The Monday Post - May 14 2012

Yeah so I was going to try to have a post made about what is on my mind the past week, as promised before. The problem being that the only thing on my mind today was:

I don't always get headaches, but when I do, they are fucking head splitters. Today's was bad enough I stayed in from class. It was also bad enough to cause me mild nausea, thought that could have been other things, I'm not sure. I've spent most of the day sleeping. I don't like this, makes me feel like I've wasted a day.

Sick and Insomnia

Yeah, remember my last post where I was hoping to go out more? Kinda got bronchitis as of last night. Which means 1-2 weeks of coughing. And being hopped up on cough meds.

Soooooooo, rather than waste this opportunity brought on by insomnia I thought I'd just post some things that are on my mind, 2 days into this semester's classes.

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.

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).

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.

Change Feels Weird

So, if you look at my countdown clock I'm nary 1 week away from my move in to Arizona. It feels... strange. Weird, exciting, scary, wonderful, awesome all rolled up into one emotion. Swirling in my head day and night now.

I'm sitting here, right now at work ( :O I'm surfing, I'M SURFING HAHAHAH), composing and email to users/coworkers/friends about my last day being next Friday with the company. It's bittersweet and I thought to immortalize it here, just for kicks ^_^ Take care all, I have a party tomorrow as a going-away thing and I'll be taking pictures.

Hello Everyone,

Throughout the past year I have re-examined my current standing in life. To pull a movie quote out here it was “measured, weighed, and found wanting”. Putting it more bluntly I was dissatisfied with where I was and decided that I had the power to change this. Thus I put into motion a plan to better myself via grand changes in my life.

That leads me to the purpose of this announcement: 8/26/11 will be my last day at <REDACTED>. Over the past 10 years I have had the pleasure of seeing this company grow robustly and astonishingly. However my future plans will not allow me to work in my current position, therefore I made the difficult decision to move on. For the curious I will be moving on in my life in leaps and bounds: I was accepted to The University of Advancing Technology, located in Tempe, Arizona, and will be pursuing my Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science with an emphasis on Video Game Programming. UAT is a fine institution and I hope to have many doors opened before me when I graduate.

It has been a pleasure to have worked with and for you in this past decade of my life. Wish me luck and longevity in this new adventure in my life.

The Countdown Has Begun!

Take a look to your right up. You'll notice something. I picked out a nice flash flip-clock to countdown my time until move-in at UAT. I got my housing info just last night. I'm so EXCITED!


And worried, and scared, and a mix of emotions I haven't felt... ever. It's weird for this old fox* to feel like this. I'm pulling myself up by my own bootstraps to move to another state, leaving behind all that I've known in my life. Though I didn't move here until I was 13, Costa Mesa IS my hometown. I'm going to miss the town I use to call "Coastal Misery" but now realize I was the one miserable.


*it would take too long to explain the choice of animals here

[Edit] Almost forgot to add in this weirdness. So a long time coworker of mine, Renee, pointed out for me that my handing of my resignation to work yesterday, August 1st, was exactly 10 years to the day I started working for my company. I didn't plan it that way, but find it fitting.

Listening and Small Groups

Right now part of my time, and part of the reason why I've not blogged as much this month, is taken up by a night class I have. I'm taking a quick, 4 week, Summer course in Interpersonal communications. What is interesting in the class is watching the nearly 30 other faces while one person is doing a presentation. It goes back, oddly, to my thoughts on how introverts and extroverts deal with social information.

In a setting like this you can really tell who is more extroverted: They keep their gaze on the presenter. Introverts,  like me, tend to stare off in the distance or downward. We're listening and processing the info rather than sucking in the scene waiting for the next. And rather than listen attentively I end up writing this (or, transcribe my notes the next day ^_^).

It's also interesting to realize how some people hover between these two states. You'll see attention paid out, but then switch to processing. Back and forth they go, sometimes with more attention or more processing time. It goes to prove my idea about the MBTI being more percent, rather than absolute, based. I mentioned in my Healer post how I switch between Feeling and Thinking. Same idea here, but between extroversion and introversion. Something I would never accuse myself of wavering on (I AM an introvert, damn you). Also add in the fatigue of a 6 pm - 10 pm, Tuesday to Thursday class and you get some interesting reactions in the subject.

In closing, a sentence that came out of my notes but never found a place to fit in the above because it can stand on its own:

"When you are not accountable for what you are listening to, a truer self emerges."