Not just another NPC - (ds-x2 ver.)

I have soooo much to blog about. A few times I tried to blog last week, but I either got distracted or was pulled away from my computer while writing. So I’m starting fresh today to write about what’s been happening lately and holy shit has a lot happened.

Beginning with the days before graduation, I went on an all-out blitz to complete Earthbound before graduation. For about 2 and a half days I did nothing but play Earthbound… well, I also ate and slept. Point is I played a shit load of earthbound to where I was going a bit crazy. In fact I’ve been having some crazy dreams that I can’t seem to elaborate on. Trust me though, they’re crazy. Sadly I didn’t finish Earthbound before graduation, the last part of the game was hanging me up. More specifically those f^cking Nuclear Reactor Robots spawning everywhere.

After the graduation ceremony I went to Lucille’s which is one of those generic BBQ places with lots of random crap on the walls. However not only is their food better than the average - generic BBQ place with lots of random crap on the walls - but they had a badass blues cover band playing live with a band member whose middle name was actually “guitar”. I kid you not.

When I got home I received a call from my friend Tyler who said I should come over and “party” with him and his friend. I use quotes on “party” because our ideal party is one with lots of video games, soda, and various chips(likely Doritos). It was here that whilst (ironically) not paying attention and stuffing my face with Doritos that I got around to the last part of Earthbound up to the final boss. Then I beat the insane last boss and finished the game in complete awe. Tyler then remembered he had to work early that very morning so I ended up walking home at 5AM. I kinda felt like a zombie… who needed to brush his teeth.

The next day I went to a few other “parties” which was sort of surreal. I was really tired so that probably had something to do with it.

Couple days later I got everything sorted out with Sierra College… I’ll spare you the details, but it was really complicated. I’m just glad I’ve got classes to take coming this fall.

Bought a microphone(more on that here), stand, and some Midi cables. What do I need midi cables for? For my… wait for it… keyboard! Yes that “surprise” item I bought during the mega-garage sale event a couple weeks ago was a 48-key keyboard. A complete steal for 22 bucks though it required dragging home a mile and a half or so. Heck, that wouldn’t have been so bad if I didn’t have my bike to drag along as well. That was awkward - but so worth it. With midi I can make it sound like any synthesizer I can emulate on my computer. Now I have to teach myself Piano… I have some books on it somewhere.

Last Saturday I got a car. Yep a car. I’ll make a post about it later or something it’s too ugly to take pictures of now(getting detailed soon). My uncle really trashed it.

aaaand so that’s basically what I’ve been up to.

Just for the hell of it, here’s this:

Lack of updates you say? Well, I have good reason: I just finished wrapping up High school! Woo!
…
It’s been a wild ride. Lots of memories from the last twelve years of public education. Lots of… horrible memories. Oh ok, and some good ones…

But mostly bad ones.
(I might reflect more on that after I have my graduation ceremony later this week)

Within the last days of school I finished filming my broadcasting project(not actually finished on the last day, as the schedule was really wonky). Now I just need something to import it and edit it all with. However I did manage to take some random pictures here and there with the video cameras since pictures can be directly saved onto my SD card instead of the archaic miniDV tape. I’ve even uploaded some of the pictures to my flickr account.(in 16:9!)

I would buy a miniDV camera or something, but I’ve been strapped for cash since last year. I bought the turntable using money I had in my bank account which I usually never do. I consider withdrawing a bad habit so up until then I had never actually withdrawn money from my bank account and don’t plan on doing it again until I get a job.

Speaking of looking for a job I have been searching for one since April or so - with no luck. Now that school is over though I’m going to be a bit more aggressive with the whole thing. It’s not going to be easy with this economy. There are probably plenty of experienced people out of work looking for any job they can get their hands on.

Progress on Earthbound is slow but steady. I’ve been playing it almost 2 and a half hours each day with the exception of this weekend and Monday so far. When I was in the town of Threed I contemplated making a blog post as if I were right there with the zombies or something:

Hey it’s NPC here vacationing early in the town of Threed! Zombies seem to have invaded the town before I arrived - and after my travel agent sold me this vacation package. Every now and then I have to smash a zombie with a baseball bat to protect myself. In short, the nightlife here is dead…. or would that be un-dead?

Yea I just think Zombies in general are funny. Ever since I saw Peter Jackson’s “Braindead” I’ve been pretty much desensitized to all horror films.

Yet Metroid Prime still freaks me the fuck out.

Last but not least I promised I would post up my first turntable mix if I thought it was “decent” and sure enough I have one which qualifies. I can’t link the thread I made on the DJforums because it’s blocked to non-members, but I reposted it all at inanity. Complete with a screenshot of the comments left at the DJforums which I find inspiring. I must add the music I use isn’t for everyone. Which reminds me, I actually drove a person in broadcasting crazy with my music one day. That is actually what sparked the idea to start filming the type of project that I made… unfortunately he didn’t flip out again despite my best efforts.

Another week, another pair of retro headphones.

Better picture here

This time it was by complete coincidence. Last Saturday there was a mega-garage-sale event in my part of town - basically a bunch of people sold crap in front of their homes simultaneously - and I originally planned to take this time to hunt for some records. Well that didn’t go so well, but I did find these awesome headphones for the irresistible price of $1.75. After some cleaning(these things still smell like the 70s) and some research googling, I learned these cans are actually quite collectible. This thread here at head-fi.org explains the details of why these headphones are somewhat desirable. Basically, these are practically the first headphones to have full rage of sound: high and low frequency response. Plus they look hella tight.

I bought one other thing from a garage sale, but I’m keeping that a secret until I’m fully ready to reveal it. Hint: I need some midi cables.

Besides some last minute school work not much else is going on. I have been playing Earthbound for about an hour a day though. Classic RPGs are hard to sit through these days…

Oh and I have a very ambitious(more so than a game review) broadcasting project in the works. Sadly, filming will commence up until the very last day of school so I’m going to have to figure out a way to import it all and edit it outside of broadcasting class. Perhaps my friends could help me with this. I don’t know, we’ll see.