Memorial day weekend

Spent yesterday driving to Cairo. Spent today snapping beans and working on a fence. Got holes dug and posts cut and next to the holes. That's a lot of work.

Arguments

Women do not know how to conduct an argument.

¿Smartphones? Part 2

I need a new conditional operator.
Android > Blackberry simply isn't sufficient.

(some random, generic, inspiring phrase)

Right.



I really should have listened a number of years ago when Lorenzo pointed Joel's blog out.

Then again, my life is quite a string of 'should've listened's starting from about my freshman year in high school. So what does one do. Start when you can, which in this case is now.



Start how you can, which in this case is what I'm doing. Past is past.






Onward.





But first, a plan. Staccato bursts of text it is because right now I simply can't be arsed to do better.

Goal 1: Daily blog. Meaty? No! But something. Even if it's just a basic journal kind of rotgut.

Goal 2: I've got a blasted calendar hanging beside my desk. Just waiting for me to draw a chain on it.



Once again, right now I can't be bothered to properly do the hyperlinks. Maybe I'll come back and fix it. So. The calendar. Chain #1 is going to be the blogging. Maybe by the time Udacity starts the next session I'll be chained up enough to make that chain 2, or possibly 3 if I take to this productiveness thing.



Goal 3: Prime Directive: Haha, not so lofty as that. However it belongs above #1 but I'm loathe to adjust the numbering now. Digression aside, less videogame time. Damnit Grady, it's eating your life. You know it. You knock it down and it rises back up. Discipline, which you also know but have a tendency to exercise only spottily. So. Get to it. It's in print (haha, but close enough) now. Back to easier goals...



Goal 3: Bible study. Just do it. Blog it if you've nothing better to blog, in fact. Daily study is good for you.

Goal 4: Lisp. Start with the book and then move on to goal 5.

Goal 5: Write the Seinfeld calendar as a web app in Lisp. Make it swishy. Then use it. Include accountability functionality. You know what I'm talking about. Link it into Twit'Book and any other social gimmickery looks appealing.

Goal 6: That other accountability app that's been staring you in the face for 4 years or so. Except hopefully by the time you get here you'll be productive enough to make something of the idea.

Penubra: Black Plague thoughts

Be warned, this game is old and I can't be arsed to dance around the spoilers.

So I'm maybe halfway through this second game in the series and I'm quite enjoying it. Yes, it's dated. But it's good gaming. I'll begin with a brief recap of the first, or rather my thoughts on it. I'd say Penumbra: Overture was a pretty good game. The atmosphere was good and though at times the nature of a computer simulation still broke the mood I was routinely pulled back in enough to have a surface level foreboding. The couple of instances of genuine fright I'd call a significant accomplishment. I scare easily at movies, but not video games since reload is always floating in the back of my mind. The pacing was good, though the storyline didn't really hold together for me. Good puzzles in general with a satisfying mix of modes with some find the foozles, secret codes, and a number of crunchy physicsy tricks. All in all, a good play though not outstanding.

The second one is getting more interesting though. It starts at about the same tone as the first leaves off (which is quite fitting) but rather quickly begins to change. So for background, it becomes quickly apparent that there's some kind of virus floating around turning living things into... other nastier things; as the game says 'zombies for lack of a better word.' Rather predictably (it is a psych-horror game after all) you are infected. This becomes apparent within the first quarter or so of the game. You follow the symptoms as described in the many documents you pick up. And then you get the voice in your head. It's creepy. It's a tad irritating. It's clearly awakening and you can literally see it progress in its growth cycle as the infection becomes more entrenched.

But that's not what made me type this out. What strikes me is the way the designers lead you along the path of the infection. In ep. 1 the character talks quite a bit. 'I should do this.' 'Maybe this will get me some answers.' Particularly at the save points (creepy artifacts whose place in the plot I haven't fleshed out yet, but which clearly have a place rather than simply being tired old game mechanics). In ep. 2 the character starts out talking just about normally, but once you get clued in that you're infected the player begins talking less. And the infection, 'Clarence' he calls himself though I don't know if that pronoun really applies, talks more. And more, and for the love of WASD would you shut up already... but I digress. But the art of it is in the way you don't really notice it while you're playing. Only if you think back do you clearly see that you're now playing what amounts to an automaton for an infectious disease that only has free thought when he moans about wanting to stay in the creepy artifacts forever while saving whereas before you were playing a human being with emotion, motivation, and an educated mind. This, this is what's well done (not that sentence, ugh, the game is well done). This elevates the series to a damn fine game. Neither game really deserves that moniker on its own merits, you have to play them both. Ideally back to back.

So, now I need to go see how Black Plague ends and what Requiem brings.

Epilogue: Thoroughly enjoyed the end of Black Plague. Always nice to see someone's sincere take on manipulative alien gestalt beings. Went on to Requiem looking forward to more of the same. But, ah, it isn't. I cleared the first level, was completely thrown by the female voiceovers. Looked around briefly at the second level then quit out and headed to the internet to do some research. Skimmed 2 or 3 reviews (which clearly I should have done before buying it but it was on sale, so meh) and quickly realized I'd been had. Ah well, at least I didn't buy it when it was new or at full price. Total playtime? 38 minutes according to Steam. Definitely not worth the trouble of a full playthrough. :(

¿Smart phones?

Blogging from a phone. Why do I feel like theres some cutesy new word for this that I'm missing? Phlogging perhaps.

Punishment

I think of clever, appropriate way to punish myself for the things I know I should not do. Ostensibly for the purpose of changing my behavior. And then on reflection I realize that they don't perform that purpose and serve to cause me further harm in somewhat counterintuitive ways. And I realize that punishment is neither necessary nor productive in a forgiven world. If God doesn't see a need to punish me why should I? By extension my children.

I am forgiven, my children are forgiven, by a higher power, knowledge, and wisdom than I could ever hope to achieve. What am I then to mete punishment? How then to effect changes in behavior? Faith, certainly. Love, and dialogue? Internal dialogue for myself, and serious discussion with my children I suppose.

Now... to change my behavior towards infractions... catch-22. Time to lean. :)