Rockets

Rockets

Monday 30 January 2012

Playing around in my head

I daydreamed a lot as a kid.  As the last comic and this comic show, I had made up a place called Lingolia as a kid.  That was my nation.  I even drew maps of it and other continent/countries.  There were always wars between these nations. 

My fixation with Freelancer also spawned an imaginary realm.  This one turned everything, from plastic toys to music stands into space ships.  Houses were just fortified areas of space, walled in space systems to ensure maximum control/efficiency.  Again, the name of the systems and the places were inspired by real life people in my life.  My faction's navy had outposts everywhere including the Church washroom, a Jazz club washroom, a room in a friends house, etc.

I love making fictional worlds.  I usually don't daydream anymore, which saddens me, but I suppose writing these fantasies down instead of running around the backyard is more 'mature'.  God I miss being a kid.

-Red

Saturday 28 January 2012

Not too much internet today

I'm spending the day with my Dad.  I remember to, I'll take a video for you guys to see.

Here's a webcomic.  I've done my rounds at the Escapist and I'm ready to go.  Take care out there.

-Red

Friday 27 January 2012

Stupid in the mornings

Yesterday I thought I had work, got up on time, went to work and was there on time.  Didn't work yesterday so I headed back home.  Go to bed the same time I did on Wednesday night, sleep in over an hour, get to work 40 minutes late today.  WTF body...

-Red

Thursday 26 January 2012

Introspection

Just thinking about what motivates me, my feelings, my actions, my desires.  What is my balance point?  Am I doing things for others or for the feeling I get myself?  What guides me, inspires me?

I know everyone goes through this.  I just seem to go through it in cycles...

-Red

Wednesday 25 January 2012

This just in.

Still sore about losing my keys >.<

Also it doesn't look like I'll be doing much on Steam for the next little while.  Which sucks.  A lot.  But I have a spare set of keys for my car now.  Tomorrow I'm going to be spending time in the city with friends, eventually seeing Haywire in the evening.  Will feel good to be out and about without being disappointed by job opportunities I lost out to more experienced people.

Webcomic?  Webcomic.

-Red

Tuesday 24 January 2012

I lost my keys. All of them.

*screams of rage*

-Red

The day so far.

Mixed day at the halfway point.  2 good points, 3 bad points.

Good first:

- While working I end up helping an old woman with cakes.  Takes me ten minutes to help her and I clock out late but I get called a gentleman.  LIKE A BAWS.

-Got new headphones that are better than my $5 pair.  Then I ate an amazing turkey sub for lunch.

Bad now:

-My department manager at work slipped and hit her head on some ice yesterday, I just found out now.  She's going to be out of the store meaning the store manager will be making our schedules.  He's a jerk and he cuts our hours, hours I desperately need in order to afford my car/rent payments.  Why couldn't he have slipped on the ice instead?  I mean my department manager isn't a coddler but she gave us free Tim Hortons gift cards for Christmas and is always cheerful.

-Nearly got into an accident and it was my fault.  Was too into the music, wasn't paying attention.  POST IT NOTE ON BRAIN: DON'T JUST ASSUME ITS A FOUR WAY STOP!!

-The cable I use to provide the machine I use for Minecraft and other games is dead.  I won't be able to get a new one strung up for quite some time.  That sucks big time, I'll have to consider getting a new wireless card now seeing as the one I have in it is toast too.  Money, money, money...

And enjoy today's webcomic.  The switchover to new sprites won't happen for 8 or more comics or something.

-Red

Monday 23 January 2012

New Webcomic sprites

Though I've already made some with my terrible sprites, SkyeNeko has graciously provided me with the building blocks to make less terrible looking characters. 

MOREOVER! 

Yahtzee will have less reason to sue me if he was bored following the last of the comics I have made with ripped ZP sprites.  So yeah, now I can really kick the webcomic into high gear!  When I feel like it.

Thanks again SkyeNeko!

-Red

Sunday 22 January 2012

Cleaning and more procrastination.

You know how I tell when my room is too messy for even me?  When I can't find my games.  Pokemon Leaf Green has been AWOL for a month and even that hasn't motivated me enough to clean it.  Now that the entire DS is gone, I'm more motivated.  Problem?  11:46 PM.  *sighs*

I am famous for an eleventh hour victory maneuver.  Nearly didn't get my Documentary Film Certificate due to me having work to do after graduation in order to get all the marks in on time.  So far no catastrophic failures but one of these days the universe is going to put its hand on my shoulder and be all like: "You know all that luck you've been having since High School?  Collection time."

More random rambling?  Alrighty.  I think I've started a second wind of Forum Games obsession.  I've been thinking about new game ideas constantly, been going through my 2.5 pages of forum bookmarks (I ought to make a post here about them some time) and I've been F5ing again.  Since back in, I think, June I had begun to slow down.  Dunno why.  I started posting in OT more again.  I suppose there might be a cycle I'm not aware of yet that I'm following.  In anycase I don't subscribe to that one guy's graph...


IT WILL NOT APPLY TO ME!

*ahem*

CATS!

I like cats a lot but as friends.  Also male cats are generally much less bitchy hormonal insane and unpredictable.  Dogs on the other hand?  Pure platonic love.  I can have an arrangement with a cat and enjoy it but if I have a dog I am the master and he/she is my ever ready follower.  Loyal to the end!

I must be tired if I'm posting like this.  So, to conclude this post that doesn't have a webcomic in it have another picture.


Hell, have some music too.  I've had this on loop for about two days now.



Sebastian!  Woof!

-Red

Friday 20 January 2012

Someday...

the comic will be less illegal.  In the meantime, have some more.


And yes, the webcomic has a name.  It just hasn't decided to tell me what it is yet.

-Red

Thursday 19 January 2012

I made more

Because I didn't do the whole internet thing the other day.


And just so you know now, no.  5 is not going to be a character.

OH

I might be getting someone with actual art skills to clean up my sprites.  IMPROVEMENT?  NOT UNHEARDOF!

See you next time.

-Red

Tuesday 17 January 2012

Oh and I guess this is starting.

It's early enough on the 18th to forgive me, right?  Cause I am going to participate in the internet blackout today.  I'll just not go online after I wake up later in the day.

That is all.

-Red

The horror


This is the product of five hours folks.  Well, the bulk of that was finding and getting linux to run a linux based comic creator program.  The text has to be edited in on another program as writing words apparently is too much for the comic application.

Another problem with it is it doesn't allow for copy and pasting so if characters look bigger or smaller in seperate panels I'm sorry.  I warned you guys I'm not an artist.  Red here was originally a tiny Sonic the Hedgehog ZP sprite I edited horribly.  I would like to work with sprites that I don't have to edit very much but that's a pipe dream.

So yeah, this is the fruit of my labor.  There are obviously going to be more characters and *gasp* possibly backgrounds later on.  I have a story in my head but the mechanics of making a webcomic are still in the prototype stage.  I will tell you now I think it looks like ass but your feedback is what matters to me.

Art is not my forte.  If I can find sprites I can steal and alter for this borrow and modify I will.  Until then, Red is probably going to look like this.  Unless someone can *please* touch him up better than I can...  That reminds me, I have OTHER CHARACTERS to make from this sprite.

*shudder*

Well, don't consider this the start of the series.  Consider this the start of the start of the start of the series.

I need a hug...

-Red

Monday 16 January 2012

Winter happened

It was too good to last.  You see winter usually starts in Saskatchewan in November.  We didn't have snow on the ground on Christmas.  Two days ago the snow came and the chill came.  Last night it was -30.  Winter driving is dangerous.

I feel at home again.  For the last month and a half I was wondering if I had stumbled upon an unrainy Vancouver.

Oh and in other news, I know how I want to put together the webcomic now.  I just need Zero Punctuation sprites.  If you guys have any ideas, let me know in the comments.

-Red

Saturday 14 January 2012

I'd post a blog post

but Minecraft is taking it's toil on my time.  SOOOOOO MUCH FUN!

-Red

Friday 13 January 2012

Dreaming obsession

I'll just copy paste this from my post in my Escapist dream group:


"I was supposed to wake up 3 hours ago but I just had to continue this dream. I went back to sleep to continue the dream.
You see I was in this giant apartment and apparently I was one of the eldest siblings in a massive family. At first I was giving a tour to someone, possibly an imaginary girlfriend, of the house. She couldn't believe how big it was or that we had three stoves (two modern and one old), two refrigerators, four microwaves and a walk in pantry. I explained that my parents had become landlords and they owned two apartments. They knocked down a wall and made a giant kitchen, although a tiny kitchen with older appliances remains in one corner as a place where the kids can learn to make their food. This is similar to what my sister's inlaws have in real life.
The dream progressed and after playing some Freelancer on my computer in my cramped personal space in the attic (away from everyone else) I was summoned to help make supper. My cooking was as bad as it was in real life and everyone bugged me about it. After watching a movie while eating (I think it was a Die Hard movie), my duty was to get my brothers and sisters (though a good number of them were real life cousins and my nephew and niece) to bed. Brushing everyone's teeth was easy enough, getting them to stay in their beds was nearly impossible.
I went on patrol, had to stop a massive pillow fight in this one giant room and kept trying to get my nephew Jaspar and my niece Ivy to go to sleep. In the end I had to confiscate a bunch of lightsaber toys as they wouldn't stop playing with them. I had to go on patrol again and people in the other rooms. There were about seven rooms and one massive living room filled with bunk beds. I had to inspect at least 26 beds with kids in them to ensure they were asleep. There were also strange noises and I kept imagining a thief outside the apartment.
One room had two cats inside who could talk. One was my sister's cat Venom who treated me like an old friend and one was a talking cat who starred in a show. I spent some time with them before returning to the patrol in the main hallway. I had to go back to the room I was mainly in charge of and had to keep ordering the kids into their beds and to try and sleep. I myself felt exhausted by this point.
Then, suddenly these strangers come into the room with my Dad. Apparently some sort of government funded test for young children about bi-sexuality. It made me furious and when I kept moving around in my bed my dad angrily demanded I take the quiz too. I was so tired and mad that I just answered all the questions N/A, writing furiously. I had gone through all the trouble of finally getting everyone almost asleep and here they were wide awake for this test bullshit.
I finished the test and fell asleep. I vaguely remember starting a new dream in a Minecraftian landscape before my Mom demanded I get up. It is now 1:30 PM and I started the get up, resume dream cycle at 10:00 AM.
Ever get those dreams you just feel compelled to finish? This was one of them for some reason. It almost felt like everytime I woke up in the real world, I was slacking off on my duties in the dream world.
So yeah, now to actually accomplish something today. Cause I spent all my time dreaming until now."

...

Well, I have no idea why I can't get up.  I tried valiantly and yet there was this force continually dragging me back into this universe my brain had made.  Is it possible I'm just too fond of dreaming?  It's caused problems for me in the past (almost made me late for the most important exam of my university's term).  Today, fortunately, I just didn't have anything to do today besides the usual look for work routine.

I dunno.  This is a weakness and a strength as sometimes my dreams are really inspiring.  I know of two stories I'm working on that were directly influenced by a dream.  My biggest fear is that someday in the future I will sleep in and miss a custody hearing for my children or something and lose everything.

So yeah, learning how to get up when I need to get up has been a battle with me.  Since forever.

-Red

P.S. Last day before my return to the forums.  Feeling much less angry though :P

Wednesday 11 January 2012

Don't rebuke me

Feed Dump's comments can't count as the forums.  DAMMIT LRR!  STOP BEING SO HILARIOUS.

Also I'm totally in the Minecraft zone right now.

-Red

Tuesday 10 January 2012

A break

Its obvious I'm getting to worked up about this and a few other things happening on the site at the moment.

I'm going to be taking a break from the site until Saturday.  Well, I am going to still watch the content I love but no more posting on the forums.

You see me posting, rebuke me.  I need self control.

-Red

Escapist Popularity Contests

Are we seeing a return of the forum celebrities?  I certainly hope not.  I remember joining the site and seeing people like Hub and Furb with at least a dozen people always quoting them just to show they love them.  It got annoying for them and for others and it really didn't contribute to discussion at all.  When they got banned, the era seemed to end.

The 2010 period to mid 2011 period was a nice time in terms of egos.  Most egos were contained mostly to user groups or specific threads but inflated egos in Off Topic were frequently flattened.  It was nice seeing discussions proceed without caring about who posted it.  Then Ryan joined and in April of 2011 Miracle of Sound got his own series.

While Ryan made a usergroup for "special members" (and invited EVERYONE) Miracle reaffirmed his social position in the Escapist "Elite".  He had a high post count, which is obviously very important, and he was very clear in his opinions.  He also made amazing music so I made his user group ;)

However, with the rise of the MLP tide that went across the internet the Escapist once again felt the need to uphold the most "important" members.  Ryan, despite being privately a very egotistical and harsh person, made controversial posts to garner attention.  He was always apologetic and praising those he felt had a higher social position or position of power than him such as mods.  He became generally known throughout the site as he added everyone to his friends list.

While I've been estranged from him for my own reasons for some time now (he didn't even notice) this post isn't about him.  It's the idea that in order to have an opinion that matters, you have to have x number of posts, these badges, these friends, etc.  I don't like it.  When I jumped into the Escapist these attitudes were dying off and I was able to join the community based on my own merits.  I had some rather successful threads back in my pre-neo or "elite" days.  I could go through my own posts to find which ones but.... That might take awhile.

In anycase, my primary complaint against the site redesign is still in effect.  The deletion of the community tab.  You see, it was nice having the site recognize members without badges voted on or having the community organize it.  The spotlight for members and usergroups were submitted privately to the community manager and he/she would take these votes and produce a winner who was interviewed.  There were no badges, no need for pomp and circumstance.  Just "here is someone we've received numerous PM's about and we're going to feature him/her for the month".  There was much less egotism about it in my opinion.

So these Community Awards being set up by Toastiest Zombie (but more likely Ryan from behind the scenes in my opinion) is setting an ugly precedent.  It used to be that if the staff really noticed your contributions they would give you a Thanks badge.  That was enough.  Now we're going to possibly have these contests annually and, we can assume, these "winner" badges too. 

The Escapist has always had some elitism in it, this is true, but this is just encouraging it to blossom.  Moreover I can expect we'll see threads designed just to glorify the OP or possibly another poster to boost their rep for the next round.  This is something I don't want to see progress.  Does this finally make me an old user or, to use 4Chan terms, an "oldfag"?  Possibly.  I'm not proposing we go back to the old layout, I know that will never happen.  I just want OUR tab back.  The tab where the Escapist Staff took the time to be involved with the community more directly despite their busy schedule.

*sigh*

Look, I really don't want to be that kind of person who is against change for the sake of being against change.  I just think the prior system was more honestly driven.  If I recall correctly, Kuliani was against making the "spotlights" a public vote for similar reasons.

However, if the trend is irreversible and there is going to be a second rise of Forum Celebrities I'm not intending on leaving.  Far from it.  I'm going to continue to act the way I have always acted on the Escapist.  I want to be kind, honest, truthful to myself without being afraid to post my opinion.  I want to be open enough to be swayed to another side of an argument if I choose to be, I want to remain positive and not let any amount of "support" get to my head.  I want friends who talk to me because they enjoy my company, not because they think by becoming my friend they too can attain the imaginary "elite" status.

I don't know where the Escapist is going but I'm going along with it in my own way.  Now if only they'd fix the [h1] and [h2] forum codes >.<

-Red

P.S. I don't care who reads this.  This wasn't made in an attempt to convert anyone.  This is how I feel and that's all there is to it.

Sunday 8 January 2012

Webcomic

I had an idea, while fantasizing at work, about webcomics I could make.  I then remembered I can't draw...  At all.  Still, I came up with an idea I really want to work with.  Two aspects of myself split into two characters, my dog and some cameos by Escapist friends in a world of my creation.

I'm figuring out how it will all fit together but I'm liking the idea.  The logistical problem of, you know, having a comic is the first hurdle though...

-Red

Tuesday 3 January 2012

Writing

I need to do more of it.  Procrastinating writing reviews, a special thread not to mention my ongoing novels and film ideas...

...

Excuse me.

-Red

Monday 2 January 2012

Working out

Day 2 of the new year.  I suppose today is as good as any to start working out.  I've always thought that when I turned 20 I would be at the prime of my life.  I'm supposed to be at my strongest, the most independent I'll ever be and my happiest.

If I want to solve these feelings of self doubt, body image, etc I should take it into my own hands.  So after I post this I'm going to start some pushups, situps and jogging.  Time to try and be the 20 year old I thought I'd be >:D

Besides, good cardio leaves the zombies hungry.

-Red