Month: March 2014

Faster Than Light, run or die

frog3Leave a comment

Space-time is fun time as I always say. That is why I have learned to love                           the game Faster Than Light also know as FTL. FTL is a real-time strategy game where one must successfully navigate to the end of a danger filled galaxy. In FTL you control a ship and its crew whom are attempting to flee from the evil rebel fleet. While you can get away for sometime at the end of the game you will eventually be forced to fight a final rebel ship. Not that I would know anything about that.

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The game received much attention because of its mind-boggling difficulty. There is only two difficulty modes easy and normal; they might as well be renamed hard and extremely hard. I have played easy and normal and on easy I have yet to even make it to the third stage of the game. Now while trying to play FTL is hard enough it also incorporates permadeath. Permadeath, in this instance, is when your ship is destroyed game is over and you have to start all. Countless times have I seen my ship and crew destroyed while I furiously tap my keyboard in anger.

For anyone looking for something new and a challenge I highly recommend the space faring game FTL.

The Three Beasts

frog3Leave a comment

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On an iron beast that does not smoke.
Where it goes I do not know.

The ride took quite a bit of time.
I waited for the awful chime.

To signal where the ride would end.
Waiting for the Judas friend.

The friend was large and quite a whale.
He told us all to go to hell.

Lurching but staying on the same path.
Not wanting to face realities wrath.

Soon I and another got up and off.
On the last treacherous stop.

Another stopped once we were done.
And ended our terrible mechanical wrong.

A nice steed large and white.
Carried us into the night.

Good Blogs

enternity1030Leave a comment

Recently I found some really good blogs online.
Some are formal, some are more about daily life.
One of my favorite is called “Jaron Report.”

“Jaron Report” is a journalism blog that is run by Jaron Gilinsky, a video journalist, documentary filmmaker and web entrepreneur from Canada. The blog is mostly the reporter’s personal journalistic experience and his opinions on the trends of modern journalism and the challenges the journalists are facing. He analyzes critically about some issues such as the credibility of Wikipedia. He also gives some advice of how to become a good journalist.

The layout of the page is simple and easy to see the titles of each articles. Most of the articles are long and some of them have pictures. On the left side, there are links to other journalism blogs, the news on current TV, some feature documentaries, CNN world report and the blog archive which leads readers to his earlier posts.

The blog focuses on Jaron’s writing works and it’s really helpful to read his own experience and learn something from them.

Blogs are ways for people to express their ideas and record their life through words and pictures. Different types of blogs have different focuses therefore people can search for their preference. It’s just amazing how blogs have become more and more popular these days and how they connect people together as a whole world.

The Honorable Gamers’ ten commandments

infamousdolphinLeave a comment

Ever since the creation of multiplayer video games, innocent gamers have had to cope with the typical, senseless, annoying, horrid players otherwise known as “scrubs” who will do even the impossible to ruin the experience. However boosters, glitchers, hackers and trollers have a counterpart; the honorable gamers. These commandments are the covenant between the chosen gamers and the developers of the game.

1- Thou shalt not tea bag, unless thine enemy is a scrub

2- Respect your noob brethren and attempt to help

3- Thou shalt not glitch nor exploit the game to your advantage

4- The use of overpowered equipment is forbidden for the honorable

5- Thou shalt not whine in chat

6- To brag about being honorable is not honorable

7- If you are inviting someone to your house to play video games, thou shalt have 2 controllers

8- Those who hack are to be sent to the fiery depths of perma-ban

9- EA sucks

10- Playing Candy Crush is not gaming

Unison

indigoshellLeave a comment

You stay up late the night before, preparing a presentation for that class you hate.

Everyone has to present. Everyone was assigned one section of a rather specific topic, and was told that they would be presenting on that specific day.

So the day comes and all your classmates quietly meander in, as if reciting the material to themselves.

Then the teacher comes in and starts the class.

You exchange a glance to the classmate to your left. What about the presentation?

The person to your right catches your eye. Did I read the homework sheet wrong? Were we not supposed to present today?

Eyes wander the room and relieved grins are held. Everyone almost telepathically nods at each other, thinking in unison with each other, you say nothing, I say nothing, we will all say nothing.

And thus, the presentation deadline has been extended.

The Relentless Attack on Reddit

infamousdolphinLeave a comment

Breaking News:

Panic ensues as protests begin to outrage across the Ojai Valley School campus in response to a recent SonicWall block that forbids students to access Reddit. Mobs of enraged students flip cars and siege classrooms as they plea for the unblock.

Alright, it’s not that bad, but it’s getting serious. I am even thinking of sending a letter asking for Reddit back; a serious, formal letter.

Asides from that, only about 1.5% percent of the students, that being 3 people have complained about this major inconvenience.

Yes, Reddit does possess some adult materials in certain subreddits, but its no excuse to block the website. In fact, Reddit has more positive impact than negative. For example r/worldnews, r/funny or my personal favorite, r/doge.

Honors Ski Trip

Daphne PsaledakisLeave a comment

For the past three years, I have signed up to go on the Honors Ski Trip. Every year it’s just as much fun, if not more.

We start the week on Monday with a six-hour van ride from school to Yosemite. As awful as that seems, the drive really isn’t that bad. On Tuesday, we normally go skiing. This year, we did a seven mile loop.

It’s safe to say that towards the end of the ski I was seriously considering sitting down and not getting back up. Nordic Skiing, if you’ve never tried it, is way harder than you think.

On Wednesday, we set off on what was supposed to be a hike of a little more than a mile long. We ended up hiking three and a half miles of what felt like vertical switchbacks. Basically, we scaled a mountain. Five days later, my calves are still just a little bit sore.

On Thursday, we went on another hike, which was really more of a walk as everyone was so tired from the day before. We did however lose the trail, and wound up bushwhacking through the redwood forest for a little bit.

On Friday, we packed back up and set off on the six-hour van ride back to school. Upon arriving and unpacking the vans, I’m pretty sure everyone just about crashed.

Although there wasn’t as much skiing this trip due to the weather as there has been in years past, it was still really fun. For me, the trip isn’t about the skiing or the hiking. It’s about the time we spend together in the cabins, hot tubbing and playing inappropriate or Chinese card games. We all laugh and have fun. We hang out with people we normally wouldn’t when at school. It’s not a trip you have to go on with your best friends — you can go by yourself and it will still be just as much fun.

Divergent

Daphne PsaledakisLeave a comment

As some of you may know, on March 21st Shailene Woodley is starring in a new film called Divergent. The movie is based on of a book much like The Hunger Games. Only it’s better; at least in my opinion.

While The Hunger Games was definitely amazing, and the allusions to ancient culture were especially remarkable, the book was not quite as good as Divergent. 

Divergent follows the story of a girl who chooses the bravery faction, and follows her throughout her initiation. However, she’s not just a normal person choosing to change factions. She’s divergent, meaning that she could fit into the majority of the factions, and that the system can’t control her.

What ensues is a suspenseful story of an innocent girl learning how to fight and use her head while doing so, venturing into her first romantic encounter, and recognizing the flaws of her society. The book ends as the rebellion kicks off with a bang, but unlike The Hunger Games, the next two books are just as good as the first.

I can not wait for the movie to come out.

You Will Never Be a Team Captain

indigoshellLeave a comment

So I finally got into League of Legends.

I pretty much suck, but of course, nearly everyone sucks at their first few times playing a new game. I got it Tuesday, March 4th.

My roommate’s an early sleeper, and so last night I sat in the hallway to play one last game before sleeping. It was near midnight or so, and I was playing alone, randomly matched with other players.

I suppose I shouldn’t say their usernames, but they were obviously acquaintances. It was 3v3, so I was the outsider.

I usually die 2-6 times within the first 10-15 minutes depending, and this time I wasn’t doing so hot, as I was quite tired.

And these two users began to comment on me.

“First time playing as Volibear?”

I said no, I was just tired and in a funk because I had SATs the next day.

“I hope you don’t test like you play.”

“The world always needs more janitors.”

“Volibear: How not to play.”

I ignored them pretty easily, as I was thinking these guys either didn’t know that they were being total butts or they were trying to make me mad in some way.

In the last stretch of the game, when all the opponents were gathered around our Nexus and were trying to destroy it, I realized that two players were nowhere to be seen on the map. Yet they were still commenting on how horribly I was playing. I asked them to come back and help me defend home base.

And then, more comments on how badly I play.

Their comments really didn’t get to me too much. I reported them, closed the game, then tried to focus on something else as I tried to sleep.

Yet today I felt reluctant to open up the game.

Yarn to Life

indigoshellLeave a comment

I like to knit. I like how you can never forget how to knit. I like the idea of creating something through your knitting.

What I don’t like though is rolling yarn. I got a large box of yarn for Christmas and spent about a week rolling all of them.

Yarn comes in many shapes and sizes, all varying in difficulty of rolling-ness. The easiest way to roll them is to pull out the yarn end from the middle of it and pull – and commence the rolling.

In my many hours of rolling and many hand cramps, I have realized that rolling yarn, the act of rolling it, and the yarn ball itself, is a lot like life.

Yes, life. I’m comparing a ball of yarn to life. Just hear me out.

It starts off small, and rolling it is quick and easy. It doesn’t matter how you roll it now, because since it’s so small it doesn’t matter.

Eventually you’ll start getting impatient, right? So you’ll start rolling it faster, faster, faster, until your hand slips and a large ribbon of yarn falls off the ball. Then you have to pause, untangle the ribbon, and re-roll it, kind of like fixing your mistakes after plowing through life too quickly.

If you start the ball off too loosely, the ball of yarn will be really big, and it gets hard to hold. Of course, you gotta get the job done, so you gotta keep rolling that ball of yarn. Your hand will cramp, all that nasty stuff, and the process is slowed, kind of like trying to live with the wrong start in life.

But you can’t roll it too tightly for too long, as your hand will cramp anyway. See, no matter what, your hand will cramp, so it’s best to anticipate it with a warm towel or something (I just played some computer games). Just like how you need vacations in life or else you’ll just be crawling through life, suffering every inch of the way.

I think the point I’m trying to make is that when you spend two hours a day rolling yarn covered in dirt and horse hairs you start to see life differently.