Goodbye LEGO Universe, Hello Again Minecraft

So, I gave up Minecraft for NaNoWriMo, and then I stayed away from it up until now because LEGO Universe was ending in just two months.  Well, those two months are up.  I tried connecting to the servers, but couldn't, with text explaining why.  So now I can get back to Minecraft (and also TF2).  I think that the biggest challenge will be remembering what I was going to do.  I remember what I was planning overall, but I'm not sure at what step I was.  For instance, I was working on a runway, but I went over to my other base.  I may have been planning to work on my dry dock.  There's only one thing that I know for sure:  I need more iron!

2012 Resolutions (and 2011 Resolutions)

Well, including this post, I seem to have met my resolution to blog at least thrice per month in 2011.  I'm not exactly in a habit, but I seem to be able to crank them out, though they do seem to get loaded toward the end of the month.  I think that that's due to two factors.  One is that the deadline is the end of the month, so of course, as it approaches, I've got to get those shoved in there somewhere.  The other, though, is that, usually, I'm doing stuff during the first two weekends of the month.  It's that silly leaving-the-house-and-socializing stuff.
Anyway, I think that I'll continue this into 2012, so you can expect 3 blog posts per month next year, too.  I'm considering, though, making a separate resolution of making 4 blog posts per month.  Basically, 4 per month will be a goal, but if I miss it, then I'll still hit 3 per month.  If not for having full-time employment (Did I ever mention that?), I'd probably make 4 per month my only goal, but my life keeps pretty busy, and I don't want to overwhelm myself.  So, we'll see how that goes.
Happy New Year!

Ascension in Brief

Recently, I got a chance to play Ascenscion:  Chronicles of the Godslayer.  It's awesome.  It's a deck-building game like Dominion, but with notable differences:

• no dead cards - Victory points (aside from ones on separate tokens) are included on most purchased cards, so it's like every card is a Harem or Nobles.  
• unlimited actions & buys - One is free to play as many cards as one has during the turn, and may similarly buy as many different cards as one can afford.  
• fluidity within a turn - One can go action-buy-action or buy-buy-action-action or whatever.  This mostly works well because of the nature of the cards included in the game.  
• no repeat attacks - Instead of purchasing attack-type cards to include in one's deck, attacks come in the form of slaying monsters.  When a monster is slain, its gives a Reward, which sometimes includes effects that hurt all other players.  Then, the monster is removed from play.  This would be the equivalent, in Dominion, of having to trash an Attack card to get its attack effect.
• 2 types of currency - Runes basically act like Coin in Dominion, but there's also Strength, used separately for killing monsters.
• The cards keep changing! - Instead of fixed stacks of 7 standard card types plus 10 stacks of cards that vary by game, the available cards throughout the game change continuously.  

I might do a more thorough review in the future; as this one stands, if you're not familiar with Dominion (or at least Thunderstone), then this probably makes no sense.  However, I stand by my review on the grounds that I'm overdue for bed.  Also, Ascension is awesome.

Vampires?

Well, I didn't manage to win NaNoWriMo this year, but I've learned some things, and hopefully I can do better next year.  Speaking of that, one thing that I'm considering doing is something about vampires.  The main reason for this is that vampires have been getting some odd treatments lately, most notably in the form of Twilight, and I thought that it might be nice to take vampires back on the ancient magical beings route, rather than the mutant/nanotech/retroviral stuff or the, y'know, sparkly romantic stuff.
One idea - not thoroughly developed, mind you - had to do with vampires in the Roman senate - or, since they would probably meet during the day, manipulating the Roman senate from afar.  Though, if I wanted to do that justice, then I'd have to learn about ancient Roman politics and the like - SPQR and all that.
Whatever it is, I'd like to choose my NaNoWriMo 2012 idea before Xmas, so that I can start researching and outlining and all that.

On NaNoWriMo 2011

Well, NaNoWriMo is nearly over, and unless some sort of miracle happens, I'm not finishing my novel on time.  I'm still going to write with what moments I have, but 50,000 words it won't be.
Still, it's not the end of the world or anything.  The whole point of this is that it's essentially practice.  I've learned some things, though, that should help next year.  I think that the main one is that I should make a much more detailed outline before the month begins.
Before NaNoWriMo began, I set Steam to not start on boot-up, and I turned it off.  That meant no TF2 for me, among other things.  So, I've missed several weeks' worth of item drops, but I don't feel worse for wear about it.  In fact, I'm considering leaving it off through December, too, especially considering that I'll be using December and January to play the very last of LEGO Universe, which is sadly ending. It'll also help me to avoid the annual temptation to buy XMas-related stuff (i.e., winter keys for festive crates, or whatever).
Meanwhile, I just need an idea for next year's novel....

NaNoWriMo 2011

I figured that I'd mention that I'm planning to do NaNoWriMo this year.  Last year got kind of screwed up.  I don't remember the details, but I recall that I didn't have an idea until NaNoWriMo had already started, and I didn't get a chance to write until later, so there was no way to make it.  Instead, I figured that I'd save the idea for this year.  I've been doing some reading and a bit of outlining, so I should now be ready to do the actual writing this year.  Here's hoping.

On "New" LEGO

I spent a lot of time with LEGO when I was a kid.  Eventually, I fell out of it for a bit, though I'm a bit fuzzy on the details.  Based on my research, the most recent themes before my hiatus were Insectoids and Rock Raiders, which put this around 1999 to 2000.  Earlier this year (2011), when Borders liquidated, I happened upon a few book-like LEGO sets that bore the unfortunate title of "Brickmaster."  I say "unfortunate" because so many things bear the title that it was rather difficult to find any information on those actual products.  I picked up the three that were available due to the discounted price, the fact that each promised to make several models (with instructions for the rebuilds), and the fact that the boxes looked like books, and so would be comparatively easy to shelve and rather presentable (as opposed to traditional boxes which are ... boxes).  I was rather pleased with the boxes, actually, as they're even made with a neat little two-flap system that makes them better for storing the pieces again when needed.
The point is that I was reminded of my love of LEGO and so I went ahead and bought a more normal set, though only after doing a bit of research; that I have income doesn't mean that I'm made of money.  I went with set 8080 because I liked what I saw in the Atlantis theme (one of the books was of that theme, too) and because the model transforms.  I should point out that I also enjoyed Transformers, and, really, anything that transforms.  I have also picked up some impulse packs to get a feel for some other themes.
LEGO has changed somewhat in the last decade, and now that I've looked at the new stuff, I figured that I'd take a look at some of the changes.  Here we go:

• In multi-bag sets, pieces are grouped by model (or part thereof), with each bag numbered.  This is a nice organizational touch that helps when one is assembling a set for the first time.  
• There are lots of new pieces, which are kind of hit-and-miss.  Sometimes, it seems like the same effect could be achieved with existing, smaller pieces.  Two new ones of which LEGO seems particularly fond - and which are small enough to make sense - are the 1x1 slope pieces and the 2x1 sloped vent pieces.  
• They now have Flick Missiles.  These are stud-hole sized rods that end in normal-hole sized asymmetrical snap-in things, so that they can snap into normal holes, but not too strongly, allowing them to be flicked from the other side.  This seems like a nice way to include some missile launchers without having to include those big spring-loaded pieces.  
• LEGO now has a propensity for making helmets with visors that, once attached, don't move up and down.  It's not the end of the world or anything, but it seems to almost defeat the point of having separate visor pieces.  It seems especially odd with the visor of the ADU officers in the Alien Conquest theme, since their visors are just face-guards; at least in Atlantis and Space (subtheme of City) it could be argued that the explorers'/astronauts' inability to open the thing keeping them alive is a safety feature.  
• There's a new type of wheel/tire.  It uses the standard snap peg into hole system.  I have no strong feelings one way or the other.  
• LEGO seems to have added a fair number of large, sculpty pieces.  Whenever I see one, I have to ask whether the same effect could have been achieved with an existing piece or group of pieces, and sometimes it could.  However, in their defense, they seem to make the new ones well and with an eye to versatility.  The big curvy pieces used in Atlantis seem particularly versatile, having peg holes on all three axes.  
• They've added heads with two faces for many minifigs that wear hats/helmets that cover the backs of their heads.  This is a neat way for them to allow a character two facial expressions on one piece.  It seems that one face is always shock/fear/panic.  
• They've added special whole head pieces for certain humanoid creatures.  That is, it goes on top of the minifig, like a normal head, but it's not shaped like a normal head.  I've seen it mentioned for a few things (I just have one - a thug alien in set 7049, the Alien Conquest impulse pack) and, from what I can gather, it seems like they use this when they want a dimension of a head (usually height, sometimes possibly width) to be smaller than that of the normal head.  When this occurs, putting a cap over the head would actually make it slightly bigger, so I see why they do it when they do it, but I can't help but wonder whether this could also be fixed just with different design choices.  
• LEGO has added a new sort of rubbery plastic to the mix.  I've seen it mentioned for the specialty heads for certain minifigs, but I've encountered it in some knife pieces.  Maybe it's for safety?  I'm not sure, but I don't see it as a bad thing.  
• The air tanks on the back of the astronaut's helmet/backpack piece are now integrated and, what's more, they're spaced and enlarged, with holes in the bottom such that they can attach to studs (in a 2x1 configuration).  I like that.  
• This is the big one:  It appears that LEGO has stopped putting pictures of alternative builds on the backs of their boxes.  I miss those, though.  To me, that was sort of the next step.  It was a challenge, if you will, since the instruction booklet never contained directions for building those models.  I knew that it was possible to build it with only the pieces in the set, and it was just a matter of figuring out how.  (Obviously, this was easier on smaller sets, largely because there weren't a lot of pieces available to obscure others.)  This is really the main thing that I dislike about how LEGO has changed over the years.  LEGO, I am disappoint.  :-\
• Oh, also, there are now franchise tie-in lines, like Star Wars and Harry Potter.  I just try to ignore those.  

So, there's my overall look at the change in LEGO that seems to have happened while I've been gone.  Overall, there have been some changes - some good, some bad - but it's mostly the same old LEGO.

Minecraft: Day One

So, the other day, I discovered that the Humble Indie Bundle guys have now released a second and third bundle.  The third one is still valid and, since I now have a job, I figured that I'd go for it.  In addition to getting DRM-free copies of the listed indie games, I also get to play Minecraft for free until August 14th.  Since Minecraft is the only one that's time-limited, I figured that I'd play it first, since the others can wait.
I bought the bundle, downloaded Minecraft, and started playing it, on Friday night.  As I'm writing this, it's Saturday night.  I figured that I'd write about my experience with the game one real-life day in.
I'm trying to play Minecraft as it was originally played, which is to say, without knowing what everything does.  Part of the fun should be in finding out what the various combinations of various things do.  After all, I could always look up later how to make things if it got to that point.  However, there are two things that I felt it imperative to look up:  how to make a torch (to keep monsters from appearing in safe areas) and how to eat food (to restore health).  In the process of looking those up, I accidentally saw how to make a workbench.
My first observation is about night.  Night is rutting annoying at first.  There are monsters everywhere, each of which has health comparable to the avatar.  Dying isn't permanent or everything, but a Minecraft avatar drops some of his stuff when he dies, and the rest vanishes, so it's a matter of wandering back to one's death point to collect what one can, then digging around for more stuff.  Once I got a hidey-hole made, with torches in it to prevent monsters from spawning there, night became more of a boredom than anything.  I go to my hidey-hole, close up the opening with dirt, and wait around for night to end.  Fortunately, I've gotten past that in two ways.  Firstly, by keeping chests and workbenches in my hidey-holes, I can craft while I wait to be able to mine and explore.  Secondly, I figured out how to make a bed, the use of which allows me to skip night.
I've also noticed that Minecraft isn't quite as addictive as it seems.  It's just one of those games where the amount of time that I seem to spend playing is less than the amount of time that passes between when I start and where I finish.
Now, I'd really like to try to make something out of metal.  I know that Minecraft has ores, so there must be some around here somewhere....

TF2 Uber Update

Normally, I don't blog about individual TF2 updates, but this one's kind of a big deal. It's got two major differences from the usual stuff. I'll first cover the relatively minor point about the new item sets. Most of the new items released are part of one of a handful of item sets, but they're a bit different in that the item sets don't have specific bonuses affiliated with them. Instead, the new sets are only linked by common themes and by good synergies.
Secondly, and this is the big one, TF2 is now free to play. So, now you're free to go shoot people in the face and wonder whether you should buy keys to open those supply crates that you keep finding. ;) Don't feel bad for me, though. For my having paid for the game, I get a free hat that doesn't grant any bonuses whatsoever. Hey, wait a minute....

Overall, I'm kind of neutral about this update. New items add some more variety to the game. Also, I'm interested in seeing how an FPS handles the free-to-play model that has been growing in popularity among MMORPGs lately.

Misc. Life Update

I figured that I'd give you guys an overall update on what's been going on in my life lately. If you follow me on twitter, then you probably know some of this, but here it goes:
A few months ago, I got a job. It's full-time with decent pay and good benefits, and it's a steady position. Unrelated to, but thankfully after, that, a few weeks ago, I replaced my old car with a slightly less-old car. Having a steady job, I've also now got a fairly routine schedule, which should, in the long term, help me to get my life a little less ... I don't know, "scrambled" or something. I think that I'm starting to see that, but I'll let you know how that goes later on.
It's summer here in Ohio, which means lots of heat and lots of bugs. I guess that that's not really new, since it happens every year. ... frakking bugs
Oh, but here in the states, Independence Day weekend is coming up, which means fireworks. YAY WOOSH BOOM! Happy 4th of July, everybody!

Artemis

Alright, I'm going to get this out of the way up front: Here's a link to the website.
Don't let the quality of the site fool you, though: Artemis is totally awesome!
Artemis is a video game in which players take on the roles of various bridge officers on a starship. In this way, it resembles but is legally distinct from Star Trek. As a video game, it's a bit unusual in a few ways. For starters, it's a fully cooperative PC game, and as far as I know it's the only one. It's also best played by several people together in the same room. Sure, lots of people enjoy their LAN parties, but here we have a game whose experience is clearly best that way. There are five bridge stations, and up to six can play, including a captain to command the others. While this might sound a bit lame, the captaining thing actually improves the crew's survivability, since it turns what could otherwise turn into a big shouting match into an orderly system of advising the captain and taking orders. And, of course, a projector is recommended for the main screen.
I started out thinking that I'd just go on and on about it, but I realize that, for anyone who hasn't played it or seen it played, most of what I would say wouldn't make any sense. I'd suggest buying a copy BECAUSE IT'S AWESOME and also because each copy has a "bridge license" which is enough to put it on five computers, for all five bridge stations. I also recommend rocking violently from side to side whenever the ship is hit. ;)

Questions Raised by "The Curse of the Black Spot"

WARNING: The following post may contain spoilers for the Doctor Who episode "The Curse of the Black Spot" (S06E03).
NOTE: For this post, I will refer to the "Siren" interdimensional alien doctor thing as the "emergency medical hologram".

1. Why did the emergency medical hologram take men who had mere nicks and cuts? They're not life-threatening, and what sort of triage system involves blasting people across the deck of a ship just to get the guy with a scratch?
2. For that matter, why couldn't the men who had been cut be released? The emergency medical hologram can figure out that some humans in our dimension use paired rings to indicate marriage which, in some of our legal systems, authorizes the spouse to make medical decisions, but even after acquiring several DNA samples it can't figure out blood clotting?
3. Isn't Rory made of plastic? I wasn't sure, after season 5, whether the Rory that we were seeing was the plastic Roman or the regular human, what with time travel, paradoxes, the destruction and rebirth of our universe, the rewind, etc., but a certain conversation in "The Day of the Moon" basically told us that this Rory is the plastic one. That being said, would he even have DNA? I'm not sure on the details, but...
4. Isn't Rory made of plastic? That is, would he bleed if cut? Would a cut even be an issue? Moreover...
5. Isn't Rory made of plastic? Is drowning really an issue for him? Even if his lung cavities filled with water, does he really need the almost constant supply of oxygen that we do? Couldn't we just drain him and make him all better? I mean, at this point, does being one of those plastic people (whose proper Doctor Who title escapes me at the moment) do anything besides giving one eternal youth and making one functionally immortal?
6. And what sort of name is "Rory", anyway? This isn't specific to the episode, but it's apparently "Rory" and not "Roary", which just seems a bit silly to me. :P

Sudden Short Story 8

James sipped his coffee, then shook his head a bit as he put it down. He looked out the window, toward the Gotham skyline, and spoke: "I just don't know what to make of it, Charlie."
"Make of what? You still haven't told me what's bugging you."
James looked back at his friend, took out a cloth, wiped off his glasses, put them back on, and asked, "You went with the light blue and gold one? I don't think that it compliments your jacket that well."
"Quit criticizing my choice in ties and get on with it. You didn't call me out here just to not tell me anything."
"Well, it's just... I don't know what to make of it, Charlie."
"You said that already. Don't try to make anything of it - just tell me what's going on."
"Well, I was doing some research on the early origins of the Batmen, and, I noticed that the comic book fragments and other merchandising from the late twentieth century seemed to be out of proportion to the number of unique mostly-partial journalistic works on Batman from the same era...."
"Well, most of the records from back then were lost. We're lucky to have what we do."
"Yeah, well, to be comprehensive, I decided to look at the journalistic articles from the time, and ... it's weird. It seems that they all refer to some kind of merchandising opportunity - this comic or that film (would that we had them) - but never to the first Batman himself."
"Hmm... That does seem a bit strange. But, with the record so sparse, it could just be an unfortunate coincidence...."
"Well, I figured that I could even out my odds if I looked for information on Bruce Wayne. There'd have to be some kind of record of him, since rich people tend to leave large, if obtuse and ultimately fruitless, paper trails. Of course, he wouldn't appear in the same articles as Batman, since his identity wasn't revealed until two generations later, right?"
"Oh, is that where they got that tradition?"
James took another sip from his coffee, then grabbed a sugar cube and tossed it in.
"Did you find anything?"
"Yeah, and that's when it went from just satisfying my curiosity to.... I found a fragment of an article that mentioned Bruce Wayne. It's funny, y'know? It's one of those forest-for-the-trees things, or it's just so very obvious that nobody noticed it before now."
Charlie saw on James's face what he'd been saying the whole time: that he didn't know what to make of what he'd seen. "Hey, you said that it's just part of an article, right? Whatever you think that you've learned about Bruce Wayne, maybe you don't have the whole picture."
"I recognized the article, Charlie. It came up in my previous search. I must have overlooked it before.... It mentioned that Bruce Wayne was Batman, but the article itself was dated 1989."
"But how did he survive for as long as he did after that? The whole point of keeping his identity secret is so that he's not under attack twenty-four hours a day."
"Did I mention that that was the only mention of Bruce Wayne from that period? There's no death certificate, no bills or taxes or press releases or deeds or anything."
"Well, as you may have heard, there aren't a lot of records from back then."
"But nothing else? It doesn't feel right, Charlie. He should have left a pretty big paper trail, so there should have been something, don't you think?"
"So, what, someone knew that Bruce Wayne was Batman, published it, and then someone orchestrated a conspiracy to cover it up for, what... Wait, 1989? Was the first Batman even around back then? Maybe the record's bad."
"Yeah, that could be - poor transcription or something. Or maybe poor date translation... They used DOS-based computers back then, right?"
"I think so. Anyway, I can only assume that the original copy wasn't from 1989."
"Yeah, maybe you're right," said James, taking a swig of his coffee. He looked into the cup, and then put it back down. "I'd better quit now or I'll never get to sleep."
"The coffee or the digging until you hit the edge of our knowledge?" Charlie got up to leave. "You're not the only one who's got work in the morning." With that, he went out to his car, a sort of dark maroon color, started it up, and took off.
James payed his bill, threw down some coins for a tip, and left shortly thereafter.

I CAN HAZ JOB NAO?

Those of you who follow me on twitter have probably noticed that I've been playing catch-up a lot (as I do), and deduced that I've been busy lately. Well, there's quite a good reason for that: I have a job now. I'm actually employed full-time and working in my field. So, hooray and all that.
I'm still getting adjusted to the new schedule and figuring out how to juggle everything. Once I get used to it, everything should go smoothly. Until then, it's going to be pretty crazy.

So, in conclusion: JOB GET!

I Should Keep Sudden Short Stories Sudden

It occurs to me that part of the reason that I don't get my sudden short stories written is that I end up just taking notes, and then fleshing them out later. The fleshing them out part takes time and effort, and also remembering that I have unwritten stories.
Originally, I wrote the sudden short stories, well, suddenly! But, so often, I get an idea right after I turn my computer off to go to bed, or right as I'm leaving for someplace else, so I need to make sure to write down enough info that I'll remember what I was thinking. Otherwise, I'd end up with no stories at all! D:
I'll try to keep them sudden, and we'll see how it goes.

In Which February is Annoying

February probably annoys most folks for the same reason that January does: It provides terrible driving conditions.
But, for me, February is annoying because it's so short. Specifically, I'm about to run out of February, and this will be my 3rd blog post for it. :P I just spent some time working on another post, only to determine that it makes no sense.
January slammed past me because I'd done a bunch of blog posts in December. February flew past by being so short. However! I expect to make about 10 blog posts in March. I've got about 8 in the works at the moment, and, if I keep getting ideas at the rate that I do, then I'll have even a few more.

I'm at that Awkward Point in TF2...

I'm at that awkward point in Team Fortress 2 where I have one of every weapon, but not the Poly Count hats or the resources to make them. (Well, strictly speaking, I don't have the Degreaser, but I'm not terribly worried about it.) For those who aren't familiar w/ TF2's item drop system, there are certain "Poly Count" sets for some classes, which are a combination of some weapons and a hat. The weapons can be found via the random drop system, but the hats never drop, so they have to be bought or made. The weapons can be bought or made, too, but buying them costs real money, and by the time that one has enough waste material to make them, one has probably already found them. The hats can be made with the crafting system, too, but this takes vast quantities of weapons to do. (For reference, a hat costs at least 3 Refined Metal to make, each of which costs 3 Reclaimed Metal, each of which costs 3 Scrap Metal, each of which costs 2 weapons, giving an effective price of >54 weapons to make a hat.)
If it weren't for the Poly Count sets, then I'd have no reason to even be thinking about hats prior to this point. But, of course, Valve is quite clever about this. The hats do nothing by themselves, but those that are part of Poly Count sets allow someone w/ a complete set to get some kind of bonus! (For example, Ol' Snaggletooth does nothing alone, but as part of The Croc-o-Style Kit, prevents headshots.)
So, the excitement of getting a new weapon is basically gone, replaced with the excitement of getting ANY weapon, since said weapon can be turned into scrap.
Well, on the bright side, TF2's crafting system means that nothing is truly wasted. Even when I've got all of the useful hats, I can still make all of the decorative ones. XD

Sudden Short Story 7

"There was a time when people worked on Christmas Eve. That's why it's an 'eve', you know: It's just the evening before, not the whole day."
"Well, strictly speaking, asking is just a formality. It's more to notify you than anything else."
"Nevertheless, it would be good if you could come in. With the year-end approaching, we'll need your help."
"You sound like you actually believe that," he said with a chuckle. "We both know that nobody has to be here. Heck, give everyone the day off and let an AI fill in. It's not like they're hard to find."
"You know that inconvenience isn't that point. Sure, I could give everyone Christmas Eve off. Then again, I could give them Arbor Day, or, I don't know, August 8th for all the difference that it would make. I could give everyone every day off and just have robots run the whole business! That would defeat the entire point, though."
There was a pause as they both thought on the subject. They both knew why they were there. They didn't want to talk about, nay, didn't want to think about the fact that they didn't actually need to do anything. After all, in a post-scarcity world, there was plenty of value to go around. The 'business' just let them feel useful.
"So you'll be here, then?"
"Bright and early, 'boss,' bright and early...."

Blog Post!

This is a blog post!
I'm posting this one to get 3 in in January.
I just got caught up w/ things and forgot today. Seriously, I had a post planned and everything. I'll probably do that one tomorrow or the next day, then.
...
I plan to do 4 in February to make up for this!

I'm Learning to Cook

Lately, I've had the opportunity to start picking up a useful skill: cooking.
Yes, soon, I will have the power to make not only ramen, but also ... umm... something else that people eat!
Actually, I've gotten to make a few rice-based recipes (long grain, that is; pre-packaged, of course), but now, I shall explore even NEWER horizons! With the recent acquisition of a book of healthy recipes, I shall go forth, and try to cook newer, slightly more complicated dishes!
so, y'know, just FYI