Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to I/O Nightly News.
You know that moment? The one where you're finishing or have just finished a momentous task, and you feel like you're on top of the world? There's a word for it. Self-Actualization. It's a psychological phenomenon that occurs when all of your needs are met, be them physical, emotional, social, intellectual, or spiritual. You simply feel good.
I had one today, for the first time in months. It's a high, a natural, really powerful high.
I finished an essay draft for college applications. What a wonderful feeling. The prompt called for some local, national, or international concern and its importance to you. I used censorship, and while the first half needs some work, the second half of the essay may well be some of the best work I've ever written. What a wonderful feeling. I've also just played the best game of TF2 I've done in months. Life is, at this point, pretty good.
I've also made a decision on homecoming. I'll ask her as a friend, not romantic or anything. I figure I've got a much better shot at it that way. I still don't know how to approach my girlfriend though. Interesting predicament indeed.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Thursday, August 28, 2008
"BLARGH COLLEGE STUFF BLARGH"
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to I/O Nightly News.
The title tonight is all I'm hearing, and I've been told to shut my computer down. As such, this is contraband until my college essays are done.
I'm sick of college already, and I'm not even halfway there. All it is is essay after endless essay, application after application, due date after due date.
It makes me want to scream.
The title tonight is all I'm hearing, and I've been told to shut my computer down. As such, this is contraband until my college essays are done.
I'm sick of college already, and I'm not even halfway there. All it is is essay after endless essay, application after application, due date after due date.
It makes me want to scream.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Champion of Gestalt
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to I/O Nightly News.
I partake in IRC discussions in a certain channel on Enter The Game many evenings. Over the past few months, I've been come to be known as somewhat of a counselor to a few of the other users who frequent it. If they have a problem, I'll sit and listen and give advice as best I can. It's fun, and gives me a warm-fuzzy feeling, cliched as it is.
Today, at the lunch table (sounds like a scenario out of an 80's motivational video tape), of all places, I was able to do the same to a girl who I'm fond of. We're tight friends, but there are some interesting developments.
She's single, and I'm thinking I've got somewhat of a crush on her. Problem is, I don't know where my relationship with my girlfriend stands at this point.
I'm left to wonder if the Internet is finally coming back to haunt me. Not in a negative fashion, either. I try to be a good person on the 'net, 95% of the time, just like I do in reality. Perhaps I'm just the go-to man for life issues, or perhaps I'm being too soft or feminine.
She happens to not be going to homecoming, due to a lack of a date, at this point though. I wonder how long that will last.
But don't let me bore you -- rambling on about one's own personal love life is boring to the outside world.
I partake in IRC discussions in a certain channel on Enter The Game many evenings. Over the past few months, I've been come to be known as somewhat of a counselor to a few of the other users who frequent it. If they have a problem, I'll sit and listen and give advice as best I can. It's fun, and gives me a warm-fuzzy feeling, cliched as it is.
Today, at the lunch table (sounds like a scenario out of an 80's motivational video tape), of all places, I was able to do the same to a girl who I'm fond of. We're tight friends, but there are some interesting developments.
She's single, and I'm thinking I've got somewhat of a crush on her. Problem is, I don't know where my relationship with my girlfriend stands at this point.
I'm left to wonder if the Internet is finally coming back to haunt me. Not in a negative fashion, either. I try to be a good person on the 'net, 95% of the time, just like I do in reality. Perhaps I'm just the go-to man for life issues, or perhaps I'm being too soft or feminine.
She happens to not be going to homecoming, due to a lack of a date, at this point though. I wonder how long that will last.
But don't let me bore you -- rambling on about one's own personal love life is boring to the outside world.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Conventional Conventions
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to I/O Nightly News.
As many of you already know, the Democratic National Convention is well under way, and it is quite exciting. I am left to wonder, however, how well these conventions work. They are just a big meeting in a single city, in one state, in one short span.
Why not place both conventions a little before the election? It would prove beneficial to almost everyone, as it would carry more weight within the parties, and potentially draw last-minute votes.
Most delegates don't even speak, or if they do, it's not for more than a few minutes. The whole process is cumbersome, with security, travel, speech setups, invites, television networks, the whole nine yards.
I'm left to wonder, is it worth it? Can this really make a difference for us? Can we really elect Barack Obama for president this year?
Yes, we can.
As many of you already know, the Democratic National Convention is well under way, and it is quite exciting. I am left to wonder, however, how well these conventions work. They are just a big meeting in a single city, in one state, in one short span.
Why not place both conventions a little before the election? It would prove beneficial to almost everyone, as it would carry more weight within the parties, and potentially draw last-minute votes.
Most delegates don't even speak, or if they do, it's not for more than a few minutes. The whole process is cumbersome, with security, travel, speech setups, invites, television networks, the whole nine yards.
I'm left to wonder, is it worth it? Can this really make a difference for us? Can we really elect Barack Obama for president this year?
Yes, we can.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Exponential Growth
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to I/O Nightly News.
The first day of school was pretty good, and this seems to be the harder of the two semesters. AP Chem is my toughest class. AP Lit's test was a pushover, Media Lit was designed by the teacher, in a collaborative effort with my dad in the late 90's, when I was in third grade or so. AP Calculus is year-long calculus with AP tacked on to the front to make it look official.
I saw a lot of old friends I hadn't seen in three months, and lunch is acceptable.
I've also got a gig and a half of RAM now, opposed to the solid gig I had yesterday. My dad found out that 32-bit OS's can't utilize any more than about 3.5 gigs of memory, so he did some switching. I ended up with an extra half gig, my dad received the full 3.5 gigs, and my brother more than doubled his memory (500% total increase since last week) to two and a half gigs. He just needs a solid video card, like an NVidia 8000 series and he'll be all set to run Crysis or Unreal Tournament 3.
I, on the other hand, am doing research on good screen capture programs for my YouTube videos. If I keep downloading Growler software's Guncam trial version, I may be able to use that -- it's provided some top-quality shots so far.
I'm still working on Grand Theft Auto III, so once I'm done with that, I'll run some Team Fortress 2 or Half-Life 2 tests on it. Should prove interesting. I noticed moderate improvement with just the extra 256 megs of RAM, the most significant development is that I didn't crash Windows again.
Blog-wise, I'm also exploring "gadgets" for the sidebar, and I'll be adding those over the next few days. I expect a YouTube account by next tuesday or so.
I'm working on adding radio stations and shoutboxes -- the shoutbox I had wouldn't let unregistered users post, and I'd like to keep my options open. The radio might take some finagling, but I'll work on it.
The first day of school was pretty good, and this seems to be the harder of the two semesters. AP Chem is my toughest class. AP Lit's test was a pushover, Media Lit was designed by the teacher, in a collaborative effort with my dad in the late 90's, when I was in third grade or so. AP Calculus is year-long calculus with AP tacked on to the front to make it look official.
I saw a lot of old friends I hadn't seen in three months, and lunch is acceptable.
I've also got a gig and a half of RAM now, opposed to the solid gig I had yesterday. My dad found out that 32-bit OS's can't utilize any more than about 3.5 gigs of memory, so he did some switching. I ended up with an extra half gig, my dad received the full 3.5 gigs, and my brother more than doubled his memory (500% total increase since last week) to two and a half gigs. He just needs a solid video card, like an NVidia 8000 series and he'll be all set to run Crysis or Unreal Tournament 3.
I, on the other hand, am doing research on good screen capture programs for my YouTube videos. If I keep downloading Growler software's Guncam trial version, I may be able to use that -- it's provided some top-quality shots so far.
I'm still working on Grand Theft Auto III, so once I'm done with that, I'll run some Team Fortress 2 or Half-Life 2 tests on it. Should prove interesting. I noticed moderate improvement with just the extra 256 megs of RAM, the most significant development is that I didn't crash Windows again.
Blog-wise, I'm also exploring "gadgets" for the sidebar, and I'll be adding those over the next few days. I expect a YouTube account by next tuesday or so.
I'm working on adding radio stations and shoutboxes -- the shoutbox I had wouldn't let unregistered users post, and I'd like to keep my options open. The radio might take some finagling, but I'll work on it.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Things to Come
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to I/O Nightly News.
Many schoolchildren today were frightened at the thought of less than 24 hours left in summer vacation. Tmorrow, August 25th, the entire county returns to school for yet another year. Fortunately, we only have school on our minds 295 days of the year.
The latest 70 have just ended.
I've also realized tonight that we're on the very edge of sci-fi realities. Quantum computing is almost within reach. Wireless energy could power the world by the end of the next decade and a half, and computers are approaching a level of speed that even the most high-tech power users don't even need. We are able to simulate moon missions with near photo-realistic effects, create games where physics plays a major, realistic role, and where people can communicate with each other in the blink of an eye.
We are almost at a sci-fi level from even two decades ago. Movie and TV picture quality has made leaps and bounds, and the cost of a 42-inch LCD TV has dropped from the tens of thousands to around $5,000.
I am excited to see where this will go, what may happen, and what humanity can achieve in my lifetime.
Also, here's some other upcoming events:
Team Fortress 2 Role-Play on a forum that I frequent.
The weekend.
Twitter or YouTube, probably YouTube.
Homework.
Something that requires a lot of RAM. For example:
Many schoolchildren today were frightened at the thought of less than 24 hours left in summer vacation. Tmorrow, August 25th, the entire county returns to school for yet another year. Fortunately, we only have school on our minds 295 days of the year.
The latest 70 have just ended.
I've also realized tonight that we're on the very edge of sci-fi realities. Quantum computing is almost within reach. Wireless energy could power the world by the end of the next decade and a half, and computers are approaching a level of speed that even the most high-tech power users don't even need. We are able to simulate moon missions with near photo-realistic effects, create games where physics plays a major, realistic role, and where people can communicate with each other in the blink of an eye.
We are almost at a sci-fi level from even two decades ago. Movie and TV picture quality has made leaps and bounds, and the cost of a 42-inch LCD TV has dropped from the tens of thousands to around $5,000.
I am excited to see where this will go, what may happen, and what humanity can achieve in my lifetime.
Also, here's some other upcoming events:
Team Fortress 2 Role-Play on a forum that I frequent.
The weekend.
Twitter or YouTube, probably YouTube.
Homework.
Something that requires a lot of RAM. For example:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
