Life can be a Pain...

   OK, so this isn't going good so far. I haven't posted in almost three weeks, I don't really have anything written, and I'm not going to be able to do the A to Z challenge, all because life keeps getting in the way. I've been dealing with a bad case of lethargy lately , plus i spent most of last week helping someone move out of a storage unit (and i was the only person helping...). BUT, I still want to do this thing, and the near future looks promising.
   You see, the major reason I didn't start on this type of stuff earlier was because I really didn't have the right equipment. Before January i didn't even have my own Internet access, and the only computer i had was an (at-least) three-year-old notebook laptop that couldn't effectively run any of my game making programs (the lack of writing i can only blame on sheer laziness and lack of inspiration). However, in the last week, I've acquired three very useful tools that should help me get off the ground. The first is a cheap desktop that does need some work, but is still WAY faster and stronger than my little laptop. The second is the smart phone that I finally broke down and bought (I had an up-grade pending anyways), so now I update this blog and other projects on the go. And the final tool is this: Habit RPG

   A while ago, I had read an article about apps and programs designed to "gameify" a person's life. The idea was for a person to write down their goals and assign a certain amount of points to each activity, and then the app would track these points to show the person's progress and allow them to "purchase" real-life rewards (such as junk food or an episode of their favorite TV show), as well as giving out in-game rewards. In turn, the "player" would be able to track their progress and make sure they get enough done each day to justify their vices. 
   Now, anyone who knows me can tell you that I am a gamer. Heck, you probably figured it out from this blog alone. But instead of shooting and fighting games, I love to see the medium used in new, interesting ways, and this fits the bill. Habit RPG lets me put down habits that I want to encourage or break ( stop drinking Rockstar energy drinks), events that I want to do on a daily or weekly basis (exercise and work on homework/yard work/personal projects), and items that I need to do eventually (see the start of my list). each completed activity gives me experience points (an RPG mainstay) and coins that I can then trade in for "rewards" (which i haven't modified yet, but i wanna see how many coins i get in a week first). If i give into a bad habit, or fail to complete a daily activity, then my little avatar will lose health and eventually die if i neglect  it for too long. In reality, it's nothing more than a glorified checklist, but it is a fun way to encourage good behavior and progress. I've already used it for a few days and so far I'm getting ahead a little, even if it's something small like doing this blog. If your wanna join me, check out the link above. I do need to warn you though, it DOES NOT WORK with Internet Explorer. You can go there, but all the clicking in the world won't do anything. The creator mentioned that the program he's using to make it isn't compatible with IE, and that Google Chrome seems to work the best (and it does). Also, it is in its early stages, so there are a few bugs, but nothing major. Check it out if you wanna try a different way to organize your life. Now If you'll excuse me, A pack of wild dishes just appeared! And I must slay them!

Let's See How Long This Lasts...

Hello to one and all! I said I'll keep this blog going, and I meant it. I don't really have anything ready yet, but I know if don't keep posting on here, I'll forget it ever existed. Even though I'm done with my English 101 class, I still have my Flash animation class and I'm studying to become a pharmacy tech, so those are going to still take up a nice chunk of time. Plus, I still need to find my rough drafts and notes for my stories, I've been playing Dungeons and Dragons and writing stories for my players, and with spring a-coming, I got a yard full of weeds and dead branches to tend to. Outside of those, I'm working on cleaning up an extra room in our house to turn it into a craft room.

Pray for me...

Why do I want a craft room? Well, one of my hobbies is to make stained glass art! I've been doing it since I was 18, and I find it to be kind of a soothing experience. Unfortunately, most of the pieces I've made have been damaged in moves, but I do have a few that I've made since I moved to Phoenix.

    This first one is a pentacle that I made for a Wiccan friend. I always love learning about new symbols and their meanings, and while making it, the design started to grow on me, so I went ahead and made one for myself. The colors represent the elements of the Wiccan belief (clockwise, starting at the top) spirit, water, fire, earth, and air. It's meant to represent the earth and the elements that make all of creation.

This is one of two small pyramids that I made out of glass. if you look closely, you can see the dreamcatcher that I left hanging inside.  






Lastly, I made a decent copy of the Triforce from the Legend of Zelda video game series. It's always been one of my favorite game series, and this the first of a few different props from the series I've wanted to make since I was young. Just to challenge myself, I went ahead and made it a 3D model.





I've got some other pieces I might put up when I get them fixed, or when I end up making some new ones. Even if I don't make anymore glass projects for a while, my girlfriend and I still have tons of other artsy type projects we feel like making. Actually, I might start a side blog for those, now that i think of it... Anyways, I don't know where I'm going with this anymore, so I'll sign off for now. I just wanted to make sure I keep this blog going, and that's where my mind wound up going. Tune in next time for whatever bit of randomness falls out of my brain. See you all again soon.

Entry #6: Endings and Beginnings...

   Yes. I know that title is clichéd, but they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Anyways, it is appropriate for today. By Thursday, I’ll be done with the same English 101 class that had helped me to spawn this blog in the first place. To be honest, I’m a little sad. Believe me, I’m happy to be one step closer to a college degree, but writing this blog was a lot of fun. As a child, getting me to write ANYTHING took a minor act of god, so I’m just as surprised as the rest of my family that I’m enjoying this as much as I am. The fact that it was a part of the class meant I couldn’t just play with it for a week, then get bored and go do something else (A VERY nasty/common habit of mine). I thought the topics were varied enough that I never really got bored with them, and were items that really anyone would have some interesting opinion on. As a bonus, half of them could be about whatever I wanted to write about at the time, which I appreciated when I wanted to let my creative juices flow.

  As far as it being a part of the class, I thought it was a pretty good idea overall. It was fun to see what my classmates thought about for our assignments in a format that allowed friends and family to comment to. Some of the personal entries were enjoyable, and I liked seeing what kind of interests the other class members had outside of class, complete with pictures! It almost seemed like a break from some of the more serious material we had to do throughout the course. More than a few times, I ended up getting ideas for my essays and independant stories just by working through a blog post. I do wish I could have kept to a better schedule, instead of trying to get them all done at the last minute, but that seems to be a recurring problem in my life recently. About the only complaint I can think of right now would be the trouble we had getting our blogs set up at the beginning of class, and that mess even took our teacher by surprise.

   But I really like the idea of putting my thoughts and stories out into the world for people to critique, and this really helped me to find out a lot more about the way I like to write. I am going to try to keep this blog going on my own, if for no other reason than I still have a bunch of ideas that I want to write and to see what other people think of them. Plus I really need the practice keeping to a schedule. I am still planning on participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, and right now i'm trying to work through ideas that I can write on. Wish me luck. Before I sign out, I would like to thank Professor Chris Nielson for giving at least me a chance to find the fun side of writing. I look forward to taking more of your classes Mr. Nielson, and to everyone else, I hope I see you next semester. Adios!

An Intermission of Sorts
 

   Ok, I'm taking a break from the food stuff for real this time. Mostly I just got a few items that I count as blog related news. Way back in my first post, I mentioned that eventually I'll start helping my friends to promote their stories and projects. Well, my friend Travis is working on becoming a computer repairman, and he just put up his own blog to promote himself, as well as he recently got a job with a company called Tech 1 Peripherals. He has helped me with my computer on a number of occasions, and he is the go-to guy for his family and two of his friend’s families, and we all agree that he does pretty good work. Right now he's restricted to the Phoenix/Glendale area, but he's happy to make house calls. I'll put a link to his blog off to the right after this, but for now if you need him, here is his info:

His Blog: http://pcguru2191.tumblr.com.

Tech 1 Peripherals:

If you want to check out their website go to http://www.tech1P.com.  

If you need to hire him: Phone number (602) 490-8332 (Ask about Travis Davis)

                                     E-mail info@tech1p.com   

   As for other blog news, I’m thinking about undertaking the Blogging From A To Z Challenge in April. The short version is that I would post a blog entry every day in April (except Sundays), starting with A and picking a new subject each day for the next letter in line.  It looks like it could be fun, and it would help me to write better and help me to stick to deadlines a little better. Other than those two, I don’t really have anything else to put here, so I think I’ll go back to doing my homework and I’ll see y’all later.

"All-Natural" is a Meanless Term...

   Nope. Sorry. I can’t get away from the food topics. Not yet. The more I read about what I eat, the less I want to eat it. For now, I’m going to focus on the term “all-natural,” which I recently found out can be slapped onto any product in the US without meeting any requirements at all! If asked about it, the producer might say part of it was grown in the earth at some point in time, which might be technically true,  but that it is “all-natural” is little hard to swallow after the massive amount of processing the average foodstuff goes through.  “All-natural” Chicken? That poor bird could easily have been genetically modified, feed ground-up pieces of other animals, injected with saline solutions during packaging, and still be considered “all-natural”.  The same could be said of cereals (“fortified” with vitamins and usually smothered in sugar) , veggie burgers (contains MSG), coca-cola (once made from the coca leaf, also the source of cocaine),  and nearly anything else found in the grocery store.

Even Twinkies (or whatever they're called now)
could be considered "natural" food.

I do want to point out that in other countries, “all-natural” does require some regulation, and that in America the term “organic” actually has some requirements that must be met for the food in question to qualify.


   But you know what? I don’t understand the obsession with all-natural food anyway. I know the term is supposed to conjure up images of wild grown crops, free range livestock, and farmer’s living in peace with Mother Nature,  but you know what I think of when I think about “all-natural”? Forests. Wild jungles. The deepest depths of the sea. Places untouched and unspoiled by the greed of man. That’s “all-natural.” And do you know what you would find in places like that? Poison Ivy, venomous snakes, wild beasts, the deadly fugu pufferfish, all of which have MUCH more of a right to be called “natural” than plants and animals that have been domesticated to the point that I have to question what kind of creature they would be in the wild. (Seriously, when was the last time you thought about an UN-domesticated cow or chicken running wild in the woods?) Remember, not everything in nature is good for you, though I’m sure someday it will still end up in your food...

Go ahead! I dare you to F*****g eat me!

   Besides, when you get right down to it, “all-natural” has no real meaning, because everything is natural. Everything in the universe is a part of nature, including (despite our best efforts) humans.  We do anything and everything to hide the fact, but despite our cars, factories, computers, and fake vomit, we are a part of nature, as is everything we create. Go ahead and try to argue. We either evolved from apes (Evolutionists) or were created along with the Garden of Eden (Creationists); either way we came from nature. (For the record, I take a neutral stance on that particular argument, so I figured I’ll let you choose the side you like.) If a bird builds a nest, or a beaver builds a dam, most would agree those would count as part of nature. Just think of humans as advanced beavers.

Some more advanced than others...

Anything we make, be it a toilet, high-fructose corn syrup, or denim pants, is still a part of us, and by extension, a part of nature.  And unless you’re making Levi’s soup or have some Soylent Green in your pantry, none of those make good food. 

   As always, I would like to thank you for listening to the mental flotsam I’ve presented here, and I would like to dedicate this post to that immortal master of fooles and sages, George Carlin, who has inspired my thinking in strange and wonderful ways, and I'm sure will continue to inspire many generations to come. His comments about the meaning of "natural" are what inspired me to write this post. Farewell, and may the forces of evil become confused on the way to your home.