Found this site linked today, and was simply blown away. This guy has completely re-written Grand Theft Auto III for the original 8-bit Nintendo. From scratch, including bitmap art, maps, etc. Check out the amazing time and effort that went into this thing by looking at the map/street layouts he drew up, and the several complicated software development tools he wrote to aide in his coding. Besting himself, he’s even created a dang development NES system to test his ROM builds on. I mean, it’s an entirely new system, his design, his schematics, developed to his needs. I have so much respect for this kind of creativity, it makes me jealous of the awesomeness these people possess. Honestly, I’d hire the guy without ever talking to him based on the project… I mean… unless he’s an ass or something. Intro paragraph over.
I was thinking today about the whole weblog thing, and wondering how long I’ll do it. From way back in high school, I’ve kept a journal on the computer – and only a little over a year ago moved it online. At first, it seemed like a good idea… some of my friends read it, and people would egg me on by telling me it was funny, or interesting. I liked the whole exhibitionist angle, and it gave me an everlasting excuse to tinker with webpages. The bottom line though, is that I enjoy writing, and I think as long as that’s the case – I’ll keep doing it. As it is, I don’t see a stopping point in the near future. In fact, I think that doing it online motivates me to write more – which is good.
I’m so used to writing now, that I constantly find myself thinking about how I’m going to capture things in words – even as they are still going down. When I see something funny, I’m already writing one-liners and stringing together sentences in my head. If I come up with something I particularly like, I’ll sometimes scribble down a sentence or two on paper, or go right online and draft it up. I’ve gotta do it that way, record it immediately, because I often have a problem remembering things. More like a selective problem, but still – I tend to forget things pretty easily. In fact, that was one of the main reasons I started keeping a journal way back when – so I wouldn’t forget my own stories. Really though, the things I tend to forget are relatively meaningless – and for the most part, I remember the stuff that matters.
Actually, I know exactly why I forget stuff – it’s because I’m rarely ever 100% mentally engaged on something. It’s a bad trait of mine. My brain is ever “multitasking,” and I’ve always got a bunch of junk colliding and fighting for short-term space up there. I pay attention selectively, listen selectively, and dedicate synapses selectively. It’s like I’ve taken the concept of speed-reading, “skimming” content for important themes and ideas, and applied it to everything I process. On the other hand, it’s not rare that I stop and give something my dedicated attention, but I don’t think it’s the way I prefer it. I like the somewhat chaotic jumble of thoughts… the “challenge” of keeping it all organized and rational impresses me. Kind of like flying by the seat of the pants (what the heck that means I have no idea, but I know the idea it represents) – not having one thought steady-on is more interesting, more spontaneous.
Wow, that paragraph managed to sound completely insane and egotistical, not at all what I was going for.
What’s up with the quality-control of pirate MP3s lately huh? Several of the albums and EPs I’ve been hotly anticipating not buying have been leaked, and quite of few of them suffer from common MP3 maladies like blipping, blooping, clickyness, scratchiness, hopping, and even bleeping. What’s going on? Big brother inserting digital errors into rippers so I go out and buy stuff? I mean, I’ll get over it – buy the real CD at the show or something, I’m just saying, to all you crews out there, get on the ball man. My new Bright Eyes EPs, the Stars’ new LP, where does the madness end? Who says consumers of stolen goods don’t have a right to complain?
Today at lunch, I came home and made and ate a sammich while watching a great vintage Twilight Zone. Then I took off to Costco to get some Halloween (why’s it capitalized?) candy and soda (I’m a regular health-nut). While I was there, I noticed that they already have their Christmas stuff out in full force. I mean, in my opinion, it’s kinda early to get all Christmas, but I gotta admit I liked it. I actually took time to leisurely stroll up and down the Christmas aisles… against all my “surgical strike” shopping principles.
For some reason, Christmas stuff makes me feel good. Just like Halloween stuff, and Thanksgiving stuff… I just associate those holidays and times of year with something good. I’m sure it has some psychological ties to my childhood or something, I dunno. Anyway, I walked the aisles of Danish butter-cookies, fake pine wreathes, completely wrong-looking Santas (black and “pointy”), inflatable light-up snowmen, and mechanical grazing reindeer – and I was eating it up. In some ways, I’m a big sap.
Fellow nerds, I know it’s extremely B-list, but I just took my first real look at the Google Labs Aptitude Test tonight. Man, they are looking for people that are a lot smarter than me…
Dang, I’m looking through old posts and realizing that, during the conversion to WordPress, some of my commas or ellipses turned into question marks. Now I’ve got random question marks throughout my old entries. Crap.
And that’s about it for tonight, time to hit the sack. G’night, Dave out.
