Rick Rolled

75% of people don't know the opposite words for the following

1) Always
2) Coming
3) From
4) Take
5) Me
6) Down

"It's hard to wait around for something you know might never happen; but it's even harder to give up when you know it's everything you want." - Anonymous

P.S.

After reading this,  I have to remember to go all out and to not do things half-assed.

"I work as hard as I play, I love as hard as I hate, and because I put so much effort into things I do, I usually either pass with flying colours or fail spectacularly"

One Hell of a Journey

I knew I kept a blog for a reason!  I was reading through my blog from scratch...and I can't believe that I have 7 years of life encoded on some hard drive somewhere on some random server on this Earth.  Anyway, reading through my blog and more importantly the comments that some people have made has reminded me of the inner strength that I have, and I feel rejuvenated.  And man have I been lacking strength lately.  I am thankful for the people who took more than just a passing interest in my blog, took some time to read a post or two, and leave comments.  I've had some great people in and out of my life.  Reading their comments on my blog is like watching a movie about my life.  It's brought a smile to my face, and yes even some tears.  I've re-learned that even the toughest journey begins with the smallest steps.  Reading through my words has reminded me of how strong I really am, how I have endured and survived.  It's also revived a spirit in me that I forgot I had.  Through following some comments and reading through some other blogs, I came accross this quote:

"Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy." - Thich Nhat Hanh

I will smile again.  Soon... I really will.

Resolve

Is it weakness that we hang on to things that make us weak?  Or is it strength that we use to do so, to remind us where we are fallable.  Is it possible to get strength from that weakness?  Maybe that's where true strength comes from, when we conquer the things that make us frail?

"If I could conquer the world with one hand I wouldn't do it unless I was holding yours with my other." - Unknown

Language of the Soul

Is it just me, or is it when you're sad, and I mean like bawl your eyes out, pillow soaked, can't breathe sad, that music seems to sound so much better?

Even after all this time, the Sun never says to the Earth "You owe me."
Look what happens, with a love like that, It lights the whole sky. - Hafiz

Self Deception

When I find myself in a shitty situation, when living through the next day seems impossible, I tell myself this:

Life doesn't give you what you want, it gives you what you need.

Of course, the tough part, is forcing myself to believe it.

 "The truth will set you free but first it's gonna piss you off" - Gloria Steinem

Joke time!

Not sure if it was the previous joke that was told that made this joke extra funny, but today I laughed so hard at this one I teared up.

A guy is at work when he hears a voice in his head.

"Quit your job. Sell your house. Take the money, and go to Las Vegas"

He ignores the voice, but it keeps coming back.

"Quit your job. Sell your house. Take the money, and go to Las Vegas"

Months go by, and the voice won't stop.

"Quit your job. Sell your house. Take the money, and go to Las Vegas"

Finally the guy can't take it anymore. He quits his job. He sells his house. He takes all the money and buys a plane ticket to Las Vegas.

The second the plane touches down, he hears the voice in his head:

"Go to a casino"

He goes to a casino.

"Find the roulette table"

He finds the roulette table.

"Put everything on 17 Black"

He puts everything on 17 Black.

The dealer spins the wheel. It comes up Red 36.

The voice in his head says..

"Fuck."

 "When faced with two choices, simply toss a coin.  It works not because it answers the question for you, but because when it's in the air, you suddenly know what you're hoping for." - Anonymous

Most Disappointing Game of the Year so far...

Portal 2!

Yup.  :(

Graphics/Sound B (still using source engine I believe, they're probably pushing it's limits now)
Story A
Characters A+
Dialogue/Voice acting A++
Gameplay C-

What a horrible disappointment.  They've dumbed down the game so much.  Now I've heard all the arguments about trying to cater to the "mainstream audience", so that's why they made the game much less challenging than Portal 1.  Portal 1 was about figuring how the puzzle worked, then having the skills necessary to execute the plan.  Portal 2 completely took the skill portion of the game away.  Valve degenerated the game to another "find the next door, find the key to that door" puzzle game.  So Portal 1 had some tough timing and skillshot puzzles, but that's what made it Portal.  The puzzle solving methodology in Portal 2 has been done so many times in so many different games although it is packaged with the pretty wrapping of smart mechanics (portals and gels), excellent story and even better characters.  At it's heart, although Portal 2 is still smart, it's very slow and (story and charcters aside) boring.

Tetris provides more of an adrenaline rush than Portal 2.

Sure, there's still the satisfaction of the "aha!!" moment when you figure out how the room works and then develop the plan to solve the room.  But after that, there's no excitement of actually executing the plan, especially since they handhold you so much throughout the game by limiting the surfaces where you can place portals.  And yes while they put in conversion gel, the gel only made you think outside the box in at most 2 levels.  The rest of the time it was like

1. scan the room for surfaces where I can place portals
2. place the portals in the limited number of surfaces in the room
3. go from portal a to portal b like a drone with no sense of urgency since there were no timing puzzles, no skill needed of placing portals on moving objects or placing portals while flying through the air. 
4. Repeat steps 1-3

In Portal 1, even after you got your ducks in a row, it took skill to shoot those ducks because they would still be moving all around after you lined them up.  In Portal 2, after you lined them up, they just sat there for you and you could shoot one, go make lunch, come back and shoot another one.  In Portal 1, you had much MUCH more freedom to place portals and therefore had to really think of where portals should go. And even after the "aha!!" moment of formulating your plan of how to escape the room, you still have to do some pretty skillful running and gunning in order to succeed in that plan.

With all the hype of the "Portal" name behind it, Portal 2 is a great disappointment.  I wish they would have made the slow paced puzzle solving game and packaged it with another story and called it "Portal - Snail edition" or something and saved this story with the same fast paced puzzle solving from Portal 1 and made that into this current iteration of Portal.  I found myself more interested in the story and advancing the through the game just wanting to listen hilarious dialogue of Wheatley (voiced by the hilarious Stephen Merchant) than actually wanting to complete the rooms and puzzles themselves. 

Valve, the DLC you promised to Portal 2 better be free and give the level of challenge that Portal 1 did.

I guess if Portal 2 was named something totally different and wasn't made by Valve, I probably would have enjoyed the game much more.

"If there is a god, then why did he make me an aethiest?" - Ricky Gervais