Hello again, unfortunate souls to stumble upon my blog for whatever reason. I do not blame you.
Lately, I have had a lot of time to think. I have graduated from undergrad and I am now taking some more classes to beef up my resume a bit for grad school applications, potentially as a osteopathic doctor or a physician assistant (look it up).
In retrospect, I have had very little social interaction over the past five years. I have never had a girlfriend or significant other, I am 22, and I barely keep track of my other friends aside from google+ or facebook. It is rather depressing and I am occasionally curious if I still retain my social skills at all. At times I wonder if I need to find someone else to lean on and support simultaneously, why should I need someone else? I reach the conclusion that I am limited and I need to find someone who understands these limits and accepts me regardless of them and in exchange I do the same and support them the best I can. In the bible, many claim it says "wives, submit to your husbands", which I see as a form of deep respect, not an overbearing form of control. It also says that the husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church and Jesus died on a cross after being brutally tortured and was stuffed in a tomb for three days. Sure he comes back, but after that anyone would have a bad day, at least until the resurrection part that is.
As I said, I am taking classes to beef up my resume, but I have no current employment so my father supports me. I am completely indebted to him in this regard. When the lawn needs mowing, I mow. If he asks me to take care of an errand, I do it. If he wants the cloths folded, I am in there as soon as I can be. His job pays enough to support me and my tuition, but I still feel so guilty about it. I feel that, being in my youth and thus the prime of my life, I should be helping to support him. I plan on shadowing and making the best use of my free time and possibly getting my old job back as a hospital receptionist. I am excited about my classes though. I never got a chance to take anatomy and physiology at my first school because I was pursuing a chemistry minor.
I hope and pray all goes well. For now I am tired, sleep and coffee are needed.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Food Ramblings and Happenings in Egypt
Hey, I heard there was something going on in Egypt and I wanted to have a little anecdote concerning that, so forgive the seemingly random composition of this post.
First off, being a university student I have to take a number of IDC or Seminar courses here seem, in some cases, to be about as random as a moose riding backwards down a hill on skis during the summer following a rain storm made of crabs wearing party hats (possible exaggeration here, but I needed to get this out of my system). That being said, some are relevant to current topics and some to my interests as well. The most notable and pressing one deals with understanding the food system in America. Prior to the first day I had no idea what the class' name was, but I assumed it regarded the food system based on the books we had to purchase. These included titles such as Food Politics, The Omnivore's , and Eating Animals, and Stuffed & Starved. I read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer and, long story short, I am eating more vegetarian fare. I do not feel that eating meat is wrong mind you (do not get me started on PETA), but the issue is how we are getting the animals we eat and what we do to them in the process. Killing and eating them is one thing, it is quite another to expose them to processes that remind me of Saw films (ie: cutting up a cow before it is properly killed). The way I see it, if you do not like the way a company performs a business, simply do not give them your business. There are also several conflicts of interest in how food is regulated thanks to lobbying and other seemingly underhanded political moves, but I am no politician.
Speaking of politics, there seems to be a massive movement in several countries including Egypt that involve massive protests, govermental leaders that seem a little too comfy in their current political seats and very harsh police action. These developments are very interesting and, for those of you who are interested in this issue, check reddit.com, they often post updates on this and are good about staying up to date.
Until next time, watch for the sticky bombs and crit rockets.
First off, being a university student I have to take a number of IDC or Seminar courses here seem, in some cases, to be about as random as a moose riding backwards down a hill on skis during the summer following a rain storm made of crabs wearing party hats (possible exaggeration here, but I needed to get this out of my system). That being said, some are relevant to current topics and some to my interests as well. The most notable and pressing one deals with understanding the food system in America. Prior to the first day I had no idea what the class' name was, but I assumed it regarded the food system based on the books we had to purchase. These included titles such as Food Politics, The Omnivore's , and Eating Animals, and Stuffed & Starved. I read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer and, long story short, I am eating more vegetarian fare. I do not feel that eating meat is wrong mind you (do not get me started on PETA), but the issue is how we are getting the animals we eat and what we do to them in the process. Killing and eating them is one thing, it is quite another to expose them to processes that remind me of Saw films (ie: cutting up a cow before it is properly killed). The way I see it, if you do not like the way a company performs a business, simply do not give them your business. There are also several conflicts of interest in how food is regulated thanks to lobbying and other seemingly underhanded political moves, but I am no politician.
Speaking of politics, there seems to be a massive movement in several countries including Egypt that involve massive protests, govermental leaders that seem a little too comfy in their current political seats and very harsh police action. These developments are very interesting and, for those of you who are interested in this issue, check reddit.com, they often post updates on this and are good about staying up to date.
Until next time, watch for the sticky bombs and crit rockets.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Game Analysis: Team Fortress 2
Alright, listen up. This will be my first official post so pay attention. I have for you a game that, if you have not heard of it, you need to start paying some serious attention to.
The game is valve's "Team Fortress 2", released alongside the orange box on steam. If you do not know of valve or steam, check the links ---v
Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/
TF2 Website: http://tf2.com/
TF2 is a class based shooter that features several different modes such as capture the flag (or "intelligence"), control points, attack and defend, and king of the hill. There are others in development and the game is occasionally updated with new features, maps, and weapons and has been since its release in 2007. There are nine classes which include the scout(fast little guy with a shotgun), soldier(a WWII hopeful with a rocket launcher), pyro(burn stuff, what more do you want?), demoman(a "black Scottish cyclops" that makes things go boom), heavy(large russian with a chain gun), engineer (Texan with an automated turret), medic (healer), sniper(Australian with a gun), and spy(sneaky backstabbing jerks). Each class has their own strengths and weaknesses, as you might have guessed, and feature unique personalities and quirky humor to boot.
The reason this is so fun is because it is very well balanced and it can be fun despite winning or losing. It is largely in the spectacle of the game itself and often the server features a host of interesting people that are more interested in having fun. On occasion you will find trolls or people who are too competitive, but you cannot give up. Some people will try the game and, after a brief time period of getting owned, will quit leaving themselves disappointed. All it takes is a little practice, you can and will get better once you find the class that suits you best and you familiarize yourself with the maps. This might sound like a commitment, but I have had some epic and truly enjoyable moments in this game and I would strongly encourage anyone who plays video games to get in on it while they going is still good (especially if there is a sale on steam, hint hint). Recently they (valve) have begun adding a bit of back story to the characters. These are largely inconsequential but add a rich lore to the game that has almost no effect on game play but still enriches the experience of being a tf2 player.
There are some downsides though. Spawn camping, the act of sitting outside of the enemy's starting room and killing them instantly, is a problem on some servers. This can be fixed by scrambling the teams or simply booting the offenders. There is also the "Mann Co." in-game store. This is where you can buy actual items in the game that would normally take a lot of random drops to get. All this might sound bad, but burning enemies as the pyro or defending your capture point as the engineer distracts from these and often leads to a sense of fun and accomplishment when done right.
The game has developed quite a following and has even spawned several podcasts. Two of interest come to mind. The first is "Control Point". This has since been dissolved as a podcast, but the community is still out there. The second is "Kritzcast". This is still very active and features four podcasters: Tempest, Agro, b00bies (yes, that is his name), and Chronos. They embrace a fun loving gaming philosophy and are willing to get down to the nitty gritty when it comes to game developments and recent news.
So buy this on steam (if you have a computer that can run it), play it, love it. Avoid the 360 version. It is still a fun game, but due to system limitations and Microsoft interference, they were unable to bring the updates to the consoles.
For now, I leave you with some good links for getting into the game. Stay classy and, if you see a guy disguised as you in the game, then he is a spy and you need to kill him ASAP.
Meet the Heavy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QM1eTAwOYc
A funny Medic video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7o2vSzxAKc&feature=related
Not sure what this is, not sure if it is mean to be understood, but the fans go crazy for it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvdf5n-zI14
I do not take credit for these links, the respective posters are the awesome people who put them there. Credit to Valve software and here is to them making even greater games in the future (half life 3, hint hint).
The game is valve's "Team Fortress 2", released alongside the orange box on steam. If you do not know of valve or steam, check the links ---v
Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/
TF2 Website: http://tf2.com/
TF2 is a class based shooter that features several different modes such as capture the flag (or "intelligence"), control points, attack and defend, and king of the hill. There are others in development and the game is occasionally updated with new features, maps, and weapons and has been since its release in 2007. There are nine classes which include the scout(fast little guy with a shotgun), soldier(a WWII hopeful with a rocket launcher), pyro(burn stuff, what more do you want?), demoman(a "black Scottish cyclops" that makes things go boom), heavy(large russian with a chain gun), engineer (Texan with an automated turret), medic (healer), sniper(Australian with a gun), and spy(sneaky backstabbing jerks). Each class has their own strengths and weaknesses, as you might have guessed, and feature unique personalities and quirky humor to boot.
The reason this is so fun is because it is very well balanced and it can be fun despite winning or losing. It is largely in the spectacle of the game itself and often the server features a host of interesting people that are more interested in having fun. On occasion you will find trolls or people who are too competitive, but you cannot give up. Some people will try the game and, after a brief time period of getting owned, will quit leaving themselves disappointed. All it takes is a little practice, you can and will get better once you find the class that suits you best and you familiarize yourself with the maps. This might sound like a commitment, but I have had some epic and truly enjoyable moments in this game and I would strongly encourage anyone who plays video games to get in on it while they going is still good (especially if there is a sale on steam, hint hint). Recently they (valve) have begun adding a bit of back story to the characters. These are largely inconsequential but add a rich lore to the game that has almost no effect on game play but still enriches the experience of being a tf2 player.
There are some downsides though. Spawn camping, the act of sitting outside of the enemy's starting room and killing them instantly, is a problem on some servers. This can be fixed by scrambling the teams or simply booting the offenders. There is also the "Mann Co." in-game store. This is where you can buy actual items in the game that would normally take a lot of random drops to get. All this might sound bad, but burning enemies as the pyro or defending your capture point as the engineer distracts from these and often leads to a sense of fun and accomplishment when done right.
The game has developed quite a following and has even spawned several podcasts. Two of interest come to mind. The first is "Control Point". This has since been dissolved as a podcast, but the community is still out there. The second is "Kritzcast". This is still very active and features four podcasters: Tempest, Agro, b00bies (yes, that is his name), and Chronos. They embrace a fun loving gaming philosophy and are willing to get down to the nitty gritty when it comes to game developments and recent news.
So buy this on steam (if you have a computer that can run it), play it, love it. Avoid the 360 version. It is still a fun game, but due to system limitations and Microsoft interference, they were unable to bring the updates to the consoles.
For now, I leave you with some good links for getting into the game. Stay classy and, if you see a guy disguised as you in the game, then he is a spy and you need to kill him ASAP.
Meet the Heavy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QM1eTAwOYc
A funny Medic video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7o2vSzxAKc&feature=related
Not sure what this is, not sure if it is mean to be understood, but the fans go crazy for it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvdf5n-zI14
I do not take credit for these links, the respective posters are the awesome people who put them there. Credit to Valve software and here is to them making even greater games in the future (half life 3, hint hint).
*Breathe of fresh coffee air*
Ah...So this is what it is like to have a blog.
Greetings one and all of you unlucky enough to find this blog...all 4 of you. If you are wondering about the subject of this blog, well it is whatever I want it to be at the moment. This will likely change from entry to entry, ranging from music, memes, my life events, possible philosophical or theological speculation or discussion, or just something I think is interesting.
For my first entry, I think I shall introduce the readers (assuming there are those that will read) to a video game I have been in love with over the past few years on and off. I am talking about team fortress 2. Until then I have class and a number of other things to attend to. Be sure to play nice and all that good stuff. Oh, and you lost the game.....problem?
Greetings one and all of you unlucky enough to find this blog...all 4 of you. If you are wondering about the subject of this blog, well it is whatever I want it to be at the moment. This will likely change from entry to entry, ranging from music, memes, my life events, possible philosophical or theological speculation or discussion, or just something I think is interesting.
For my first entry, I think I shall introduce the readers (assuming there are those that will read) to a video game I have been in love with over the past few years on and off. I am talking about team fortress 2. Until then I have class and a number of other things to attend to. Be sure to play nice and all that good stuff. Oh, and you lost the game.....problem?
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