small stories or longer excerpts from some of the books.

I think this will be something good in the long run provided I can connect on the full month of October. The full month will have one post for every day making 31 posts total. This will get interesting just on the part that everything would be. For all of the posts I will try to have as many pictures to keep it interesting. Using pictures that I don’t make is something I have to work on because there are things that could definitely use a picture, but how I give credit for the pictures was something that always confused me. Outside of memes or little sarcastic thing or memes where as long as I am not selling or profiting directly from it.

It is not a job or is it a career?

It is a strange place where people despite all the good it is to work somewhere you are fulfilled at. For artists in some fashion from writers to youtubers. Youtube can be an art for the effort that goes in to it. People try to do things they love to make the world a better place and their is this one critique that makes me want to start headbutting people.

“That’s not a real job.”

People I know who have gotten to that point in their lives I have nothing but envy for. It would be great to work somewhere you want or do something you want and pay the bills. It  boggles the mind how people cannot be down for that. It isn’t everyone who can get themselves to that set up in their lives. Between working somewhere and hating it or taking the chance to get a shot at something much more fulfilling the second one would always be the choice for me.

When people seem to lob the excuse forward when something does not go as expected it makes me wonder why it was even voiced to begin with. According to good old Webster it states how it is a paid position of regular employment.Statements like that make little sense to me except showing the misunderstanding of some people.

It is one of my goals to be in a position where writing, drawing, doing the youtube thing, and overall just creating can get me a comfortable income. From there I want to change the world with business, but I still want to make it creating things that others can enjoy. It is going to be hard, and I know that. Not to play the sob story, but I know that there are a lot of odds counting against me. That is the case with anyone trying to get there no matter who it is. If you have the money to help with that. So maybe others will not think of it as a job, but if it can be done then it is a  better one then all the jobs that pepole hate to do.

If effort on what I want to do while getting paid is not a job then what is it. No, what I think people mean by it is reflected by the statement they should be saying instead.

“That’s not a real bad job.”

Infographic

 

Magic The Gathering – Top 5 Blocks

Magic the Gathering is a game that has been around for more then twenty years. If you believe Wikipedia at this point it has just about twenty-three years being a hobby for people. Each set of cards can be broken down between core and expansion sets. Core sets are just that adding to a core of items that can still change depending to the kind of event. Expansion sets are additional sets made that would often communicate a piece of a story including the creation of characters, places, and the events that would give a little more life then what would be in the core set. A few expansions over the span of a year would make a block and that would be the end of the story there for now. The next set of the next block would start another story and we would go on. Each set would have different mechanics introduced and different characters or stories making a different experience from set to set. This can be harder for some players to jump in all of a sudden depending on the sets mechanics, and how they would interact in the overall game.

Here are my five top expansion blocks. These are my opinion because there is not a set of good against evil and I will try to at least explain them in some form or fashion.

Alara – Introducing groups that are three colors the color combinations are set for the most part but still allow a fair amount of choices for players to work on. The story on this one was that the plane of Alara was broken in to five shards with each shard only having access to three forms of mana which would then dictate the evolution of that area. Mana is something that is particular to each kind of basic lands with five kinds of lands representing a color as well as a specific form of it. Three colors are harder things for beginners, but I found the cards entertaining on the prospect that you could go with a two color or three color deck with plenty of possibilities. Single cards could add a lot more choices in to a deck’s play style. This was released from mid 2008 to mid 2009.

Return to Ravnica – This is the second set dealing with Ravnica and it dealt with the evolution in the guilds that started in the previous sets and with that there were a lot of cards that work with the dual color combinations. Each combination of colors is still represented with a group and a play style that was was evolved from the previous Ravnica set adding several mechanics to the cards in addition to the ten from the previous set. Seeing how the groups had evolved over the years from the previous set added another shot to the arm with dual color deck possibilities. Mid 2012 to mid 2013 is when this set was released making it fairly recent addition. The story between the Ravnica revolves around a maze that must make it’s way through the sections of each of the groups, and how each group will try to help their own runner or spoil the efforts of others.

Ravnica – This was the set that gave dual color combinations for each of the ten possible combinations of colors including different play styles, mechanics, and history for each one. While the mythology is not pulled from a different mythology it has a lot of things that make this a fun set to play. Adding to it where creatures with four kinds of mana needed. The nephilim are hard to summon, but with a little skill they can turn a game just with one showing up on your side of the field. This would have to be the best set for just having fun with a group of people simply because with the variety of styles in these sets one can truly make a deck for each guild and each person can play it differently. This came from 2005 to 2006 right after my favorite block.

Theros Block – Built with an eye on the pantheon of gods found in Greek myth it created a structure of gods and mortals dueling to see who will be able to go on with the various champions. Being a fan of mythology made this one get off on the right foot already. The art is some of the best and introducing mechanics like the enchantment creatures as well as the bestow mechanic turning a creature in to a power up first. It was some of the most entertaining drafts while playing in this block. Draft events were ones where you had to make the deck with random packs of cards along with basic lands. This was released mid 2013 to mid 2014.

Kamigawa Block – Comprising of three different sets with a story line of the spirits, and minor gods against the humans that lived on the two portions of the same plane. Many of the cards pull some visual and ideas from the mythology of Japan. Spirits are one of the main creature types on this block, and for many years this was the block that people knew me for. Going so far for some stores to not allow Kamigawa themed decks in events because people are not happy they were losing. All five colors seemed to be balanced enough where you can build a deck that can be competitive no matter how you cut it. Many times if you ran spirits you had all the tools to run an engine of your choice helped by the Bakus, Myojins, Kirins and more. Coming out from late 2004 to mid 2005 some of my best memories were made with cards built from this era. Multiple choices, the ins and outs of a plane at war, and the entire feel of the set makes it my favorite. It is also a set where I think people can learn quicker then the some of the other sets which is also how I came in to magic as more of a full time hobby.

There are close to two dozen different blocks at this time of writing not including the expansion sets released before the block format was introduced. My bottom five would be pretty easy and maybe another day I will write about it, but reallly the sets define the players and my bottom five show that more then the top.

Shattered Reflections – Rough Draft Excerpt

Kristina’s Evil Boyfriends

Kristina was a classmate who loved being the center of attention in everything. After being one of the last ones to find out about my father she tried to paint me as the same as him. Often dressing in Gothic dresses she soon threw the charge saying that on a certain day late in the evening my form climbed in to a second story window where supposedly I had my wicked way with her. Now here are some problems that the police had with this story.

  1. I cannot get to the second floor of an apartment building thought the window for I cannot climb well with my bad knee. Nor do I have the ability to fly.

  2. I would have to know where she lives.

  3. I would have had to simultaneously existed in two separate locations at two separate times because I was caught on tv at the last family event where we all went to the baseball game.

  4. One of the two of me would have to leave no trace of my existence despite being there.

  5. One of the two of hypothetical me would need transport and neither of us had cars.

The school backed the police making sure there was no charges that could be charged. I did not want to file against her thinking that people would be understanding, and get a view of the whole situation. She had gone to her exes spinning her year to anyone trying to assemble people who would still believe her. Trying to sweeten the pot she would go out with whomever defends her. Asking if she is somewhat open to sex on the first date two of her exes both nodded their head.

A bunch of hormonal teenagers were trying to get some action, and were trying to put me down as the ticket. Standing in the empty classroom the two guys had been classmates, and had heard of the situation with my father. Being the kind of girl that would only date one person it was clear that my problems were going to come at me single file.

One tried catching me in Japanese class while the teacher was out. Tasting the desktop really got him to learn his place in the grand scheme of things. Next in the line up was a second string football player who tried a tackle got too low taking a knee to the side of the head as a receipt. Exes number three and four tried catching me between classes throughout the next day, but their supposed karate did not handle well against kicks to the jewels.

Each of these guys had things in common. Most of them would be what you would deem the Hipster stereotype. Fad hopping skinny kids that never had to fight for anything or even taste their own blood. They did not understand fights, momentum, or defense better then me, and I wasn’t even that good.

Bryan was the archetype and past boyfriend number five with no experience in anything closely related to physical combat. All he had was a couple of tae kwon do lessons who wasn’t even a yellow belt, but still thought he was Van Damme. He called me out when we were both out of class. Between him getting paper and me getting a soda he tried to strike with an over the shoulder throw.

Making use your opponent has momentum working against them would be a basic thing. Getting them off balance especially when they have a wide base would make it a little easier. I was never taught by someone so I may be missing something about it. In any case this guy couldn’t move someone half my size let alone me. Attempting multiple time to get me off my feet without budging my heels from the tiles on the second floor hallway. Pulling his arm worked like a a ripcord spun him in to position grabbing him from the shoulder and his waist band before shooting his weight up before pulling him horizontal before he hit introducing him spine first to the marble tile.

Sitting out allowed the mass to get just a touch more speed before lowering the boom. The sound of the impact echoes off of the empty halls making it seemed like I was using a wrecking ball instead of another human body. He didn’t move from where he landed, and I thought it was enough. Besting someone whose down wouldn’t do me any goo. Looking to the ceiling the familiar sight of a half a black orb of the security camera. Shifting my sight down the hall there was one within ten feet. Between the two of them it had to be captured on video making it much harder to get rid of evidence. Four cracked vertebrae was the damage from that single bomb, and he was pissed. His parents were furious unsurprisingly that no charges were filed with authorities. Being physically provoked allowed me to fight back with any hand to hand technique, and a judge who was quoted in the local paper that after one attack I stopped stopping any charges of overdoing it. Exhibiting restraint in an emotional situation allowed me to be defended legally.

Knowing that you have a brittle back going in to a fight did not make your attacker responsible for the injuries provided they stop when they realize the opponent is no longer able to continue.

The principal was happy with the outcome, but he had also noticed that my issues with other students was noted by a constant hour of detention. Kristina’s whole situation was the icing on the cake while a portion of the student body between what was known about the family, and my own actions were vehement about me.

Our school district had a secondary school where a lot of the problem students go. Various other violent students, party girls, past gang members, and some current ones. The company needed someone to help the faculty, and the learning system was more acceptable to pace of learning. It also meant getting up later and leaving sooner was important because there was still times at night I had to be up.

Giving it a crack for a year it was clear that a possible that I could catch up on credits. What they meant as more accepting was really a self driven learning strategy. Each semester of credit was comprised of five packets of work and a test after each packet. New students had an option that challenged the packet of work. Passing the test with at least 80% meant you could challenge again while scoring under 80% meant you now had to commit to the work in every packet for every class while you were still there. Problem students filled the school from the various party girl, gangbanger, and other violent student groups meaning that business would still be booming.

If someone felt that the work was wasting their time then they would gladly use the challenge often times finding out that they had just wasted their only chance to skip such pains in the neck. Agreeing to go it wasn’t long before Harper joined me for the trip. His own grades were not much better, and after hearing where I was going he inquired about trying it as well. Finding a bus route was easy enough as there was a stop less then a block away all I had to was get there on time and get my work done.

During this time if there was anything that could be found out that would be useful in my opinion then I could use the phone in the office, and just dial an extension. He knew there would be some things that student was more privy to hear then a teacher no matter how attentive the students were. The secondary school had a set of downsides to be sure. Knowing I was not affiliated with any of the drug pushing gangs made it a little easier to swallow with the fact that it was hard to intimidate me even to the point of getting in to stupid fights. One of the pluses that really got my attention was detention would be wiped from the record with no way to get it there. They just did not have the room so what would get detention would just get you sent to the study room making it easy just to get things done.

Knowing my friend would be there made it better Everything was set on me going for my junior year to catch up on all the classes that were just to much work for to little pay off. More business could be done for my fellow students, and I could do other things that meant I never had to go home

People Are Stupid, Me Too

People hate being called stupid. Sucks when people are stupid, and the only difference how much stupid is in that person’s life.

If someone were to go and try to pay their pizza delivery with monopoly money then you would say that they need to think a moment before trying such idiotic actions. You need real money nowadays for everything it seems and there will not be a whole lot that can be done unless trading becomes a more socially acceptable form of purchase. Now, when someone says they are more important in class perhaps when you were a child what would you do? If you went to a good school then tell the teacher in the most detailed fashion you could, and if you went to my school then you get suplexed down a hill while being told to suck it up or there was more where that came from.

People are not logical creatures. Have you seen what we wear sometimes? It is 2016 and we still cannot get a size chart that companies can agree on. Fifty years ago we thought we would have flying cars, and only now it feels like if we did a lot of people would get an express ticket to the afterlife. Can you think of a traffic jam in a traffic way over houses. That happens once, and things will go badly. Plus, you know there will be one person dropping little bags of flaming poo to take that prank to the next level. Because, arson is a prank.

Anyway, sometimes people are stupid we miss the point and meander like a hamster on a treadmill or use colorful sayings without people knowing what they mean. What happens is despite people trying to seem more human by using different ways of speaking we don’t seem to understand it. It is stupid that despite how many different ways we can say it that some people do not understand.

People will be stupid sometimes. It will happen to everyone. If someone says to you that they seriously have never had a stupid moment in their life then they are lying and I would get as far away. The real only difference is being a stupid person or just having stupid moments. Learning from a stupid moment really is the only thing you need to do.

Here are some of the stupid things in my life I have done just to put things in perspective: Tried to start a political party, wore white after labor day, lit myself on fire for humor, tried to figure the logistics of reciprocating light waves at different frequencies to create a new way of power plant, (Possible, by the way.) and expected a government office to do their job.

So what is the point? Despite all the dumb stuff there is good things I have learned from it. Some of the most basic things that you learn can really surprise you when your common sense decides to fly the coop. Taking those moments and still learning from them is not the sign of a stupid person. They just did stupid things. A stupid person is one who constantly repeats stupidity because they do not learn. I will not be hurt if someone looks at what they did and says it is stupid. I will be hurt if someone says I am stupid. Unless I really am stupid? Woah.

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