November Gahs!

Well, it's been a month since my last post. Has anything happened since?

Well, Thanksgiving, which came out all right. And I saw Beowulf, which was pretty good too. I started NaNo... and THAT has been a tad excruciating this year. I haven't written anything in a week and a half now, which means I'm now at 18,000 words with six days left. Ugh! How am I supposed to do this? I have to write a minimum of 5,000 words a day for most of the next week in order to make it...

I'll try to make a push, but I'm not being all that optimistic. Gah. Wish me luck.

Oh, BTW, I have a Facebook account now. If you're on facebook, drop by some time! ^_^

Ah well

Man, I'm exhausted. It wasn't until last night that I got a full night's sleep, and even that hasn't fully ended my exhaustion. Now I've got chores to do... of course, I'm going to put them off as long as is humanly possible (probably until the end of this post).

I have no clue what's actually happening this weekend, but next weekend is Ed's party. I haven't bought a costume yet! ><() I know what I want to be, though, so it's simply a matter of going and getting. I also offered to drive Ed to the airport...I suppose I should call to get more details? I'll do that later. Or something.

Gah, today is going to be so blah!

On the novel-writing front, outlining for Cowboys and Mages is going well... MUCH better than Lucy in the Sky was. The only thing bothering me now is a bit of regret over not doing Lucy in the Sky, and that I've backed away from the science fantasy of Flight 62 to the pure fantasy (or is it adventure-fantasy?) of Cowboys and Mages. It's going to be fun to write, but in the end I'm not really a fan of fantasy stories and really wish I could do sci-fi. I'll see what happens... maybe, if I get lucky, I'll finish Cowboys and Mages early enough in November to leap ahead to Lucy in the Sky. ^_^

I've been thinking more about Flight 62 too. It needs to be edited and rewritten (although, I've decided the rewrite isn't going to be as major as I at first thought it might be) but, I've decided I need help doing so...doing it on my own simply isn't working. I know there's some kind of writing assistance center at the school, so I think I'll give that a shot (although, perhaps I should test it first with something smaller...Man of the Century, maybe? Or perhaps Doravon v. Raynor...

Speaking of my short stories: I still haven't finished anything! I know I can finish stuff with the voice recorder, but I just don't have any time...! This is turning into last semester: all of my time is completely sucked up by work, school, and the TV station...with what little free time is left taken up by either family or (rarely) friends. It's kinda bad news for NaNo... I wasn't nearly this busy last two Novembers. Something is going to seriously suffer this year... (probably TV. And the social life. And whatever schoolwork I'm unfortunately assigned.)

Ah well.

The Return of the Long Forgotten Novel!

I've come to a sudden gut-wrenching, car-crashing, frog-exploding realization: I like writing Fantasy or Science Fantasy more than I like writing Science Fiction. Shocking, I know! I enjoy Sci-Fi so much, but for some reason writing fantasy and sci-fantasy is just so much more fun. Sci-fi, especially Hard Sci-fi like what Lucy in the Sky was going to be, requires lots of thinking about world details and things, which is fun... except, I tend to overthink world building and end up with no real story. When I write Fantasy... for some reason, I allow myself a degree of flexibility with fantasy that I refuse to accept with sci-fi. I enjoy sci-fi, and I'm not giving up on it, but I am beginning to accept that I have an easier time writing fantasy than I do writing sci-fi.

Because of this, I'm (regretfully) dropping Lucy in the Sky. At least for now. I just couldn't make it work in my head...I had a plot line and a world, but I couldn't develop the idea further than a half dozen scenes. Maybe I'll retool it as a short story after November? For now, I've decided to go all the way back to my ORIGINAL idea for my second NaNo... the book I planned to finish before I even began Flight 62.

That's right: Cowboys and Mages is back!

I have a few new ideas to help flesh out the story a bit, and since it's partly written I know what direction the first few chapters will go (I'm not going to copy/paste the prewritten bits, but rather using them as guidelines for the beginning). I'm excited! I always liked the idea and always meant to finish it. A bounty huntress... a werewolf... a private detective... a gangster... a mage... all in the Old West!

With this new direction, I'm sure I can do NaNo now. ^___^

Writing Woes!

Gah, my plot for NaNo is fading fast... and it's not even November yet! >_<() I've been very quickly losing faith in my ability to write this story. Something about it just doesn't sit right. I don't know what... it's not a BAD idea. I'm just getting a feeling that when November ends, if I've written anything at all the result will not be this. Maybe it'll incorporate some part of this, but not THIS.

Crap. ><#

Now what should I do? It's not too late to come up with a new plot, but I'm just so "blah" right now. My brain can't be bothered... which is bad, because I really believe the only reason Flight 62 was finished was because I outlined. Hm... maybe what I need to do is NOT think up a plot, but instead just start writing down scene ideas until a plot congeals. I'll try that for now and see how it works out.

Meanwhile, I've read C.S. Lewis' Out of the Silent, and have started the sequel, Perelandra. So far, it's... all right. I like it, but not as much as I expected. Lewis did a few interesting things with Out of the Silent Planet... he explored people's misconceptions of what an alien should be like and said something about human potential, on top of the usual Christian themes. I also liked how he introduced several layers of "evil villains" early on, only for each level to be, upon closer inspection, no where near as evil (if at all!) as initially expected. My biggest complaint is that the story has an anti-climax, and just sort of peters out after that. Since it is the first in a trilogy, though, I'll forgive that for now and wait until I've read the whole thing before passing judgment.

Finally, I've recently been developing an ASB ("alien space bat" -- meaning, fundamentally impossible) what-if scenario at the alternatehistory.com forums. The premise is that the Race -- the lizard-like aliens from Harry Turtledove's Worldwar/Colonization series -- have been teleported from their alternate 1960s to real life 2007. I've been having fun writing it and been getting some nice praise (one guy said: "it's in the top one percent of anything posted on this website"...!!)

If you feel like checking it out, you can read it here: The Race, but not their Empire, ISOT to OTL 2007.

Don't be afraid to criticize! It can't be that good. I mean, it's essentially fan fiction! ^_^()

I think I zoned out for minute there...

Uh... whoops! I think I forgot a month there. ^^()

Not much missed... just some school. And Aunt Sue and Johnny moving in, and Johnny moving out, and now Aunt Sue moving out as well soon. Oh yeah, and Ed's moving to California. And Halo 3 is awesome.

But, that's all!

Anyway, it's October, which means I'm getting started on prewriting for NaNoWriMo. So far, it looks like this year's novel is going to be titled "Lucy in the Sky", or something to that effect. It's a sci-fi story about a man (Jude) who's daughter (Lucy) goes off to fight a war on an alien world (Gliese 581 c). The war is mainly between the native Gliesians, our friend who we've had contact with for several hundred years, and the mysterious invaders, who suddenly appeared only a year before the human generation ship arrived in the system. Lucy becomes MIA, and Jude decides to leave the ship for the first time in his life and venture to the surface to find her. He finds that the world outside the ship is vastly different from what he expected, with the lines between good and evil much more blurred than he had assumed.

The story will mainly deal with Jude's search for Lucy, the differences between the human, Gliesian, and invader socio-biologies, and a the question of who is right and who is wrong in this conflict. I already know the ending (well, at least the grand finale at least), so I know what I want to work toward.

In the mean time, I'm trying to finish my short story Man of the Century. Hopefully, it'll be done by the end of the week.

Old Friends

Yesterday was great! I hung out with Darrell for the first time in a year and a half. Other than the ponytail/goatee thing, he hasn't changed much at all. It felt great seeing everybody again, I really have to make sure I get there more often. This does leave the odd conundrum of my having three groups of friends, all of which are 20 to 30 minutes away and all in completely different directions (Matt & co are north, Ed & co are east, and Darrell & co are south). Gah! Why can't these things be simpler? Maybe I can convince them all to just move into the McMansion down the street...

Meanwhile, my Dad had a reunion with his old bandmates. I don't know how it went yet (they came back after I went to bed), but I do know that my Dad needed this... he almost never talks to his friends anymore, and considering all the crap he tries to deal with all the time, he really needed this.

I'm not looking forward to this week. They're moving me back down to QC in work, which I would complain about if what I had to say actually mattered to any of my bosses. So, this week promises to be filled with tedious, mind-numbing, and unfulfilling work. Honestly, I'm grow more and more unsatisfied with the job again... I just don't really want to be doing this anymore, but I can't afford to stop. I can try looking for a new job, but... I don't know if I can find one that pays like this (meaning, above minimum wage) or better, or even if I can find one that actually has something to do with my career at all. I'd like to find an internship, but I've done nothing to further that goal.

Sigh.

School starts in a couple of weeks, which means my time is going to be wonderfully diced up among school, work, and what little social life I have. And, somewhere in between all of that, I have a book to write in November. Ah well. It begins again!

School Woes

Well, I got screwed over again today. Turns out my dad never filled out the paperwork for our PLUS loan, so when the school didn't get paid they canceled all of my classes. It's not all bad, though... now that we've gotten this all straightened out, I've had to reschedule. My new schedule is WAY better than my old one! So, it all works out.

Wow.

That's all that happened this week. That's sad. =/ I really need to find something to do. Something like... Paintball. There's an idea! I wonder if anybody would be interested in a paintball roadtrip some weekend soon? I need to ask around...

So, I saw Stardust

Again, today's been blah. I've done absolutely nothing.

Last night though! =D I hung out with Matt (and some guy named Pablo... O.o) We got some food, then we saw that fantasy movie Stardust. Now, because Aaron got my hopes up, I went in expecting something pretty good. What I got was... okay. I don't think it's worth shelling out the $8. Hell, I wouldn't even rent it. Maybe if somebody else had it and said they wanted to watch, I might try it again. Even better, if it was on TV. Yep, just wait until it comes out on TV.

It wasn't a bad movie, not at all. It was a charming little movie, actually. But, it's not one I'd watch more than once and, if you can avoid spending money to see it, do so. It felt like... it was a fantasy adventure, but not an epic fantasy adventure like Lord of the Rings or Narnia... I'd say it was a big kid's fantasy adventure. Not mature enough for adults (or teenagers either), but definitely too mature for little kids. Think preteens here.

If you really like Fantasy, give it a shot I guess. I'm more of a sci-fi fan, so it didn't quite work for me, but if you're more of a fantasy fan you'll probably enjoy it a lot. It has witches, and magic, and back-stabbing princes, and airship pirates (yes, you read that right). About the only thing that really threw the movie off IMO was De Niro, who felt horribly miscast. Seriously. The movie takes place in a mystical kingdom that links to Victorian England. EVERYBODY talks in an English accent... except De Niro! His character talks in a Bronx New York accent, with no explanation at all! No imagine him trying to talk like one of the pirates from Pirates of the Caribbean.

Are you cringing yet? Oh, it gets worse. But, I won't spoil that one for you... I was legitimately surprised (and at the same time totally HORRIFIED) by his character's big twist. Want to find out? Either Google it or watch it yourself. =P

Anyways, that's that. Until next time!

Pretty Maps! And ACTION!

Well, I've decided to cut the usual monotony off at the pass and have made some plans for later on with Matt. What plans? Um... honestly, I don't know. Plans to make plans? Whatever. At least I'm not going to be on here playing EU2 AGAIN.

So, as I do every so often, I've got an urge to write some fan fiction. Well, technically it's semi-fan fiction, as a large portion of it is supposed to be original. And, of course, I've managed to come up with an idea that would be better suited to a novel than a short fun piece, so I'm stuck. ^^()

I'm calling the idea "Africa Has Gone Mad"... the basic premise is that, on August 13, 2007, 10:12 A.M. East Africa Time, every African country that observes East Africa Time (except Madagascar) is suddenly enveloped in a bright light... and replaced by the same region, from November 13, 2552, in the Halo universe (during this time, Earth is embroiled in a second battle with the Covenant in this area). One hour later at 10:12 A.M. Central Africa Time, before anyone has a chance to figure out what has happened, a SECOND flash envelops all of the African countries that observe this time. Egypt and Libya are replaced with the same region from October 13, 1970... in the Worldwar/Colonization universe. The rest is replaced by the same region from real world October 13, 1970. One hour after that, a THIRD flash envelops every African country that observes 10:12 A.M. West Africa Time, replacing all except Tunisia and Namibia with the region as it existed on September 13, 1898. Finally, at 10:12 A.M. Greenwich Mean Time, Western Africa is replaced with the region as it was on August 13, 1325.

Now the rest of the world is left to make sense of the mess. =D So far, my biggest concern is the Covenant forces... I'm trying to find a way to stop them from plowing the planet over. Hm. Maybe I should just post this on AH.com as a WI? I'll come up with something.

It's also occurred to me that, while I keep talking about my EU2 campaign, I haven't been able to really help people visualize what I'm doing. So, here's a map of my country, Tuscany:

It's a little confusing, because there are three brown countries bordering each other in Italy, but: Milan = Dark Brown, Tuscany = Brown, and Genoa = Light Brown. My capital is Florence, and I control most of central Italy from Romagna to Naples, with the glaring exception of Rome which remains apart of the Papal States (State? I took everything but Rome from them).

My goal is to eventually annex Milan, Genoa, and Venice (which has considerably shrunken from the big empire it was only 20 years earlier), thereby uniting Italy into a single, potentially super-powerful, state. I plan to accomplish this before 1600.

Anyways.

Watch me get my ass kicked playing paintball last year! ^_^()

The Campaign against the Mushroom Kingdom Continues

Well, this week was kinda 'blah'. I spent most of the time going to work, and then basically wasting time afterwards. On Thursday, my Mom went to the doctor and got some scary news... I don't think there's anything to do about it now, except wait for the doctors to run their tests and find out the truth... but, that pretty much killed that night.

In the meantime, I'm still playing Europa Universalis 2. It took me a while to get past 1441... every time I started to play, something idiotic happened that set down a path of total destruction. In one game, Helvetia refused to make peace with Austria, leading to an Austrian invasion of Milan. After Milan became Austria's vassal, I decided to annex them... which destroyed my economy utterly, forcing me to disband my military and leaving me open for invasion by (depending on the attempt) Tunisia, Algiers, Austria, or Venice. I finally have gotten past that point though. It's 1466 and I've been at peace for about 20 years.

I downloaded a program that will eventually let me transfer my game into Victoria (same game idea, only set between 1836 and 1935). I've tried it a couple times so far, and the transferred 1466 game lists my country as being one of the Great Powers! O_O (I'm the weakest of the Great Powers, but still...)

Now, I'm left wondering what to do this week. I'm bored of just sitting around my house every day after work (I didn't even babysit Taliyah this week...) Maybe I should call Ed or Matt (after I call Emma, though, I keep forgetting to return her call from Thursday).

Oh yeah, one more thing:

I'm Doge of Italy!

This weekend was pretty dull... not much of anything happened. I did see the Simpsons movie on Friday, but... eh. It was funny, but I didn't really care too much for it. *shrugs*

Besides that, the only other thing I did was play Europa Universalis 2. I played as Tuscany and tried to unify Italy... which I mostly succeeded in, thanks to playing it on Very Easy. By the time I stopped in 1441, I had annexed Siena, Naples (minus Apulia, which went to Genoa), took Romagna and Marche from the Papal States, and had formed an alliance with Genoa, Milan, Helvetia (AKA Switzerland), and the Papal States (?!) against Austria.

Yeah, I conquered most of Italy in less than 22 years. I think next time I'll set the difficulty a little higher. ^^()

Hm. I'm not doing anything this weekend as far as I know. I wonder if certain peoples would like to get together...?

Giant Mutant 7-year-old Rampages Through South Korea!

Wow. This has been a sparse month, hasn't it? The truth is, not all that much has been happening here... yet, I've still been busy. I'm working the outline for the second draft of Flight 62, which is going well despite the writer's block that struck after I wrote ~20 new scenes. I still need more to boost the wordcount to what I want and to fill in all the little gaps I keep noticing. The other reason I've gone dark is my cousin Taliyah, who I've been babysitting for 2-3 hours every afternoon after work. She's 7. I'm exhausted. >.>

Despite all that, I managed to watch The Host, a South Korean monster movie. It was good! If you like creature features, not necessarily Godzilla-type stuff but at least movies like Jaws or Anaconda, you'll enjoy this. It's written and made well, and the SPFX (creature design by WETA, and the CGI by the same guys who did The Day After Tomorrow) are on par with anything Hollywood can churn out.

Thank God it's Friday, though. The last couple of weeks have been TIRING. -.-

If anybody has called me recently, I'll call you back later today... between work and outlining and babysitting, I haven't been turning my phone on much this week.

That was a long commercial break, eh?

I'm alive! Again! =D

Here's a quick rundown of things that have happened since I last posted:

• July 2: Finished my book! WOOT! XD
• July 3 and 4: Cousins slept over and two days of BBQing for the holiday. And fireworks! Oh yeah, and I saw the most AWESOME movie of the year: TRANSFORMERS!! XD
  
• July 7 to 10: Vacationed in Seaside Heights. More beach, more boardwalk = yay! Unfortunately, my dad wasn't feeling too well the whole time. = /
• July 11: Alan's surprise birthday party in New Rochelle. It was fun! I played beer pong (although I didn't drink any beer... Ed drank my half ^^() ), and saw Candice and Monica for the first time in over a year, and saw Rob, Adam, and Alan for the first time in a while.
  
• July 12: Saw Knocked Up with Kim, Mike, Tess, and Peter. It was funny... it reminded me of Nine Months, only the mother is the one who panics, not the father. And they're not married.
  
• July 13: FRIDAY THE 13TH1! Run for you lives! O_O
• July 14: Hung out with Ed and Candice again, and played Ed's Mad Jack board game. It was great! It feels like something completely new... I can't think of a single game like it

Yesterday, I finally hunkered down and started to read Flight 62. I've read the first nine chapters so far, and here's how it's turned out:

(SPOILER ALERT! IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS, DON'T READ AHEAD!)

If you don't care, by all means, highlight the following:

Prologue: Okay. It was a dream sequence, but isn't anywhere near as good as the dream sequence in chapter 7. The main problem here is that the writing became VERY repetitive very fast. It felt like I was reading "She did this" and "She did that" over and OVER again. I'm going to hold on to it, because it details Leslie's first prophetic dream and I might be able to use those details later.

Chapters 1 through 4: MUCH better than I feared. The first three and a half chapters are very exciting. I found myself LEAPING for the next page! This turned out so well that I'm now forced to reconsider removing the hijacking storyline, since removing that might ruin the high-intensity suspense the first few chapters have. Things significantly slow down in the second half of the fourth chapter, sensible since its the aftermath of the battle and excusable because, due to some planned jumbling, its probably going to be cut.

Chapters 5 through 7: HERE is where the story turned to crap. This is the Qikiore story arc, and I'm going to cut almost all of it. There are some significant things that happen... I introduce the villains at the start of chapter 5, I have a neat scene with Sharif and the passengers, Leslie and Sharif start to become friends, and then chapter 7 in general is pretty good. Besides those scenes though (and the POV in chapter 7's second half), I'm cutting it. When it isn't poorly written filler, it's just mindless info-dumping that I refuse to tolerate.

Chapters 8 and 9: Better than the last few chapters, but kinda slow. Not much is happening here... I change the setting, I introduce William, and I develop the Leslie/Sharif friendship some more. I think the most interesting scene so far is the argument between Sharif and his uncle, which I know is only the beginning of bigger problems for those two.

[/SPOILER ALERT]

Well, I'm off to read some more. G'night! ^_^

Triumphant Return!

I've returned from Wildwood! Yay! ^_^ It was a good vacation: I got a tan, I realized that Wildwood is not only 3x as far from my house, but also 3x the size (5 piers v. 2 piers at Seaside, ~ 1/2 mile wide beach, at least 3x the size of Seaside's beach), and, most importanly, I had fun. That, and I got hit on. She'd been drinking, but she was still fascinated by me. Nothing happened, though... once again, foiled by my naive chivalry. >_<() Anyways, this week I saw Live Free or Die Hard and Ratatouille. Die Hard was a fun action movie and pretty much met my expectations. Ratatouille was phenomenal! Just as great as most of Pixar's other works... I highly recommend it. ^_^

I still haven't actually finished Flight 62. It's my fault really... every opportunity I have, I keep putting it off. I want to give it a shot today, though... if I can finish, I can give the rough draft to Dan to start beta reading for me tomorrow while we're in Pennsylvania. With that out of the way, I can start focusing on some of my other projects and (maybe, possibly, hopefully) getting something actually published.

By the way, every so often I get mailed something that misspells my last name (Cwiakala, the spelling of which has been described as the result of "sneezing letters onto a page") in a VERY amusing way. Recently, I received some junk mail that spelled my name:

"Paul Cuialcola"

O_o XD

ARRGH! >_<#

Sometimes, my job REALLY pisses me off.

Apparently, I'm the most valuable person in the company. Why? I don't know. Maybe because I can type, and something like 90% of the people there can't. I'm okay with that though. I'm being unclear, let me explain better:

For a lot of my 6 years at this company, I've worked in Quality Control. Not exclusively, and its never been my main position, but there have been long periods where I was working there. I don't like it. I don't like working in that department because the work they give me makes me feel absolutely RETARDED. I put files away. I make photocopies. I stamp papers and copy down numbers. I connect wires to these plastic boards so OTHER people can test them. I cut tie wraps and run menial errands. RARELY do they ask me to actually inspect a part.

Last year, the QC Manager begged my father (the Assembly dept. Manager) to convince me to start work THREE WEEKS earlier than I had planned, because she "desperately needed me there". Seeing to reason not to believe what she said, my Dad talked to me and I reluctantly agreed, for the same reasons. I started work at 7 a.m. on the Monday after my last final. They ran out of work for me before 10 a.m.

-_-#

It wasn't until two WEEKS later (during which time I ended up splitting my time between my father's department and Stock Room) that they came back to me with more work. What was this job that was so important? An Internal Audit, which sounded so important... I'm not going to go into the details of what actually happened there, for certain reasons.

Earlier this week, the QC Manager went to the Engineering Manager and told him that one of her employees was going to be out for most of the week. She wanted me as a temporary replacement. That's where I've been for the last week, which is okay... except that the person who was out came back today and QC seems entirely uninterested in letting me go back and do my ACTUAL JOB in upstairs. In fact, they laugh and tell me to "forget all about that".

>= (

I don't appreciate being dragged away from what I'm doing, especially when I consider that fairly important, to do meaningless busywork. How exactly am I replacing someone by doing stuff that I know FOR A FACT that they DO NOT DO? I'm flattered that they want me so bad that they conjure up ways to pull me away from new assignments, but there's a reason I haven't made any effort to go back: I DON'T WANT TO. I would rather remain upstairs doing what I've been doing for TWO MONTHS.

Luckily, I think I've found an out: next week, I'm going to be gone for the first few days on vacation down the shore (YAY! ^_^). When I come back on Thursday, I'm going to go back upstairs and get started on a BIG project. This way, I'll say: "well, I didn't think you still needed me, so I went back up. I can't go by you now, I'm very busy." Unfortunately, I suspect QC plans to give me a very big job right before the end of the day tomorrow, something they know I can't finish by the time I leave... and then, they'll let it sit there until Thursday and make me go back and finish it then, just in time for a bunch of new meaningless busywork.

I need to get out of that department.

Father's Day + MORE Gliese 581

Well, today's Father's day and everybody's coming over again. I'd rather not go into yesterday... it was generally fun, with a few short bouts of idiocy from a certain relative. But, that's not really what I want to talk about.

Here's a thought I had:

In 1977, the Big Ear radio telescope picked up a signal of unknown origin on a frequency that is not used by any country or organization on Earth, nor does it match any other common signal that could be mistaken for extraterrestrial. As far as anyone can tell, this signal originates from outside the solar system. Also, no one has been able to pick up the signal again, making it a unique event.

Read more about it at the Wikipedia page, which has a link to a MUCH more detailed report on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow_signal

Now, the thought: what if this IS an alien broadcast? If so, where was the point of origin? As it stands, since we don't assume it's alien, we have no idea where. BUT, if it IS alien, I have an idea: let's assume that this signal is a response to Earth's space signals, the earliest I believe was a TV broadcast of the 1936 Olympics.

If our neighbors got the broadcast of the Olympics as soon as it reached them, simple math can deduce distance from Earth:

1977 - 1936 = 41 years

41 / 2 = 20.5 lightyears

Again, a quick Google search brings up a list of stars that are about that far. Guess which happens to top the list?

GLIESE 581!!

I may be seeing something that isn't there, but don't you think it's an amazing coincidence that the first potentially habitable system we've found (which apparently has TWO potentially habitable planets... according to Wiki, there's a thus-far unconfirmed Gliese 581 d which would be on the far end of the habitable zone) also happens to be at the right distance to receive our 1936 broadcast and then respond by 1977?

On another note, I'm participating at a DBWI (Double Blind What If) at alternatehistory.com where civil war has broken out in the "Christian Socialist States of America". The premise is simple: people are attempting to overthrow the theocratic government and restore the old United States. I like the idea a lot, and I've been presenting myself as, well, myself... only I've joined a pro-US militia and, after helping kick the socialists out of New Jersey, I've crossed over into Delaware to continue the fight. If you want to check it out, its over here.

Finally, I think I'm going to get a chance to play test Hard Power again today (my Mom convinced me not to bring it with me to PA yesterday. Of course, everybody wanted to play. ><#), but at the same time I know my cousin John is bringing over a bootleg of 28 Weeks Later to watch... gah. Well, we'll see what happens.

I got a raise!

Yep! I'm now on salary and making $314 a week! ^_^ I just got my first new check today, so I'm all kinda giddy. I'm also really happy that my second play test of Hard Power went so well. It was a three player game: Ed (Peru-Bolivia) v. Rob (Angola) v. Me (Northern United States). Ed won (again), but it was really fun to play and exciting to see play out so PERFECTLY. The only snag I really noticed was Ed gaining such a tremendous advantage from successfully attacking my Home territory, so that'll have to be addressed. I'm going to attempt to put together a 4 player game this weekend while in Pennsylvania... I don't know how successful that'll be but, at least I can try. Either way, I still want to play a 4 player game with Ed, Rob, and Jose (if only because I'm sure the combined might of TWO Hispanic men can overpower ungodly force that is Emperor Turner).

On another note: OMIGODTHISJALAPENOPIZZAISHOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!! O.O

Making Flags is Fun!

I've always had an interest in flags. I don't know why, they've just always been cool to me. Just like game making and sketching, every so often I'll design a bunch of flags. Usually, they suck. This time, though, I decided to go in with a specific goal/theme: to create a flag to represent my family. The original plan went along the lines of:

"Wouldn't it be cool if I could find my family's coat of arms and then put it on a flag?"

Since it's proved more or less impossible to find the Cwiakala coat of arms (short of spending a whole lot of money), I decided to just play with the idea until I came up with something. Up until today, the basic design I was going with was this:











Yeah. It sucked.

Today, though, I had a stroke of genius: why not use the PRADO coat of arms? For those who don't know, my mother's maiden name is Prado... which is a HUGE family in Spain that's had hundreds of famous/noble members. Now, I've come up with three designs I like a lot:





Yay! ^_^ Now I'm trying to decide which I'll put down the money to actually get made. I might end up making more designs (I have three more that I just didn't like much) in order to try accommodating my cousins Danny and Steven, who are the OTHER Cwiakalas... but are, rather than Dominican, Irish. If I could just figure out how to add some orange...

2001: An Odyssey of Nostalgia

You know, the Internet is a lot different now than it was when I first started logging on back in 2001. Back then, when I wanted to look for anime MP3s, it only took a quick search before I found what I wanted, usually on the front page. Today, it feels as if it's next to impossible to find MP3s just on some guy's fan site... instead, everybody's uploaded all of the worthwhile stuff onto Limewire or Bit torrent. It's just a little frustrating for somebody like me, who never got into the whole file-sharing thing.

I also notice that the Internet looks a lot different than it used to. Back then, it was a gargantuan jungle... a vast unknown. Today, it feels... I dunno, it's lost that exotic mystique it once had. Maybe it's because of my time at Iona, with me developing a life away from my computer, that did it... but... I dunno. Nothing on the Internet feels like it did back at the beginning.

I've managed to recapture a few things. I play Counterstrike again, which is awesome. I've found a relatively stable message board I can be a regular member of. For a while, Digimon was back and I watched that, and in the fall Gundam will be back for me to enjoy. Despite all of that, though, it's not the same and my life feels distinctly different from what it felt like back then. I don't know why I'm having nostalgia for 2001... early high school was not the best time of my life. But, when it came to my existence on the Internet... there was just something special about that time that, somehow, I've managed to lose over the years.

Maybe it's partly because, now that I'm 21 and nearing the end of college, it's slowly donning on me that my childhood really is over. I'm an adult now. I have a job, I (sorta) pay taxes. I've even starting thinking about when I should start seriously looking for a place of my own. And then there's my wholly unspectacular love life, which I'd really like to breathe SOME life into at some point (preferably before 25, at which point I assume my lack of any real romance will start to become a serious problem -- assuming it hasn't already).

2001 and early 2002 was a golden period for me... I felt like I belonged to a real community and I was expressing myself in ways I'd never considered before. I dunno. Just nostalgia, I guess.

In OTHER news, I'm heading over to New Rochelle tomorrow to visit Ed. If all goes according to plan, we'll have the very first play test of my board game, which is effectively finished now. I can't wait to try it out! My only serious concern at the moment is that, since I haven't really made pieces for it yet, I have to use Risk pieces... and that limits me to only 3 players due to each player having 4 unique pieces (since Risk players have 3 pieces, I have to borrow 1 from each of the other 3 in order to have enough for 3). For larger games, I'll have to come up with something else. I expect things to go well, although I honestly have no clue how it'll actually work out.

I keep my hopes high! =D

$100 a day for NO work!

I made $200 this weekend! =D I helped campaign for some Republican guy running for state senator (not an issue for me, considering he was campaigning for the Primary, which only helps determine which candidate gets the Republican nomination, not who actually gets the seat). This was mostly in the Franklin Lakes and Oakland area... which was TERRIFYING. Those houses were the size of castles, their lawns bigger than the park behind my house, and their driveways so long that I couldn't see the house or STREET when standing in the middle! We had to DRIVE to get the house next door! And this wasn't in the country side, because as soon as you left the neighborhood you were back in suburbia. It was bizarre. I just couldn't help wondering: what are these people trying to make up for by having such big houses and big pieces of property?

Also, what are these people afraid of? They live in one of the safest towns in the country, but they have crazy security doors, cameras, and call boxes. Most didn't have a normal doorbell, assuming they had one at all! And ALL of them had dogs. BIG dogs.

I've decided I will never live in a big mansion in a town like that. I'd rather live in a regular suburban area, or even an urban city type area, than in a faux rural dystopia.

Moving On

Well, now that this week is finally behind me... I don't know, I guess it's time to relax? I knew this week would come eventually and I think I held up fairly well... but, that still didn't stop it from being painful. There's no point in dwelling on that pain, though, because that is the past and time doesn't move backward, only inexorably forward.

I drew up the board for Hard Power yesterday and it looks darned pretty. Technically it isn't finished, because I still need to write in the territory values and resource markers, but... DAMN, I couldn't bring myself to ruin what is easily my best looking map EVAR. When I finally do get around to it, I've developed a system: each territory will contain a number, from 1 to 5, which is its value in Diplomacy Points. Each territory will also be colored in one of three colors (still determining which, but I think Green and Blue are definitely in) representing Food, Metal, or Oil. After that, I need to finish up the cards. They're mostly done, I just need to decide what sorts of pictures I want on the Territory cards since I can't use the pictures from the actual board -- it's too much work! ^^() Last, but obviously not least, are the pieces. I decided to make the pieces myself, so I bought an extra poster board for the job. Now I need to decide how many pieces to make.

Let's do some (Ugh!) math here...

56 Territories means 112 Territory Cards. It also means 112 Army/Navy units, 56 Bases, 112 Industries, and 168 Trading Ties per player. All together, that means 784 Army/Navy units (6 players + Neutral territories), 336 Bases, 672 Industries, and 1,008 Trading Ties. That's a grand total of 2,800 pieces! O_O()

I better buy some boxes for these things... O_O

To make things simpler on the brain, I think I'll round the numbers up to the next 10, so: 120 Army/Navy units, 60 Bases, 120 Industries, and 170 Trading Ties per player, thus 840, 360, 720, and 1,020, meaning a grand (FINAL) total of 2,940.

*jaw drops*

Good God! What sort of hellish monster have I created?! X_x

...I'd better buy some more poster board. XP

I Know the Location of Dr. McNinja!

Not exactly the most appropriate follow-up but...

I KNOW THE LOCATION OF DR. MCNINJA!

*ahem*

Reading the newest page, a map of the city Dr. McNinja lives in is shown. The comic's author, Chris Hastings, announced that we now had everything we needed to find the name and location of this actual real-world city. So, almost immediately, I set out to do just that! Through the magical wonder that we call "Google Earth", I typed in a bunch of street names that I could make out (New Hampshire Ave, Somerville Ave, etc), but what ultimately did it was the name of a park which I could JUST make out as "Constitution Park". It took about an hour, but I FOUND IT.

The irony? I used to live less than 50 miles from this city when I was in Kindergarten and 1st Grade!

Now, if anybody who reads this has ever listened to me mention my whereabouts between 1991 and 1993, you now have everything you need to know to find Dr. McNinja's hometown. =P

(I won't leave you hanging forever! Just IM me or something and I'll tell you. ^_^)

Also, with the other stuff going on, I haven't had a chance to mention my new board game idea: HARD POWER. Each player controls a country. Using military power, industrialization, and trade, the players must overcome their rivals to become the world's preeminent Hyperpower! I came up with most of it last week at work. The game play is fairly simple, in my opinion at least: each turn you use Diplomacy Points (basically, Money) to buy Industries, Bases, Trading Ties, or a Military (Army or Navy) unit. Unlike Risk or Axis and Allies, the emphasis isn't on conquest but on trying to expand yourself economically and PROJECTING power rather than flexing it. You begin by controlling only 1 territory, and you can only place Armies in either that Home territory or a territory you attack and annex afterwards. Most of the map is "Neutral" and each territory is its own independent country with its own domestic army that you must defeat before annexing. Annexing allows the player to secure resources and provides a safe, steady income... but, you can gain far MORE Diplomacy Points by placing multiple Trading Ties on these territories, MULTIPLYING the number of DP you get. There are also Event Cards to shake things up, which I have to thank Ed again for helping me develop a full 52 card deck of.

My only problem now is the map. Right now, the game uses the standard Risk map (because it's the easiest for me to get my hands on). Unfortunately, due to the nature of the Event Cards (you pick up 1 card for the event, then a second card for the territory the event occurs in), if I continue to use that map I'll end up with a Territory deck of 84 cards (42*2)! Ideally, I want a deck of about 52 cards, like the Event cards, so that means I should have only 26 territories. The problem? The map that I really want to use is the Risk map from the 1996 computer version, which has 60 territories. That... that's a bit more than 26. >_<>_<() Ah well... I suppose a 120 card deck isn't SO bad...

On a more serious note: the wake is today. This hasn't been a very pleasant week, but at least it hasn't been downright terrible (besides, you know, my grandma dying and my school screwing me over AGAIN). Tomorrow's the funeral, and then after that I guess it's going to be a matter of figuring out what to do about everything. They plan to sell my grandma's house and split the money among my Dad, my aunt, and uncle. This means everybody who still lives there needs to move. Malinda and Taliyah are looking for an apartment in Hasbrouck Heights. My Dad is going to help Aunt Sue find an apartment here in Fair Lawn, and John is supposed to move in with his friend in Pennsylvania. I guess time will tell how this will actually play out though.

My Grandma Died.

Just as the title says. She's been sick for about a year and a half now, she was in the hospice for a few weeks and only came home again a week ago. Yesterday, we got a phone call and heard that she didn't have much time left, so I we rushed over. We ended up spending the whole afternoon there. She passed away at about 7:30 last night.

*sigh*

I'm okay. My dad, my uncle, and aunt are taking it kinda hard (I think my dad might be taking it the hardest, honestly... he's looked like he was on the verge of tears for WEEKS now). The funeral is going to be Thursday.

What cements this as a terrible week? The fact that I'm supposed to be starting my summer classes today, but can't because the school says I STILL owe them money after I dealt with this WEEKS AGO. >_<

*sigh*

Ah well.

Tying up Loose Ends

Well, school is wrapping up this week and I'm left with a few things to tie up:

1. Apparently, I owe the school $909 for my first summer class. I intend to drive over to the Registrar tomorrow and complain. Are they saying my already enormous loans don't cover this? And they want this money by the 14th?! I won't have that much money by then! Maybe June 1, but not the 14. They're insane!
2. My father STILL hasn't given me the necessary documents so I can finish my FAFSA. We're getting dangerously close to the middle of May, which is VERY annoying since I wanted this in the mail by May 1. I'm going to make sure I have then done today.
3. I still have to do my poly sci paper. It's due tomorrow...
4. I STILL haven't finished Chapter 17. I have the beginning and the end written, but now I need to do the middle of the chapter. Once its done, I'm hoping the rest will just wrap up quickly.

And, that's that. In other news, I've started reading 1984. It's pretty good so far... I just don't expect it to have as satisfying an ending as Fahrenheit 451. In fact, I'm pretty certain it's going to have a sad ending similar to Brave New World. I guess I'll just have to read to find out. = )

I reinstalled The Movies. I haven't played it in at least 6 months, probably more, but I just had an urge to play it. The only thing that's stopped me from doing so since December has been my wanting to install it on the external harddrive rather than the internal, but already slow installation was just going to multiply when trying to install externally. Luckily, I had nothing else but this and my book today, so I installed while I read. It's done now, but I'm taking this opportunity to write here, and then do some stuff for my parents before finally digging into the sandboxy goodness. ^_^

Oh yeah! I saw Spiderman 3 Thursday night. I liked it! I thought it was really good, but NOBODY seems to agree with me! T.T Despite the fact that they tried to do too much, they managed to take the various storylines and combine them in a way that didn't feel artificial and just simply WORKED. My only real complaint was the lack of Venom action, but considering that there were two other storylines being worked on at the same time I forgive the writers for not being able to expand it further. Everybody else, though, seems to be somewhere between deep disappointment and total hatred of the movie. What the hell were they expecting, the greatest cinematic experience of their lives? o_O

*SIGH*

I liked it though, so that's all that matters to me really. What did you guys out there in the Interweb think?

Evidently I'm Sexy

Yes, it's true, apparently women think I'm sexy. XD

On Wednesday night, I went to the Maltese Awards -- basically WPU's version of the Emmy's -- dressed up in my suit. Why? Well, my Exec. Producer told me to dress up "really fancy", which to me means "suit and tie". I walked in... and nobody was wearing suit. ><() Luckily, I saw a couple other guys DID after a couple minutes, so I wasn't all that embarrassed. People complimented me and said I looked really good, but beyond that I didn't think much more of it.

Yesterday, though, I ran into a few people who'd been at the awards ceremony. Two of them were ladies, particularly attractive ladies by the way, and BOTH OF THEM said:

"Paul! You looked GREAT last night. You looked so sexy."

^_____^

One of them even said she loved me, although that was under an entirely different context (but still! "You're Sexy" and "I love you" from hot chicks in the same hour? O.o It must be true! XD )

Later, I ran into a few guys who'd been at the awards. One told me that, after seeing me in a suit, any other clothes simply don't do me justice. Does this mean I should just start wearing my suit 24/7? If it has this sort of effect on people...

First Depress, then Lift

Sometimes, life sucks. I've learned to accept that, unfortunately certain members of my family have serious difficulty dealing with the difficulties of life. I'm not going to bore what few people read this with the woes of my personal life, since a lot of it will sound like a poorly written daytime soap, but just know this: not all is well at the moment. Personally, I'm okay, but I'm worried for everybody else (especially the adults).

*sigh*

I don't have any problem talking about it, it's just that I'm TIRED of talking about it. Our problems is just about the only thing my family wants to talk about! It's like nobody has any hopes or aspirations or interest in anything other than crying, complaining, and being generally frustrated or depressed. While I was at Iona, I didn't have to deal with it as much... I managed to escape the drama and live my own life for a while. Now that I'm back here... it's been jarring, to say the least.

*sigh*

You know, I've been thinking more and more about moving out of my house and getting an apartment on my own. I'm not anywhere near able to afford that, but the idea seems FAR more palatable now than it did a year ago when I was still in New Rochelle. At least then I won't have to deal with this stuff on a near-constant basis.

ANYWAYS.

I still haven't finished my novel. This is distressing, although not surprising anymore. I want it done, but finishing the rough draft is almost like pulling teeth! What makes it worse is that I'm so achingly close to the end, I feel like a complete idiot. My cousin Dan makes sure to point out that I still haven't finished every time I see him (which is, oh, just about EVERY weekend) which is a fairly good motivator, but not quite enough. I need to find something a bit stronger to push me to the end.

I've thought a bit about how I'm going to revise it, though. Stuff like changing a few names, adding details to strengthen the Celtic connection, cutting down POV characters (so far I'm down from 6 to 4... If I can axe it to just 3 I'll be REALLY happy!), and some alterations to the storyline. It's going to be a serious effort that I'm finding just a TAD overwhelming already, but since I already have some idea of what I want the next draft to look like it couldn't possibly be THAT bad...

(ONE YEAR LATER: "Oh good GOD! How did I ever think this could be anything but the most EXCRUCIATING AGONY IMAGINABLE?!!")

To be honest, I'm seriously tempted to forget finishing the rough draft and just start the 2nd draft now... except, I know that if I don't finish this draft NOW, I'll end up with the same roadblock months later when I reach the end again. I need to finish this. I'm kinda banking my future on my writing abilities... probably a bad idea, but I don't see myself doing anything other than writing. Sure, I'm a Film major, and I'm technically looking for media-related work... but, I feel like writing novels is what I was meant to do. Seriously, when one of your earliest memories is trying to draw out a story (since I didn't know how to write yet!) that ends up being PAGES and PAGES long... I think that's a big hint.

Of course, this wouldn't seem so patently ridiculous if I was at least published. Which I'm not. I've only submitted ONE story ONCE... and it got rejected. Why didn't I try again? SHEER LAZINESS. I'm lazy to the point of crippling... I'm a complete slacker in every definition of the word.

Ah well.

Wow, this was a lot of self-pity crap, wasn't it? O.o I've noticed a tendency to do that with this blog, which wasn't really my intention. Ah well... it's something to write, right? = )

On a minor note, I did some math today regarding habitable star systems:

• As far as we're aware, there are 2 systems with habitable planets: Sol and Gliese 581.
• Gliese 581 is one of the 100 closest stars to Earth (I don't know the number specifically, so I'm sticking with "100th").
• This means that, out of a given 100 stars, we can expect at least 2 habitable systems. 2/100 = 1/50, or 2%.
• There are 250 Billion stars in our galaxy.
• 2% of 250 Billion is 300 Million.

This means, if my math isn't completely off, there may be at least 300 MILLION Earth-like planets in our galaxy! O.O And this is with CURRENT data... what if there turns out to be even more habitable planets nearby? We could be looking at a galaxy closer to the Star Trek universe than previously expected! O.o

Just throwing that out there. ^_~

They Found It!

Within the last 24 hours, I have heard two news stories about breakthrough discoveries that have left me in total gawking awe. The first I heard last night in a quick blurb on MSNBC:

KRYPTONITE DISCOVERED

Yes, you read that correctly. Scientists in Serbia have identified a mineral with nearly the exact same specifications as the fictional kryptonite... you know, Superman's mortal weakness. Yes, it's real. I'm shocked! Apparently, kryptonite has been described as being a "sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide". So, when the scientists involved decided to Google the combination to see if anyone else had found something similar, they were shocked to find all the hits came back to Superman's kryptonite.

The only thing that would make this sweeter would be if they went ahead and named the mineral kryptonite, but alas, that's not to be. Since the mineral has nothing to do with the element krypton, naming convention doesn't allow it to be named kryptonite. Thus, they've gone with the name "Jadarite". One can only wonder how this discovery will affect the Superman mythos... ^_~

Discovery #2:

POTENTIALLY HABITABLE PLANET FOUND

Once again, YES, you read that right. We finally -- I cannot emphasize FINALLY enough! -- did it! We found it! We found the Earth Twin! WOOOT! XD

Details for those not willing to read through the whole article:

Planet: Gilese 581 C
Star: Gilese 581, a red dwarf star
Distance from Earth: 20.5 Lightyears
Orbital Period: 13 Earth Days
Size: 1.6 times that of Earth
Temperature range: Between 32 F and 104 F (it's not specified, but since 104 C = 219 F, I'm going to assume they mean fahrenheit)

Of course, there's a bunch of things we don't know that could put a crimp in our little parade (thus the reason they haven't officially declared it habitable, only "potentially"). For example, we don't really know that there's water, it's only being hypothesized due to the size. Also, we don't know the make up of the atmosphere yet... if it's not nitrogen-oxygen, it could raise doubts about its ability to support life. Another biggie: it's likely that it doesn't rotate. Without rotation, the planet might have difficulty circulating the heat it absorbes from Gilese 581, creating a scorching nearside and a frozen farside. Also, without rotation it makes it less likely to have a magnetic field, allowing solar radiation to reach the planet's surface, once again lowering the chances for life and habitability. Finally, there's the little issue that the scientific community is divided over whether or not red dwarfs can even support life as we know it.

Despite those little issues, though, I'm excited. I hope this is only the first of a very VERY long list of habitable planets soon to be discovered, and that these discoveries drive us to create faster ways of getting there.

Because, seriously, our fastest engines can get us there in a minimum of 200 years.

THAT'S NOT FAST ENOUGH.

Get off your asses and figure out how to make the Warp Drive work, you damned technophiles! I WANT MY HYPERSPACE, DAMMIT! It's time for humanity to get off its collective ass and get on with its destiny already: the conquest of the universe! >=D

Even Floods Can't break my Blah

Well, it's Tuesday and New Jersey is underwater. My cousins have come over, since their house has been flooded out and they've been forced to evacuate. Dunno where they're going to stay (probably here for tonight) or when they'll be let back home. Otherwise, today is really kinda boring. Not much of anything has happened. Well, besides Grandma going to the hospital with pneumonia, but she's going to be okay.

I kinda wanted to go to Borders today, but since I'm the only one at home I feel like I'd be abandoning everybody if I got in the car and took off. Maybe I'll see if other people want to come with me. It'd get us out of the house at least.

More Blah and Another Game Idea

I've decided I need to stop making depressing posts on my blog. This decision probably won't hold, since I'm using this as an output for some more underlying "ARGS" in my life, but I'd really like it if I could make myself not sound like I'm depressed. Which I'm not. I think. I'm just generally disatisfied with where my life is and how I've managed to go about things. I would really like to get things in gear already and start doing something significant... but, stuff like that doesn't happen overnight, so I need to learn to be less impatient.

Today? Well, it's 11 AM, it's raining, and seemingly everybody is still asleep. I also think I might be starting to come down with whatever Rob has, or something vaguely similar in the throat department. I'll take something later. For now, I'm going to sit and write here, because I feel the need to do so.

What did I actually do this week? I went to New York on Friday and shot a few scenes for Till Death. I also gave Ed that huge supply of batteries I had sitting in my car for a few weeks. Yesterday, I hung out with John all day. We ordered buffalo wings, watched Stranger than Fiction, and then played GTA Liberty City Stories until about midnight. It was fun! I really do need to hang out with my cousins more often... outside of parties, that is.

And today it's raining. I want to go to the comic book store later and see if they have the new Evangelion graphic novel (FINALLY, after 3 YEARS they released it!). Besides that, though, I'm not sure what to do. I'll probably work on the novel a bit today, although it did just occur to me last night that, although I know what happens, I don't know how to describe it. I might also just play some Age of Empires or Counterstrike. I could watch Mothra vs. Godzilla Master Collection Edition, which has been sitting here for about a week unwatched. And then there's the NEW game idea.

Well, not really new, just different from the one I mentioned a few weeks ago. This one is a real time strategy game idea I've been playing with for years, constantly tinkering the idea to create something I feel I would really enjoy playing. It dumps a few traditional RTS concepts, revives a bunch of older ones, and kinda feels like a cross between Age of Empires, Total Annihilation, and Populous: The Beginning.

Like in AoE, Civilization, and Rise of Nations, you control a particular civilization and lead them from nomadicism to become the largest and most advanced empire in the world. Important differences:

• No Town Centers.
• Leader units take the TC's research and defense responsibilities.
• Markets and Granaries take the TC's resource dumping responsibilities.
• Houses now produce Commoners (my version of the basic "Villager" construction unit)
• Houses.
• Rather than just increase population limits, Houses also produce people in the same manner as Farms: a Commoner is assigned and, with time and some money, a Commoner is produced.
  
• When a House meets its quota of units, it stops producing. Population limit is the cumulative number of units that can be supported by houses, but each house only keeps track of units produced by it. This means you can have many houses that are not filled (House 1: 3/6, House 2: 5/6, House 3: 1/6; Total Population: 9/18).
• Leader units.
• A fusion of AoE's Town Center, Total Annihilation's Commander, and Populous' Shaman.
• Like the TC, the Leader unit is capable of researching some civic technologies. It is also a requirement for the construction of certain buildings and researching certain technologies.
• Like the Commander, the Leader has some combat skills. Also, the death of the Leader could sometimes be a defeat condition.
• Like the Shaman, the Leader can convert enemy units and some Gaia (aka "Neutral" or "Natural") units, like Horses or Wildmen. This is most useful early in the game when you may need more people than you can produce.
• Leaders can be altered by the establishment of a particular government type at the Capitol. The starting government is Tribalism, with the Leader unit Chieftain. Later governments include Monarchy (Monarch), Police State (Dictator), Democracy (President), Theocracy (Spiritual Leader), and Republic (Prime Minister).
• Units.
• Commoners are "raised" rather than "trained" or "created". They are created at Houses, each House requiring a Commoner assigned to it before any Commoners are produced.
• Like in Populous, all other units are CONVERTED from Commoners, not trained or created. This means that if you have 10 Commoners and want 5 Warriors, you must take 5 Commoners, send them to the Barracks, and convert them to Warriors, leaving you with 5 Commoners and 5 Warriors.
• Some units, such as ships, tanks, or siege weapons, require more than one Commoner to produce.
• Buildings.
• When destroyed, buildings leave ruins, like in Total Annihilation. These ruins must be removed before a new building can be built in its place.
• Units can be garrisoned in almost every building.
• Individual buildings can be captured relatively easily. Due to the effort one must take to remove destroyed buildings, it may be more desirable to capture buildings rather than raize them.
• Disasters.
• Natural disasters are also going to be included.
• Basic disasters: Fires, Plagues, etc.

Yeah, so that's about all I've got. Well, that and a few sprites I created the last time I took this idea seriously. They look mostly useable. I'll give more updates about this as time goes on.

I've managed to screw myself over. Again.

You know, sometimes I wonder why I'm constantly trying to screw myself over. I didn't do my Film Lit paper by last Thursday, even though my Professor clearly stated that I would fail his class if I didn't. Now it's Tuesday, and I STILL haven't done the paper. Unlike last sememster, where I never did the big paper for my Com Theory class, I actually LIKE Film Lit. Why am I doing this to myself? This isn't a difficult paper! Why am I giving myself so much trouble doing it?

I got advised yesterday, so now I know what classes I need to take for the rest of the year. I also finally handed in my application for the job at the Comm department. Unfortunately, I also realized that by failing Com theory (yes, my Professor finally got around to changing that grade from "Inc" to "F". Why he waited until April to do that, I don't know... did he think I still wanted to hand in that stupid paper? O.o), my GPA has dropped to 2.6 from my usual 3.5 at Iona. This is bad, since I need at least 2.5 to get the job. DAMMIT!

I can't do GPA math (never could!), but I'm guessing that if I fail either Film Lit or Geography this semester (both of which I have a good chance of doing due to lack of papers), my GPA will fall ridiculously. I get the strong STRONG feeling that I'm fucked.

I'm going to make a concerted effort to do my Film Lit paper today. I'm also going to try my best to hand in the rest of my Geo papers (because, wouldn't you know it, he doesn't accept anything past its due date, no if-ands-buts). But, my hopes aren't too high right now. I don't want to fail... but I don't think I've realized that until far too late. Now I might not have a choice.

Sigh. Maybe I should just transfer back to Iona. I did great while I was over there, while I've had problem after problem since going to WPU. I still have an account at Iona's Peoplesoft, I techncially can still apply for classes there. I'm seriously tempted to say "Screw it" to WPU and just go back. Only time will tell if I actually get frustrated enough with this place to actually do it.

So Close!

I finished Chapter 16 last night! Woot! XD I'm so close to finishing Flight 62, it just gives me goosebumps thinking about it. I've never finished any project this large before, so there's a part of me that really anxious about it. The rest just wants to PARTY! WOOHOO! =P Unfortunately, finishing the chapter meant giving the shaft to my Film Lit paper, which I was given an ultimatium to have handed in or I'll fail. Gah. I'll try doing it before the end of the weekend and then pray that Dr. Hauser will accept it. SIGH.

Ah well. If I play my cards right, I could finish Chapter 17 today and maybe have the book finished tomorrow! I'll keep you posted! ^_^

Rex Dart IS... Eskimo Spy!

Well, today was kinda depressing. Crummy cold weather, failure to finish that paper that I'll fail Film Lit if I don't hand in today, and saw a depressing Italian film. Sigh. At least I get Chinese food! XD

Seriously, though, I'm kinda upset about the paper. Why haven't I been able to finish it? Every time I try, I feel like I'm just wasting time. Of course, that could be because I've miraculously lost almost all of my free time (which has been completely taken over by work, the TV show, family stuff, and friends). What happened to the oodles and oodles of time I had last semester? I have fewer classes now, I should have MORE free time, not less! >_<

Changing gears for a moment: I went to New Rochelle on Tuesday and was pleasantly surprised when Ed and Rob gave me the MST3K version of Godzilla vs. Megalon as a belated birthday present. I haven't seen that movie in over ten years! It was fun... and now I have a new hero:

REX DART, ESKIMO SPY!

^__________________^

I'm SO tempted to find some other movies this guy was in and put together a Rex Dart series... XD

April Fool's!

Yay! XD

Well, Friday was my birthday. Good ole' March 30! My parents took me to dinner and a comedy club, Bananas, to see Dustin Diamond. You know, Screech from Saved by the Bell! It was great! ^_^ I'm 21 now, so I got to order some champagne, but that was pretty much it for me. Malinda wanted me to get something else too, but after she let me taste her Vodka and Tonic (good lord that was the most disgusting thing I've ever tasted!) I decided to stick with ice water.

Today, we're having a birthday party for me! =D That means everybody's coming over and hanging out at my house, eating, and probably playing Counterstrike and Mario Kart. I cleaned my room (I mean REALLY cleaned... like, swept behind my TV clean!) yesterday just for that reason. Today, I finally wrote some more of my book (I've been lazy and having actually written anything since Tuesday. So much for the schedule! ><() ). 1,294 words! That's the most I've written since I finished Chapter 14 MONTHS ago! XD

On a slightly unrelated note, I've finally come up with new material for my Future History timeline, which you can find here: Earth 2001 - 2150. Right now, the timeline only goes up to the year 2080 and is nowhere near complete, I'm constantly trying to come up with stuff to sprinkle throughout the timeline. The newest stuff I've devised should help me finish up the 21st century and stretch through 2120. I really like this timeline... to me at least, it feels like how things might actually play out. My philosophy for this: everything and nothing changes. While new crises and technology might appear, humanity doesn't change and we're afflicted with the same problems and try the same tactics as we always have. Also, nothing happens quickly. I've decided to adopt the advice of somebody else on the AH forum (wow, I feel like such an ass for forgetting his name! ><() ), and try to apply this rule of thumb: take your initial assumptions for how long something should happen and multiply by three. Expect human-level AI in 30 years? Multiply by 3, you get the first conscious AI around 2090, which when taken with everything else really does seem more plausible. I need to work out a few lingering kinks, such as details of South America's unification, religious changes, and weather patterns, but generally I think I've managed to really give the impression of a realistic multi-polar world.

Eventually, I'd like to expand the timeline past 2150 into the era of interstellar travel, but that's likely going to be way off. For example: while many sci-fi stories and FH timelines have Mars colonized by the late 21st/early 22nd century, I'm finding it difficult to get anything more than a token population to the Red Planet by 2150. I've decided I'll use the English colonization of the Americas as an example, so while there are a half-dozen outposts at the end of the 21st century, we should have at least a few permanent colonies by 2300.

Well, it sound like the guests are starting to waltz in. Gotta go!

Random Idea # 239014006

If you know me at all, then you know that I tend to get some random ideas for stories/games/etc that I rarely act on. Today's idea: a first-person-action-adventure game! XD There's no title yet, but I've worked out a few of the basics: our hero is a police detective in an unnamed American city in the year 2189. This is a sorta post-apocalyptic future... there was a big nuclear war, but that was at the start of the 22nd century (over 70 years earlier). The Detective (I still don't have a name for him...) is assigned to investigate what is initially assumed to be a tragic case of murder-suicide: a man murders his family and then himself. Digging a little deeper though, the Detective finds that this was no murder at all, and that the man has links to the government and a mysterious experimental drug...

Gameplay will be very freeform and open-ended. The player is given a city to wander around in and interact with, sorta like a first person GTA. Only less gratuitously violent (cars can't be jacked, combat is Rainbow Six-level lethal thus discouraging shooting sprees). As the Detective, your job is to interview witnesses, collect clues, report your findings to your Lieutenant and the DA, and ultimately crack the case. Since this is a freeform game, though, you're also given the opportunity to simply wander, or go through side quests (work other, less complicated, cases for example). Rather than straight conversation, all dialogue will be branching, meaning you'll always have three or more ways to respond to any single comment. This means conversations can go in various directions (just like in real life), possibly leading you completely off track from what you're trying to learn from the individual. In the spirit of the free nature of the game, there will be multiple endings based on your success in completing the main quest and your standing with other characters by the end of the game. Also, I want to avoid using cut scenes... I like the method Half Life used with having all major events have during gameplay, rather than stopping the game to show it.

Now, if I were to actually make this, how would I do it? More likely than not, I'd use the Game Maker program, since I've used it before and its fairly easy. Because of this, I'd aim for graphics and gameplay mechanics similar to those found in Duke Nukem 3D. I know for a fact that Game Maker can do Wolfenstein 3D and Doom type graphics, but unlike those I know that Duke Nukem can produce city environments and more modern style gameplay, so this is more of a hit or miss thing. I HOPE it can produce Duke Nukem mechanics as well... but, ah well. As I said at the beginning of this post, this is yet another random idea that I know I'll probably never act on, just like the million and one other videogame ideas I've had.

Or maybe this'll be the one. *shrug* We'll find out.

Well, I failed a test today. I haven't gotten the score back yet, but I can just feel it, you know? I feel as if I've been entirely unprepared for this semester and that I'm probably not going to do all that well. I might fail a couple classes (which is BAD, since I only have FOUR). It sucks, but ah well.

I'm not here to talk about that, though. Instead, I'm going to talk about... DIGIMON! XD

Yeah, it drives some people a little crazy, but I'm a Digimon fan. What can I say? Like Godzilla, I just love it. The most recent season, Digimon Savers, just ended in Japan and I have to say that I really enjoyed it. I'm sad to see it go, but I'm happy to see that we were given a proper send off. In past seasons -- this is probably a problem for any story actually -- the final episode tends to leave much to be desired. Season 2 didn't end the final battle until 3/4 of the way through the episode, leaving us with a truly horrible "25 Years Later" epilogue. It was bad end to a bad finale. Season 3 also ended the final battle late, then proceeded to rush through the characters saying goodbye to the Digimon and the very short epilogue that really only serves to tell us that "everything went back to normal". I can't really vouch for Season 4, since I didn't watch it, but the track record wasn't too good. I'm happy, though, because Season 5 took the Season 1 route: end the battle early in the episode and spend the rest wrapping up the story. I really liked it. ^_^

On a different note, I've finally gotten around to rewriting my notecards for Flight 62 and come up with a writing schedule: 2 cards per day until the 31 and I should be done, with a final wordcount around 58,000 words.

Wish me luck! =P

Sickness and TMNT

This week turned out more eventful than I initially suspected it would.

Wednesday, I became DREADFULLY ill. I mean, my hands were paralyzed, my face/hands/chest/stomach/feet were numb with pain, I was vomitting and had diarrea... it was bad. Even though I felt WAY better on Thursday, I was still woozy enough to just take the whole day off. I'm feeling fine now, no hint of the disease left, but DAMN did that suck.

Yesterday I drove back to New Rochelle to shoot a few more scenes of the movie. We shot the wedding scene, which I was worried about when I first read it but turned out just fine. I got to kiss my lovely co-star Casey -- many times! XD Afterwards, I went to see the new Ninja Turtles movie, which (despite what apparently every reviewer thinks) was an awesome movie that you should be rushing to go see RIGHT NOW.

And today? I slept until 1 P.M., then went to the mall for a couple of hours. After that I came back home and watched an episode of Digimon Savers. Yup, today's a very eventful day. ^^()

*SIGH*

Did you ever get the feeling you were just wasting a lot of your life sitting around staring into space? Or that there's something far FAR more important you should be doing right now? I get that feeling a lot, even moreso since I transfered to William Paterson. I feel as if I should be doing something more important with my time than sitting on the computer, reading the same websites over and over. Maybe I spoiled myself when I lived in New York... you know, getting an actual life as opposed to immersing myself in the Internet during high school. Now I'm thrust back into the life I had before Iona, and I just can't stand it. I feel as if I should just get OUT and go SOMEWHERE... unfortunately, I have nowhere to actually go. It's beyond frustrating. And, of course, the rest of my life starts to gang up on me and then I feel the urge to just get in my car and drive until I'm so far away I won't have to think about it all. I can't do that, of course, but that doesn't stop me from entertaining the idea.

I think today is representative of my life's semi-problems. I woke up early to do homework, which I proceeded not to do. I went to class. I came home, ate lunch, and watched TV. I went on the computer around 2 PM, and I've been here ever since. I've managed to waste an entire day on NOTHING. Nothing accomplished. Nothing even attempted. Times like these I feel like a total loser and just want to scream. If today was unique, that'd be one thing. Unfortunately, this is a normal day for me. Yesterday was the same (although, I did go to the DnC taping last night). Tomorrow I'm supposed to be working, but I'm toying with not going just so I can catch up with all the work I missed, but I know if I do that I won't get anything done. Thursday will be the same, just with an afternoon class added. Ditto for Friday, although THIS Friday I'm going to New Rochelle again.

My life SUCKS. I've created a bland, empty, almost meaningless little niche for myself. Maybe it's just my memories playing with my head (since I remember having this same complaint there too), but I remember Iona being a much more fulfilling part of my life than what I'm presently doing. I miss Iona, and I kinda regret leaving now. Had I known that my life would be reduced to this, I would've said "Screw my education, I'm staying here!".

I'd go out now, but the only place to go is the mall, and I have no money. I'd be there for the sake of being there, alone. I could probably go by Darrell or Matt, but... yet another example of the idiocy of this, I want to leave but can't bring myself to actually go to the places I have to go. Am I going insane or something? If I am, why am I allowing myself to reveal this on the internet? O_O

So, here I am, bored out of my mind, broke, and unwilling to go to those places where I might find some satisfaction. Wonderful. God, I need to get a new life.

School Again

Yep, Spring Break is over and its time for school again. Seriously, where did the time go? How did I manage to have my ENTIRE spring break and not have a single day off? Usually, I have at least a few days of "lounging around the house" tossed in there. Not this year! Ah well, I can relax now until the Divide and Conquer taping tonight. In the meantime, I've started having that urge to do SOMETHING again. While I have a few things that urgently need that energy (my novel, my schoolwork), instead my mind seems drawn to an on-and-off idea I've had: starting a webcomic. I've had the basic storyline for a while now, years at least, and last summer I even went so far as to make some character designs (in a style that doesn't scream "4th Grade!", yet is still easy for me to handle). Will I actually do it this time? Stay tuned for more info.

Wasn't this supposed to be about the party yesterday?

Yesterday was fun! We had a big party, everybody came over and we had lasagna and Latona's stuff and pierogis. We had a snowball fight too! It was great. ^_^

I had a chance to show off Loggothor and I'm not a Cop again. It reminded me how much I enjoy making movies. The writing, directing, editing, etc... I'm enjoying working on Till Death with Ed and Rob, but I can't wait until I start something new myself. It isn't like it would be a lot of work to start something. Let's see, on the backburner I have:

A Night in Durakov - Script Complete
Abandoned Dream - Script Partially Complete
Avatar II (tentative title) - Treatment partially complete

Plus, I also have ideas in various degrees of progress for Doravon, Atlanta Incident, and Wolfbeast. Also complete is the first episode of Alert Alert, although that is hardly an original work (and if I ever claimed it was, I'm sure Mega Raptor would have a SLIGHT problem with that ^_^() ).

It's amazing how many projects I have sitting on the backburner. Short stories, scripts, novel ideas... hell, my main novel project is technically on the backburner! Flight 62 can be completed so quickly its almost painful to think about, yet I still do nothing. I think the problem here is the same reason I never completed any of my other big works: I thought to much about it. I managed not to think so much about the rest of the book, but the ending I had worked out in detail before I even got an quarter of the way through. Now I'm at the ending, and a part of me doesn't want to do it out of fear of screwing it up. Which is stupid because this is a rough draft. The point IS to screw it up! That way I can fix it and make it better in Draft 2! ARGH.

Ah well. I'll get it soon. I'll also work on finishing some of my other stories and scripts too. Before that, though, I have to worry about school. School is being... well, annoying. I have work due, I know it, but I don't know what. I need to talk to my advisor about classes in the summer and next semester. I need to call the career counselling center and make an appointment. I need to check the Yahoo! group for Divide and Conquer and see what's happening there. I don't want to do so much work! Gah. It's enough for me to just say screw it and go back to bed. But, of course, I can't DO that. I have to take what's in front of me and get it done. All of it. No matter how long or arduous that'll be for me.

Ah well. I have another family get-together later today. I forget whether it's at Cousin Judy's house or Genie and Ralph's house, but either way I get cake. Whee for cake! XD

Snowy Adventures in the City

Yesterday, a big wintry storm hit and the entire northeast was buried in snow and ice. What did I do? Go into the city, of course! XD I have relatives from California visiting this week and they really wanted to go into New York, so I decided to tag along with them. I mean, I don't go into the City all too often and they were going to go places I'd never really been to, so why not?

We took a train from my house to Penn Station (with a stopover in Secaucus), and then the subway down to Ground Zero. Now, to some people, seeing Ground Zero is some kind of powerful emotional moment. For me... it was just a really big construction site. That's it. I honestly don't see the appeal of going to Ground Zero for people who weren't directly affected by what happened. The entire time we were there, I kept thinking to myself, "When did Ground Zero become a tourist attraction?" After about 15 or 20 minutes, the relatives were satisfied and we moved on.

Oh yeah, I should probably explain who these relatives are. They're cousins of my dad's, from my grandfather's side, who pretty much all live in and around Los Angeles. Bruce, I'm told, is a lawyer and has won some major multi-million dollar lawsuits, although I haven't asked him about it. Brian works for Disney and Brad is an artist. I'm not sure what Genie does, but I'm sure Aunt Irene (who didn't go with us into the city) is retired. The last person who came was cousin Judy, who lives here in NJ (over in Clifton, I think).

After Ground Zero, we took the subway back up to Columbus Circle and from there walked along Central Park until we got to some restaurant called Tavern on the Green. The place was fancy... like, SERIOUSLY fancy. If I hadn't been with Bruce & co., I would never have been able to afford this place. The food (Caesar salad and Rigatoni) was great, and I got to eat for free because everybody else paid for Judy and I's lunch! After that, we took a limo (!) to the Museum of Modern Art, where I got to wander around and look at various paintings and sculptures. The only people I specifically remember seeing their work are Picasso and Van Gogh. In fact, I saw Van Gogh's actual "Starry Night" painting! The place was neat and I wouldn't mind going back to take a closer look.

After that, we took the train back to NJ.

I had a great time... well, except for the freezing rain making it nearly impossible to see. >_< Otherwise, I had a great time!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go outside and attempt to clear the snow and ice from the driveway before my ENTIRE FAMILY shows up for today's get-together.

Wow! I actually made a blog!

I can't believe it! After years of mulling, talking, more mulling, and generally being lazy, I FINALLY made a blog! I'm excited! Woot! ^_^

I suppose some introductions are in order, wide nameless masses of the Internet. My name is Paul Cwiakala, I'm 20, and a student at William Paterson University in New Jersey. I enjoy writing, anime, and computer games. And yes, ladies, I am single. ^_~

*Is whalloped by a mackeral*

Yeah... I'm not exactly successful in the ladies department. By "not exactly" I mean "Not". Sigh. Ah well, if I'm anything, it's patient. And patience with one's self is important... right? ^^() While on the topic of dating, I think I'll point out how annoying some of my co-workers can be about this. They all know I'm single. They all know I haven't had a serious girlfriend. Why, then, do they have this constant obsession with my non-existent love life? It doesn't make any sense to me. One asks me every day if I've found a girlfriend. Another keeps giving me dating tips (which can be summarized as: "Get into her pants as fast as possible"). A third pretends that I'm lying and that I'm having sex every time he isn't looking in my direction.

Sigh.

Ah well, at least I'm getting paid. And it's the simplest job in the world! No real effort is ever necessary, I make my own hours, and the pay is fairly decent (well... its at the NJ minimum wage now that we've raised it). I can live with some annoyances for a little while.

And there it is: my very first post in my very first blog! =D I'm excited! I wonder how long I can keep this up?