knic84's public diary

Pics have been resized and uploaded. So some time, I'm definitely going to have that journal typed up, or at the very least, just the pics here with some descriptions...

I've been really really bored today. If only there was a better way to spend my time. Moreover, if I had any interest in said way. But I don't. That's why I'm going to watch the Fox Box crossover thing later... yes, cartoons. I'm bored.

2 days before school starts and this is the best way I can find to spend my time. That's sad... and I'm hungry. This sucks. It really really does. Maybe I can play around with the blog code and make it purdier to look at.

It's going to be a helluva time trying to readjust my stupid internal clock thing to 6 am mornings... and my brain to working...

knic84 left, nothing more, at 6:03 PM.

My, but it has been too long since I threw anything up here. As fall draws its school-bringing curtain over bright and happy summer, life is yet again getting in the way of having time to waste. And for some reason I'm feeling entirely indifferent to it all. This is most disturbing, as usually I have some false hopes for the year to fill me with temporary anticipation, or resign myself to the reality that early mornings, homework and a heavy load to lug around are going to take a nice toll and make me miserable. Yep... 6 am, that's when I'll have to be getting up 3 days of the week... hideous. Maybe I'll manage, somehow. Either that or this blog here will document my fall into some hideous morass of psychosis very nicely.

I don't know if maybe somewhere along the line I bought the straw that broke the camel's back, but I think I have too many games and not enough will to play 'em. I have been able to stick with a game for over 30 hours playtime, which is amazing for me these days, but it's only because Final Fantasy 3 is decidedly a work of art the likes of which we aren't privy to much anymore. I'm not feeling easily entertained, so maybe I'll pour my energies into that rpg maker game I'm making, feel like I'm doing something useful.

This little piece of free time before school starts hasn't been a total bust or anything, but I haven't settled into it as I usually do so easily with time off. March break last year was so perfectly relaxing, with Xenogears to keep me company, I don't know what's so different now. Maybe just out of steam. Either way I know I'm gonna miss the time off when I don't have it anymore. Then I'll look at this and laugh. Laugh, I tell you, that deranged crazy laugh. That laugh.

Well, I know there was something else I was supposed to remember to write here to justify the continued occupance of server space by this blog, but I've forgotten what so I'll just go to bed instead. To dream something kooky, no doubt. Hahaha...

knic84 went a step down the ladder at 1:01 AM. Not the social ladder.

Hey all, back after such a prolonged absence with the only justification being I got my hands on a new gem: F-Zero GX. Very nice game, though I haven't felt the pull of the N64 version, probably since I played that one to insane lengths. But I still love this new and improved version of said game, which deserves as much credit as a standalone experience for those who are new to F-Zero. The track design pulls every trick imaginable out of a very visually stunning hat, as you rocket down corkscrews and tunnels that unfurl into abysmal pits below with saliva-inducing smoothness. So design really is the high point, even with graphics like the game has, since you could never get innovation like this out of the Cube's ancestral hardware. It should also be noted how wavy the game is - you'll feel a wicked roller-coaster effect even more than with the last game. The cylinders aren't quite as small around and the half-pipes aren't quite as narrow, but the difficulty somehow stays about the same if not greater than F-Zero X's. This is a must play for any racing game fan person type dealie. And Sega was on board, so you know it's doubly good. You can feel the Amusement Vision influence, sometimes going right down to the music in sounding Super Monkey Ball-ish. They're really good at what they do and Nintendo put the project in capable hands with the development house at the helm of F-Zero GX.

Anyway, I guess I should post those vacation updates someday. Fear not, I will. I mean to start a poetry webpage (I've been wanting to for years) but don't know if I have anything worthwhile to put on it. While I'm writing it I usually get a good feeling about the value of what I'm saying in poetry, but afterwards I tend to overanalyze and take away some of the originality of it to make it more ... I don't know... polished? School's done well to make me doubt the substance and butcher the creativity of my work. Yay. I think some of my stuff got thrown out, man I hate when that happens....

Anyway, time for Final Fantasy 3 I believe, before I'm too damned tired to hold a controller. Which is very very very soon.

knic84 lost a contact at 11:30 PM. But she doesn't wear contacts.

I guess that's a nice thing to call my 3-day-shortened-to-2-day-cause-it-was-so-boring trip. I'll get around to typing up my written observations just so you have to experience the same things I did. I also took pictures of anything I thought might show just how bored I was, much to the annoyance of everyone with me. As for the quality of the way I spent the past 2 days, I'll have to say it could've been better but it was a much needed getaway. I think just leaving town for a couple days did me a bit of good, even if CNN followed us straight to our hotel room before any news could've possibly happened, namely at 7 AM, when I hadn't fallen asleep till about 12:30 am the night prior. Man was I pissed off, I was thrashing to show my discontent and smothering myself with pillows to drown out the noise. Actually worked I might add, as I fell asleep, or went unconscious, one of the two. Anyway, back to the point - I haven't touched a computer in a couple days, which is the longest I've been away from one in who knows how long, so maybe I'll be a little rejuvenated now.

Aside from the suckage factor, we returned early cause it was worried my brother might be getting a little lonely. If only he'd come, then maybe I would've gotten to see a certain arcade machine in action or even play it. Anyway, it's good to be back and feeling a little better than earlier today, and now I'll have to try out F-Zero GX. Seems it's delayed a day. I'll have to see for myself. Then convert those pictures and type up the log of my 'Mystical Journey to North Ontario.' I'm not sure how north it actually was, but no matter.

One last thing, I've been asked to make mention of Street Fighter's Ken and Ryu, and though I don't believe this in the least, compare them to the Ambiguously Gay Duo? Just so he'll bloody well stop asking me to put that in my blog, there it is. Now wash it from your minds, and ask me for his email so you can pester him as much as he has me.

knic84 reminisced about the good ol' days (again) at 6:36 PM.

Another day. Saturday. Yay. No, it really is a good thing. Blessed, boring Saturday. I should do something. But what? Maybe get a bit more for my mom for her birthday tomorrow, I spent more on mother's day than I have so far for this occasion. Shoppers Drug Mart has it all for the aromatherapy nut. Which I wouldn't say she is, at all, but maybe it's just my subconscious way of saying, 'stress down.' It's the gift that will give to all of us. And it smells like poppies -- actually, it's labelled opium, but isn't that made from poppies? Somehow a vial of opium scented oil seems... unsettling. It leaked on my hands a bit the day I bought it and left them flower-fresh, so I hope it hasn't spilled out into the box that I've hidden in my brother's magazine box, or else his Nintendo Powers are gonna be the most soothing thing in the house. I never thought the magazine was fair, what with the vested interest in self-promotion and selling games for the company's own consoles. But anyway, then I bought those wax cookie things you melt to waft a pleasant, chemical smell throughout your home. Can't go wrong. Except if we have no candles left, but then, I'd just eat the cookie. I call it, 'digestotherapy.'

... I'm just kidding about the stressing down part. Sorta. Can't make a joke without worrying it's gonna fall on humorless ears.... maybe I need to stress down. Or get out of here. That would cover it and more.

I still haven't decided whether to go on that trip, but I really have nothing else to do. Otogi for Xbox and F-zero for Gamecube will come out while I'm gone, but see, I'm a lazy 19-year-old who hasn't learned to drive and shouldn't expect friends who can to take me to buy games. Not as if I would have a car to drive around even if I had a license, seeing as all we gots is da minivan.

Well, let's see. I did hang out with a friend who's leaving and a former best friend last night. But mostly I hung out with the latter's kid. He was really fixated on a picture of what I think was a corvette or firebird (though I told him it was a ferrari), repeatedly saying "This is a big car." And smacking me with it. It was a shitty visit overall for reasons I won't dig into unless you ask me, but I'm not pissed off anymore about it so I guess I'd rather you not. I will not post in anger on Saturdays.

Hm, maybe if something interesting happens later today I'll make a worthwhile post. If I go on the trip I'll keep a journal type thing full of half-witted observations to make the trip seem more eventful than it was, and post them here with links to purty digital pics. The thing is, usually if you stick my family in a hotel room, it's like downsizing an asylum. Cabin fever reigns supreme, but since my brother's not going it will uncomplicate matters a bit so this could be the first vacation in years that doesn't result in the feeling that your head's gone through a blender. So, I'll see whoever I don't see before I leave, when I get back.

knic84 got hungry at 2:39 PM.

It's been a long couple months but work's finally about to let out. On this, my final day, I plan on slacking even more than usual and possibly on going out in the evening. If I'm not too tired, which is unlikely seeing as the really frickin loud thunderstorm we had last night kept rocking the house and lighting up my room like a strobe light. I actually like them raging tempests, when they're not keeping me awake. Finally fell asleep at about 12:30 am, when it died down. My dog's a terrible weenie when it comes to storms; he claws and whines and nudges anyone around when a storm strikes, so I know better than to let him in the bedroom. He hung out behind the bathroom door and seems to have rotated the floor mat 180 degrees, and almost jumped in the bathtub. My dog hates moving water and its progenitors (none more than water guns), so he must've been scared stupid to jump in there. At least he didn't pee... I don't think. :S

So, it seems the co-op meeting drama is wrapping up favorably after all. IT department head guy and college consultant dude will meet at Labatt at 3 pm on the 25th of this month. I don't even have to be there, and I don't plan to be. I may be going on a 2 day trip to South Hampton, a cottage country-ish beach town to which I have no clue as to the location. I realize the structure of that last sentence was all wrong but I give up, I'm too tired to make sense. I'm so glad it's the last day.

But the problem is that if I go I will have to leave SUNDAY evening and won't get back till Tuesday night or something. That's a hella long commute for my little window of free time. I wouldn't mind getting away from here for a while but some people I know are leaving town for university and I still haven't seen them. And Wednesday morning I have orientation at Fanshawe, which will be about an hour but add in my slow-assed waking process, commute there and back plus whatever social junk might pop up, and my day's sorely compromised. So if anyone who's reading this cares, make some noise and tell me what to do.

Wow, this blog sucked, plus it took me forever just to formulate the sucky thoughts. I'm sorry. I promise to do better next time. At least I figured out how to apply the same new font to every item on the page. Now that's skill.

knic84 jumped the fence (whatever that means) at 10:18 AM.

Today's brought a bit more intrigue than yesterday. I went out for lunch with the boss and the head of the IT department to a restaurant called Family Circle, whose spaghetti was actually too bland even for my spice-sensitive tastes. Overall it went over well, especially for one so nervous in the presence of superiors, or for that matter anyone who would think I'm way too picky for scrutinizing the menu for so long. So basically everybody who watches me order/eat. At least there was something, and possibly more things, on this menu that I liked. Then there were the dinner rolls that came with the two guys' meals, that just sat there, uneaten, begging for me to swipe them. I wish it wasn't a social faux-pas to ask "You gonna eat that?" to near total strangers.

Despite my negligible knowledge of amateur and professional sports, I was pleased to be acknowledged in the conversation at my table about skates and brand-name apparel. I even learned Notre Dame is 6 hours from here. I always get nervous when I have a work-related discussion, which unfortunately sandwiched the talk of sports. You see, I'm trying to put this work term towards my college program's optional co-op, so I'll have 1 of 2 for the diploma endorsement the placements'll give ya. Now it's turned into something of a circus of email, phone numbers and meetings, which for someone as lazy as I am almost negates the benefits. Means I'll have to go into college next week sometime, worst of all in THE MORNING, for a meeting with my consultant. Blargh.

Okay, that 3 Days Grace song is seriously overplayed on FM96 and though it's horrible, it'll be stuck in my head for hours. Too bad classical music puts me to sleep. I don't know what I did before I had this radio. Anyway, it will be nice to be done here tomorrow. I hope to fix up this thing's ugly as hell colors and overlapping text sometime, too bad my knowledge of Cascading Style Sheets and stuff really sucks. As for the work I'm supposed to be doing, I won't finish the final batch of vendor number dealies I'm supposed to change, as there are literally a billion of them. Oh well, it seems my other supervisor type guy was impressed and pleased that I got done what I did.

As for Final Fantasy 3, which I am miraculously still playing, I had waaaay too much trouble with a certain dream sequence type thing. Let's never speak of it again.

That about sums up the day so far. Yeeay.

knic84 returned to the machine at 3:18 PM.

Today marks the first day of this blog. (drum roll please) Prepare yourselves for intense...
unmitigated...
unsurpassed...

BOREDOM! Badump-chee.
Those who know me should know to expect that from a log of my life. Those of you who don't, but somehow managed to wander here have now been assimilated, as you are spending your free time much in the way I spend mine: by wasting it. =P

Why a blog? Well, if one line sticks out in my mind from the animé series Cowboy Bebop (though the exact wording escapes me), it's in one of the last episodes when Jet says not to desperately look for proof you've lived when it's too late. For a few years, I have been all too quiet in an area where I used to actively participate: the Internet. But no more! Now I have this to express myself and keep me occupied, and maybe even be read by a few misled individuals. I'll also get to ply the writer's craft which in my younger days I so enjoyed doing, but lacked the skill to produce much of quality. Who knows, my website may even undergo a revival if people care to read my ramblings.

Now that I've killed time at work that would ironically not have been better spent working (I copy and paste vendor numbers to renumber innumerable parts -- wow, that's a lot of nums), I guess it's time to recap yesterday. A skunk left its calling card in the neighbourhood (note the correct Canadian spelling, I know someone in my audience might appreciate that ;)) last night, and from my room it smelled more as though it had started living in my nose. Yuck. We've had our windows open and fans on all day in the days since the giant blackout; air-conditioning has been nobly traded for the privilege of bitching about the heat and the wastefulness of our neighbours. Even if we have these revolving blackouts, wallowing in a superiority complex and then asking why we're the only ones suffering isn't going to help. Take that family.

I also went to a friend's yesterday and played Super Smash Bros. Melee on Gamecube. We've played it half to death, but my head wouldn't have been in the game anyway. Still had fun, but this time I didn't eat any of the deoxygenated cheesie sticks that I really don't like. Really, you take the puffiness away from cheesies, and you're left with a cheese powder-covered breadstick. Delish.

I have 3 more days of work, counting today, then it's 10 days of late nights, wearing pyjamas till noon, and emerging into the sunlight only as necessary. Hopefully I'll finish Final Fantasy 3/6, as I was kindly lent an actual SNES cart and shouldn't take forever with it as I usually do with things I borrow. It's a brilliant game, I haven't had as much fun with a game in a while. Golden Sun for GameBoy Advance was also good, so hopefully I don't have to throw in my gaming towel just yet. It's felt lately like I'm not into it anymore, thus taking away the defining essence of my being. It's that serious.

I had the lights off in my office yesterday except for a desklight, and it was rather interesting. I finished reading a gritty serial murder mystery book called Déjà Dead and give it my seal of approval. There were about 20 pages where it was just annoying how the author scripted the characters' dialogue in a B-movie formulaic way, but once she got back to what she knew - forensic anthropology - it started to pick up again. B+ for the book.

Anyway, I've realllllly spent too much time on this and I better go! Until next time.

knic84 badump-chee'd at 9:15 AM.