Programming Bugs (not what you think it is)

Not many may know this but I have this thing I call the "Programming Bug". It's like an itch that must, I mean must be scratched, only in computer form. It's one of those moments where a small part of my brain says "you must make this program... I WILL YOU TO MAKE THIS NOW", and I become kinda helpless unless I obey.

In passing, my grandmother's obituary

Lorene Pannell Choate Ill, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and sister, is a new angel, received by the heavens Monday Jan. 9, 2012. She is being met by her family with open arms as she was the key to our family. Service: 10 a.m. Friday at Blessing Funeral Home. Interment: Pleasant Point Cemetery. Visitation: 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Blessing. She was born Aug. 27, 1931, in Kennedale as the oldest of nine children. Her parents were Susie Mae Lawler Pannell and Hubert Condor Pannell. Lorene lived most of her life in the Metroplex. She worked in the food service area at various locations in Fort Worth, such as the old Texas Hotel, Don Carter's Bowling Alley, The Lonestar Drive-In and Ramada Inn. Her last job before retirement was at the Walmart in Mansfield, where she worked in the fabric area. Lorene was an avid bowler. She bowled at Meadowbrook Lanes for many years. When the new Don Carter's Bowling Alley opened, she bowled on many different leagues over the years. She was a member of the Ladies Traveling League for many years and traveled to a different bowling lane each month. Her time was spent watching soap operas and keeping up with all her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was always doing some kind of needlework, either embroidery or crochet. She was a born gambler. If you said Las Vegas or Shreveport, she was ready to go. She got her numbers every week for the Lotto, Mega Millions, Pick 3 and Pick 4. Lorene got excited just because she won $3 on one of her tickets. Lorene was preceded in death by her sons, Mark Randall Choate and Carl William Choate Jr.; and husbands, Bill Choate and Pete Ill. Survivors: Daughters, Joyce LaHue and husband, John, of Alvarado, Debra J. Sandefur and husband, Clyde, of Bakersfield, Calif., and Barbara G. Allen of Shelbyville, Tenn.; sons, Steven Choate of Wolfe City and Douglas Choate of Midwest, Okla.; daughter-in-law, Shelah Choate of Garland; brothers, Edwin Pannell and wife, Jo, of Vallejo, Calif., Tommy Pannell and wife, Lynn, of Joshua and Dan Pannell and wife, Merilea, of Weatherford; 23 grandchildren; and 30 great-grandchildren.

Lorene Pannell Choate Ill Obituary: View Lorene Ill's Obituary by Star-Telegram

Sadness in Passing

So late last evening Granny was taken off her life support and was woken up. Against certain odds for a while she was doing well. There was talk even of moving her from her nursing home back to the hospital to be cared for better.

That hope, sadly, passed. Though some miscommunication we'd received the word hours before the event actually happened. However, as of an hour ago, she passed on. I will miss my Granny, Susie Lorene Pannell dearly, and for the rest of my own life.

Feeling Sad

For as long as I can remember I've only had one grandparent, Granny Lorene. On my mother's side my grandfather died 6 or so years before I was born. My paternal grandmother as well passed before I was born. I have a single memory of Granpa Sandefur (again on my father's side). I had to have been 2 or 3 and remembered looking up at this tall man that had the whitest hair I'd seen to date. I mean STARK white. And all I could think of was, at this young age, "Who is this guy with white hair and why does he talk to me so much?" No, really, I remember that feeling. Again, however, this was a fleeting image in my mind, as he died before I really was able to bond and form memories with him.

So this leaves but the mother of my mother: Granny Lorene. Don't you dare call her Grandmother, it was Granny. I don't know what I can say about her without having to take a year to fill pages upon pages. Sadly that's time I don't have. I got the call at 11:30am today, a sunny Sunday morning in Arizona. The past 3 years or so Granny has been in a nursing home due to her pulmonary problems. This past weekend an email went out that she was being put on a respirator due to a bout of pneumonia. And now.... she's being taken off the machine and most likely will not make it through the night.

I'm sitting here in my dorm room right now. I closed the blinds and put on some jazz (thank you Spotify) and have been trying to pick up my brain to write this in between fits of sobbing. When a mainstay in your life, the fact that you have a grandparent at least. When something like this comes down the line the stress it causes... I will be fine, if only because I still have other family and friends to see me through.

Merry Holidamaswanzaule (and an update)

So this is my obligatory "Holidays" post and update on me. I'm sorry as I didn't mean to wait so long after I got out of the hospital (Thanksgiving day, in case you're curious).

Banged Up

Ladies and Gentlemen: I write this from a hospital bed at Banner Desert Medical Center. Well, let me rewind to the start.

Monday before last (14th), as I was walking up stairs to go to my biology class. I don't make it past the first landing on these stairs before I made one of my own. One step NAILED me in the right knee. Oh you bet it fucking hurt. Oh and you bet it left a mark.

So over the next week I dealt with the swelling... and bruising... yeah you might see where this is going. To keep this short: Monday the 21st I went to Urgent Care since the bruising had spread, there was still swelling. Well, there was also reddening of my shin. The doctor on staff and I both realized that while I hadn't broken my leg (X-Rays taken... I even have a copy on a CD) but I had developed cellulitis. Just click the link, then come back. Yeah, it's very serious thing to have.

My ass was in ER, at Banner Desert, shortly thereafter. I've been here since. I had surgery this past afternoon to drain a pocket of blood drained that was right below the injury, probably causing a lack of circulation that caused the cellulitis.

 I'll keep my blog updated as right now having moved back in August/Early September I'm all alone in my room. My laptop, and guest wifi, are keeping my sanity.

I'm not dead I swear!!!

You ever get busy with work/homework/a project and leave another little project you have to the back burner? One that's always in the background anyways?

Yeah, this blog became that after I moved and went to school. Sorry about that. To note I've also really not been feeling well. I'd explain but it's more of a mental thing that I just realized was happening and I've had to wrangle my brain back into place this past week. All said and done I'm looking to pick up writing here and there from now on.

Game Jam and Toast

So I've been busy with adjusting to school, my school workload, and other things that I may or may not enumerate later.

Right now I'm waist deep in a Noob Game Jam:

Google Image Search for Game Jam. Sounds yummy!

So what is this, really? Basically we "Jam Noobs" (ie those that have never been in a game jam) get paired up with vets in teams to make a game. In 48 hrs. With or without sleep. I took the former, though see below on what I've learned. What have I learned?

• If you want to sleep, having a RedBull at 9 PM is not a good way to do it. Falling asleep at 3 AM and getting back up at 7 AM is not a good thing.
• Open design docs, ones that all in a team can edit, are breeding grounds for scope creep. Thank the gods that I took some initiative to nail things down.
• I'm a better artist than I give myself credit for. I'll post some of my 'junk' below. 
• Also egos can run in. No, we're not doing the A-Team van.
• We are very sick, sick puppies. The group I'm apart of is doing Rundown, where we run down pedestrians and shoot at the other cars. Our special enemies include Justin Bieber, Obama, and a drunken college girl, among others. Oh and a bear that throws sharks while ridding a unicycle. Yeah the artist, my friend James, is very, erm, pleased to have to draw that by hand. Yeah

So I've got 20 hrs to go on this, wish me luck that I make it. Here's a quick dump of the art I've made so far, enjoy!

A week into school....

So far, as I've only gone through my first day of classes, I really don't have much to report. I swapped some classes last night so I could take C# programming (rather than C++ II) as I needed that for the beginning core of my classes. This means I now do a Mon-Thu for all my classes. Here's basically my schedule, and an explanation after:

• BIO: Biology
• CSC: Computer Science, here it's C# I
• PRO: Professional Studies, this one is the basic course EVERY MAJOR has to take
• COM: Communications, here it's Public Speaking
• GAM: Game related. This one is Intro into Game Design. My major takes it so we know what the designers what us programmers to do.

So, it's a light load this first semester. The juggling too place because C# too place at the same time as my original PRO102. So swapped that with one my roommate is taking, punched in C# and BAM!

I'm here, and it feels weird so far

I'm still a bit exhausted from all of this. Excited and tired, like a little kid on Christmas Eve as they fall asleep at 11:55 pm waiting for Santa. I have been running on Adrenaline and Caffeine for the past 2 days. Even now, after 12 hours of sleep I am still feeling exhausted.

I was up until 1 am cleaning my old apartment on Monday. I had used the previous Saturday with my classmate Tom and a UHAUL to move what large items I was keeping to my storage shed. The time since that night to early Monday morning was a blur.

I shall call it "My Great Purge", as I pretty sure the garbage men are pissed off with me. Assuming they came and picked it up yesterday. If they did the west side garbage bin was full. Also the garbage chute was backed up to the 2nd Floor! Sorry Mr. Garbage Man. Bring a shovel.

So even though I slept nearly 12 hours I may go back until lunch today. Which, of course, means I've become a college student overnight XD.

[Edit] oh and I had Hot Pockets for breakfast, so doubly so. Having those reminded me of this, enjoy.