So I wanted to say Hi to everyone on here. :)

We gets married in five days. o.O

Ya know, if I was reading a really good spy thriller kind of book, here's what I'd do. I would recruit new members of my cult/cell/group via the internet. Basically foster some kind of trust with people across the country, attempting to play each one as a piece to be won, another part of the puzzle I was putting together to solve whatever my insane mind was trying to fix in the world.

And I would contact them on MySpace, with a similar buddy icon and some unrealisticly accurate commentary on your page, right down to the attitude towards a show that only a fan could understand... and it being a show that only a select few have seen. This would intrigue them so well that they were forced to go to my page, an attempt to see just what kind of nut I am. But it would be... friends only. What do they do? Of course they go to add me.

From there, they are hooked. Next.

Sorry for such a weird rant, but I just got a random message on MySpace from someone who may very well be trying to recruit me for a terrorist cell. I can't be positive, but who really knows these days?

Uhh, creepy. Very creepy. But I'm down, July 3rd is a boring day. :)

While this is the title of Al Gore's new book, I think it goes pretty well to describe the state of the world in general today. Once again I am blown away by the irresponsibility of the media. While I am generally a fan of MSNBC and their reporting (biased, of course, but not as bad as Fox), I go to their website yesterday and see the headline story is something about finding out how much of what we get in stores is made in China. Over to the right, which usually denotes the less important stories, something about another terrorist deal in the UK where they tried to crash into the airport lobby in Glasgow.

So... It is more important for Americans to read what was essentially a puff piece on Chinese made goods (since no real pertinent info was given, although I guess now I know I can get some brands of New Balance shoes that are made in the US for a high price) than to know about something which may be a new trend in destructive attacks in the world today. Who knows, could have been a few random nuts in the UK who want to make some noise or scare everybody a bit, could be a sleeper cell who was told to act but was underprepared for the task they were given. It just sickens me that what is put in front of people as important matters for shit, meanwhile the important things are tucked away so as the newsmedia can say they covered it (thereby performing their responsibility to the public), albeit in a sad effort.

On a related note, how many people heard more about the iPhone (no comment) yesterday than about anything else going on in the world? More flooding sends Texans from their homes again, another wildfire in the US has caused deaths, the supreme court leans more and more to the conservative right on a daily basis (kiss your rights goodbye if conservative, white, Christian America doesn't agree with them!)... but hot damn! Apple released a phone?! Well shit, I don't care how much it costs, I'm gonna drive to my local Apple store in my my 10 mile per gallon SUV to get an overpriced iPod so I can be flashier than everyone else on the block. And when there is a problem with it, I get to deal with the worst rated customer service in the cellular world to resolve the problem. I'm sure proud to be an American today.

Leading me to another point... I mention Christian America up there as a negative. It is, it's pathetic how people can miscommunicate a simple message of love and understanding and use it as a: a) a political tool, b) a method to control the masses, c) a justification for laws from the executive branch of the government. Hey asshole, er, I mean, Mr. President, when did religion become part of the government again? Or are you simply too controlled by others (aka the devil, Dick Cheney) to realize what it is you are saying in your prepared speaches?

Last but not least, way to go Montana. You're taking a broad step in fighting against a terrible and destructive drug that should be wiped from the face of the planet. I want this kind of advertising to be around when I have kids as what better tool can a parent have available than to show the true destructive nature of the substance. Go to http://www.montanameth.org/, watch the ads.

Thanks people. Be pro-active, not reactive. Change the world while there is still a world to change. Don't submit, don't give in. Live, love, be, believe.

Things are going well, no, check that, things are going great! I'm looking forward to a vacation with the lovely Jennifer (soon to be Jennifer Hutnick) in less than a month, otherwise I'm at the end of a great weekend and hoping for good things at work this week.

Progress is coming along great on my java game. Today I figured out a problem that had previously plagued me, plus I figured it out in such a way as to save a lot of time and effort. Plus, it looks nicer than any previous time I thought I had it all figured out. Now on to more fun stuff...

No time for all this typing, I've got things to do! :D

I had intended to write a long political rant about the state of the world, the things that have come to light over years gone by, the wrongs unpunished and the rights not recognized...

But I don't want to be angry today. I want to have fun.

I want to live in "a world without sin" (props to you if you know where that reference comes from)...

How do we do that?

I hope everybody had a good turkey day. My parents went over to Jenn's house for dinner and to meet her crazy family... and it was a roaring success!

But on a lighter note...

::clears throat::

Today is my birthday! (sings and dances)

=D

I can now send fan letters to the Recording Industry Association of America with Music Pirate stamps!

Yar!

This is being typed from my new MacBook.

::grooves::

Cell phone game development is moving along, all this silly work is getting in the way. But speaking of work, I'm going to be leaving the insurance finance business in two weeks to move on to a chef position at Mumfords in Red Bank. Closer to home, better pay, around food all day- what's not to love about it? :)

Anyway, back to business. I'm helping Binarysynth with little things here and there on getting her new site up- let me tell you, it looks pretty amazing. She can do things with Photoshop that make me drool. Literally.

I am working on a redesign of requiemdigitalis... again. The last one was too, er, something, but this new one (which I effectively only have the title banner for, but I know how it is gonna look, so there!) should hopefully be here to stay. It's going to be more geared towards the projects I am working on and less towards a personal website (although you can count on my oddball humor being all over the place!).

But the game is going along, as I said. I've got some graphics up and running, working on some custom classes to make things run a little faster.

Last but not least, I want a new phone. I don't need it, per se, but I want it. Sanyo MM-7500. Look it up!

Or go here :)

Pretty, no? I think it may be a present to me once I get my 1-year trade in credit in August. But only if we're doing okay on money and I get my baby's approval.

Free appetizers, not a drop of alcohol, and involving a bunny who has lost the will to hop.

So after my site being up in its present format for less than a month... it's time for a change, again. I got a new idea for how I want things to look, so stay tuned for the new and improved RD in weeks to come.

Have you ever listened to a song a thousand times, but one certain time something in the lyrics just hits you a little too hard?

Waiting for the impact,
You've got nothing to defend

In other news, my dad got me a really nice J2ME book last night at Barnes and Noble after a really nice dinner at Houlihans (sp?). This means I am going to be jumping headfirst into Java development very soon. Beware, cell phone users of the world!

And my baby rocks! Just because!

Current Mood: bored

Well, my website is back up and functional again. I am working on some visual tweeks to it and still have to smooth out a few rough edges (plus add a whole slew of stuff), but I think it is looking good.

On a similar note, Pawn's site has undergone a bit of a renovation and is definitely worth taking another peek at if you haven't been there in a while. Lots of good stuff going on there.

I've also finally started using my DeviantArt account, and although there aren't many pictures up there, I plan on digging through my old stuff and posting some of that up there (or Pawn will, in fact, kick me). Just a matter of finding a few cds with all my old work on it.

Hmm, I am thinking I may want to look back into Bryce for 3D modeling and landscape work. If I can fit it in with everything else, I will. But Java is my main focus now, so I'm not making any promises.

What else, what else... Well, yeah, for starters it has been a while since I posted. Lots going on, as you can see. Life is still incredibly weird but things are slowly returning to somewhere left of normal. Got so much to learn, so many sites to do, so many projects to begin/work on/finish, and so many video games to play! Life is busier than it needs to be, but that's okay. It is better to have all these things to do than to be sitting around and twiddling my thumbs all day (although, that as opposed to a day of my current job does sound kind of tempting).

All me and Jenn need is for someone to need art and web development for a new company and to hire us for gobs of money. Or to win the lottery. That'd work too, cause then we'll start our own damn company. :D

I'm just babbling now, time for me to go.

Peace out.

Current Mood: bored

So I am at work, boring as always, but now I actually have something to do (well, besides the now 4 websites that I have registered that I need to work on!).

Courtesy of my dad...

Technically Overboard

This site has lots of great little links and things to keep me amused throughout the day, and the bonus is that I have yet to find a link off of that site which is blocked by my company firewall.

Thanks dad! :)

My baby rocks!

Current Mood: ecstatic

...and you've only spoken to me once. Come on, you can do better than that, homie.

Current Mood: sad

Ryan, I wish I knew you better. I wish I had known what was eating at you, what was getting to you so badly that you could not even tell anybody, despite us all trying. Despite us all loving you, and caring about you, and making offers to help, what was so bad that we couldn't know? What was so horrible that ending it all was the only answer?

I think Dad said it best... Your name in so many places was In Search of Sunrise... I hope you found the sunrise you were looking for. I hope you found it along with peace, comfort, and a happiness that it seems was too hard for you to hold on to here. I hope you found all that and more and that you are and will continue to watch over me until my time comes. Then I can see you again and you can tell me why your time here had to be so short.

I am gonna miss you man. There was so much we never got to do together. You were gonna be the best man at our wedding. You were going to be an uncle one day- and imho, you would have made a great father and husband too. We were going to go on adventures together, go out for drinks every now and then. We were going to grow old and grumpy about how kids have no respect for their elders. But your time has come, my brother, and I am going to have to do all of these things for both of us now.

I will make you proud of me. I will grow up to be a man that you would be proud to call your brother.

I know no amount of tears will bring you back to us, Ryan. No matter how many times we ask why we may still never know. I have spent so long staring at your picture, Ryan, wishing, hoping, praying that somehow you can let us know that you are okay wherever you are now. That the pain is gone, that you have found peace, that you have found your sunrise.

I love you and I miss you more with every minute that passes, Ryan, may you have found peace where you are and I expect some answers when our time comes and we join you.

I just wish, just one more time, I could hear you complaining about our answering machine message. Just one more time...

I love you and I miss you Ryan.

Current Mood: numb

For no good reason, I am in a bad mood today.


It all started with receiving a contract from one of our sales offices. Normally, when working on a contract, there are certain things you do. Aka, if the premium is over a certain amount, check these things, if it is over a higher amount, write those things, etc. Well, a fair majority of the time, if a contract is over the first limit, they slap a cover sheet on it and send it to us to process, skipping all the leg work and making us cover for them. I got one of these contracts this morning and it just pissed me off. That was probably around 9am this morning and it is still sitting over by the corner of my desk. I'm still angry so I haven't touched it since I threw (and I do mean that literally) it over there.


In other news, I've been printing up a ton of C++ tutorials, so hopefully in the next few weeks I should be brushed up on everything I used to know and knowledgeable enough to put together a rough framework as far as a game goes. Of course this is excluding graphics, multi-player anything, sound, keyboard/mouse input, story, etc, etc, etc... But enough to know "This is how you start a program" and to get the basics working. In the meantime, I should be developing a good outline of what I am going to need. Then it is just step by step, starting at the most bare bones of graphics then working my up until I've got a somewhat playable game. Then I figure out the online part. Then the story. Then all the little gaps and holes get filled in and I'll be a millionaire in no time.

Well, the millionaire part is questionable, but that's about how the rest will go.

And my joints hurt a lot today, I'm not a huge fan of being 24 and having what seems to be the beginning of arthritis.

That's all for now, gotta get back to what little work we have to do today.

Peace out, folks!

Current Mood: Venting