Things scaring me in a good way: Having a date tonight. With a girl. Who I met and asked out in person. Things scaring me in a bad way: Having been diagnosed with a bone lesion.
That app that I wasn't expecting much from last week? Well... I matched on Saturday, chatted for a few hours and had a date on Sunday. It went well! Especially since this is kinda uncharted territory for me. Today I tried out the Microsoft Hololens for an hour. The company I work for got two of them and I'm likely spear heading a project to get a demo that actually works. I was positively surprised - it's definitely a Gen 1 product, but the solar system demo was amazingly cool. francopoli, imagine if you have the solar system floating in your room and you can tap on a planet and fly towards it. View it from every angle as if it's actually in your room. Or you can put it on your desk. Quite nifty.
I didn't do much in the way of Inktobers today, because I've been busy and my life has been miserable. That being said, I DO have art from my partner to show off for our game. Well it's a Visual Novel. But VNs shows up on Steam in the games category so that's what I'm calling it: And here's our magnificent logo: I'm excited to be working on it. We also have a musician so the pieces are coming together. Now I just have to write the damn thing.
Quite proud of my most recent video: I've been trying out new editing techniques, paying more attention to sound and stuff like that. Can't wait for the new macbooks to be announced tho, (tomorrow!?!?!) I really need a computer that can handle premiere pro.
I was gonna ask in the comments section when this was going to get the hubski post the day it came out. Perfect timing. You had some beautiful shots. Glad you inserted the shot of the fog on the water. As someone coming from a boring climate, your shots appealed to what I'm missing out with the changing colors of the leaves. Wowzas.
Yeah, but I wouldn't want my video taken down for copyright :( lots of great songs I would have used otherwise... I have a sony camera (rx100) and an old macbook pro from 2011. The 4g of ram have been limiting to say the least. Bought a zenbook cause it was cheaper but could not deal with the track pad and returned it (congratulations apple for successfully trapping me) and now am stuck in limbo until the new model comes out.
Yesterday I got home from the red-eye back from CA, slept about 7 hours, got to see my girl, and then slept another 7 hours. I had dreams about Halloween. I have all of next week off and I'm very looking forward to it. The 31st I'll go out of course, so off on the 1st is a necessity; then from the 4th - 6th Jess and I will go to this cool mote in the Catskills. We're staying in Fred's Lair. (I guess this is the weekend where if I have any true stalkers, they're invited to come out of the woodwork.) Mostly, I'm just excited to have some time off work. I haven't taken a full week off of work in over a year and lately, it's been both very busy and very draining. This long weekend from T's wedding has certainly helped, but now the next 3 days are going to be pretty full of work as I make sure I'm caught up in order to take all these days off. (Thanks to a lot of prep for this, I will be.) I'm still fuck-tired. I'm hoping to head home at lunch, work from home the afternoon, and then get out for a run around 4. It's nice to be back in a place where it's truly cold again, or at least cold for fall. I have realized I actually am one of those people who prefers brisk temperatures, not warm ones. 50 degrees, especially when moving, is actually really pleasant.
Celebrity spotting in DC is hit-or-miss. Gene Weingarten I saw Gene Weingarten on the metro Friday evening. He looked familiar from a reading of I'm With Stupid I attended, but that was some time ago and he seemed more recognizable from the unflattering cartoon portraits by Eric Shansby that appear in his humor columns. Weingarten is a connoisseur of the tragic, comic, and silly. I thought about saying hello but he was busy reading The Most Famous Writer Who Ever Lived by fellow Washington Post writer Tom Shroder and I didn't want to bother him. The Alibi Club Getting on the metro escalator one day I noticed a decrepit building across the street. I looked up 1806 Eye Street on the way down and became familiar with The Alibi Club before I reached the mezzanine. Described as D.C.'s Viper Room, it was founded as an exclusive gentlemen's club in 1884, a spin-off of the stately Metropolitan Club around the corner. I've been curious about these sanctuaries since reading about the hero of Memoirs of an Invisible Man taking refuge in New York City private clubs. I made a habit of looking around for VIPs whenever I passed by. I have only ever seen one sign of life in the building, when an apparent caretaker came out, locking the door behind him. I didn't bother him. The Metropolitan Club, in contrast, has a doorman and men in suits regularly enter and exit. Muhammad Yunus I learned of the Nobel Peace Prize winner in The Price of a Dream, a profile of his organization, Grameen Bank, which demonstrated how small, profitable loans to impoverished Bangladeshi villagers can effectively relieve poverty. Microfinance has a mixed reputation these days, but still seems to me a dignified and useful development strategy. Yunus is speaking at George Washington University tonight, in the same auditorium where I saw Freeman Dyson and accomplished the feat of making myself four handshakes from Napoleon. Dyson told a story (as I recall) about a parade in France, in which the emperor gave an apple to a little girl. At festivities surrounding the 1889 centennial of Bastille Day, Dyson's grandfather met the girl, now an old woman. Freeman Dyson provided the third link, and I am fourth in line. Perhaps I ought to be more pleased by being once-removed from Feynman. Someone named eadwacer (related to Eadwaker?), who uses the Forever Labs logo, tells a variation of the story.
I think microfinance is still a viable and interesting method of spurring growth, and enabling those who would not otherwise have access to capital. I have friends who have had their initial $100 investment turned over more than 25 times. That means people have started a business with her $100, and have been successful enough to pay it back. Twenty-five times! Where else can you get that kind of a return for $100?!? I love it. Oh! and my Feynman number is 2. Me > Dr. Linus Pauling > Richard Feynman. I have no idea what my Napoleon Number might be...
Black Mirror is a really good show. Also my academic success is nearing catastrophic D: These things may or may not be related.
Every commercial on daytime TV seems to be one kind of scam or another these days. Fuck daytime TV. The wife and I had a pleasant moment last night, her crocheting and me quilting, with the TV off listening to her podcasts. It was more than pleasant and I hope it becomes a thing. I'm in the shit or get off the pot stage with the quilt, so I've been sitting away. I might make a thread about it today. In other news, the weird talking spammers are back for round two. They must be working from a script or something, cause here's a comment from yesterday . . . And here's one from this morning . . . Charming. Edit: Fuck! I reinstalled Linux recently and of course I backed up my data like I always do. Well, I hadn't put the data back on my PC until today, as I was getting ready to make a post about my quilt progress. Well, guess fuxking what. Every last resume file I have is corrupt. Both flash drives. Even the ones from three years ago. Thank God I have a hard copy of my latest one and a version I can pull off from an old GMail. Otherwise that'd be a shit ton of work and effort gone. . . . I need to back up my wedding photos.
That stuff makes me sad. We still have work to do making this more difficult for the spammers. I really hope that a real person isn't sitting somewhere doing this by hand. The circle has been nuked. Interesting how they all incubated for 22 days before posting.
Thanks for nuking them. I hope you didn't think I was calling you out on them or anything. More often than not I just filter them and go about my day. This latest batch was just too interesting though, in the way they talked. They were actually kind of entertaining for that reason. When I was writing this post, I actually rewrote what I was going to say about them, for fear there is a person on the other end of the line. If that's what they're doing to try and get by, it's not right for me to insult them. Now if they were scammers or such, I'd fire off with out giving them a second thought.
What I am currently working on DotA 2 music pack (75% done) I've had this in mind for a year or two now and I got around to starting it 2 and a half months ago. I've been using Eastwest Hollywood Strings and Kontakt libraries mostly. It's been really beneficial in regards to how I think about layering instruments and timbres. Also, as a composer usually obsessed with drums and rhythm, it's been somewhat freeing to make a load of pieces where the percussion plays a supporting rather than leading role. Online Sound design course I finally accepted I need to pay some more attention to synthesis based sound design and general production quality. My production has always been acceptable and I've ridden on that whilst I focus primarily on interesting composition. However, I now feel as though I've out-grown my current skills in this area. It's been super fun and inspiring to learn new skills and cement knowledge. Discipline I'm still getting up earlier and getting a good chunk of music stuff done before I go to work. It's cool to feel my capacity to focus grow. Discipline and routine trumps inspiration. As Chuck Close said: "Inspiration is for amateurs - the rest of us just show up and get to work." Ear Training I've been using a free app called 'Functional Ear Trainer' to develop my relative pitch ability. It can be quite frustrating at times but it feels like magic when you finally start recognising all the tones and interval correctly. Acoustic album with my best friend - Recording stage This is way over-schedule now but it's getting there. Two songs down, six to go.
Ah, nice! It's not for any event or anything, but I am hoping to have it compelted and on the workshop before the 'Monkey King' update. In terms of instrumentation, it's orchestral based for the majority. Mostly because that's what I wanted to do, thought I do think it suits the game the best too. Some of the less energetic tracks - laning, for example - are a bit more melancholic than you'd find in other packs. That's just my style. Those laning tracks are also mainly constructed around piano themes too, which is unique for dota (I think). I guess I'd say some of my pieces are maybe a bit more 'pure' than other packs? I don't know if that sound pretentious. What I'm trying to say is that whilst others try to go for that blockbuster and very processed sound, my stuff is bit more grounded perhaps. I don't know. I'm probably talking shit. Judge for yourself, I'll attach some private soundcloud links below with some drafts I bounced out for you.
The difference between your pack and the original sounds of the game is that they're mostly emotionally neutral and leaning towards positive. It's something to appreciate, since even though you may not necessarily care whether you win or lose, being stomped might still hurt, and having music itself on your side helps to not give up. Your music leans more towards melancholic, as you've noted, but I also find it depressing. I wouldn't want to hear a dirge every time my character dies. Laning-phase track I also find too melancholic, even though it has hints of something I like, which I can't point out exactly, having no experience in the field of music. The battle track is energetic enough to combine into "epic", on the other hand. I'm not saying "don't do the pack": I'm saying "be careful with the mood you inspire". Maybe it's just me, though: I've been leaning towards depression lately. Still, I think that a lot of people play Dota 2 for fun, and the pieces of your pack that I've heard don't provide that. Instead, they take on a deeper string in one's soul. I think the pack's music would be fantastic in videos of feats in the game: that epic battle near the enemy base or that one Space Cow run where you've bashed an enemy hero into Roshan's pit... You know what I mean?
Thanks so much for your insight, I think you hit the nail on the head. I certainly understand the risk the you're highlighting. Especially with the laning phase track. In that case I may have veered too much into melancholy. They were generally supposed to sound sightly creepy and tense more than anything. I'll will be going back and reviewing them. It seems a difference between you and me is that when I hear melancholic and/or depressing music, it actually fills me with positive energy (the point still stands on the laning tracks though). More importantly though, the tracks pulling "on a deeper string one's soul" is precisely the aim of my pack. I am trying to do something different to the emotionally neutral packs. I'm trying to think what an event means during the game in a narrative sense. Someone dies valiantly in a grand battle of the ancients? They get an epic lament. As if the greatest hero just died and the world is mourning. I am trying to create a deeper emotional connection. So I'm glad that i'm succeeding in that, even if that's not you'd personally what want out of a music pack. I'd rather try something slightly different and fail than just make something like everyone else. I'm trying to create the music pack I'd like to buy. There's already plenty of 'middle-of-the-road' ones for people to choose from if that's what they desire. That's really cool. My question would be why wouldn't someone want that music directly in the game then? I figure at least some people in the 13,000,000 unique players a month that DotA gets would like it. I mean, plenty have people like the deadmau5 pack and for me that is antithesis of DotA's feel. Though again, like you say, it is quite emotionally neutral. But thanks for sowing a seed of doubt in my mind. That's sincere and not sarcastic. I always prefer to hear what people is think with wrong my music verses the standard "that's cool". It gives me a new perspective and potential areas to work on. I hope this response doesn't sound like I'm getting defensive or anything, it's more trying to share my mindset. I will be keeping your points in mind as I continue work....Maybe it's just me, though: I've been leaning towards depression lately. Still, I think that a lot of people play Dota 2 for fun, and the pieces of your pack that I've heard don't provide that. Instead, they take on a deeper string in one's soul.
I think the pack's music would be fantastic in videos of feats in the game: that epic battle near the enemy base or that one Space Cow run where you've bashed an enemy hero into Roshan's pit... You know what I mean?
Off-topic, but - that would explain why so many people have a kick out of songs that make me want to retreat to my safe place in terror. It doesn't, and also... You don't have to justify what you do. I think there's a bigger task before you than it was before deadmau5. He wanted to create something that's a mix between Dota's and his style. You want to create a story out of things that happen seemingly sporadically and for people to care about it. I'm not saying it's impossible. I will only personally attest that not everyone's going to look for that because of how some people play the game: to relax, to have a fun hour-or-so. There is also the fact that you don't have enough control over the sound design that the game engine employs to weave the narrative, which is a shame, because with the kind of music that you create, one can really tell a story. You should keep that in mind as you go along. I wish you all the best on your journey. I hope it turns out well for you, no matter the result. If you ever publish the pack or the music from it, do give me a link to it: I'd like to see what it turns into. And if you ever need another perspective, I'll happily lend your music an ear.It seems a difference between you and me is that when I hear melancholic and/or depressing music, it actually fills me with positive energy
I hope this response doesn't sound like I'm getting defensive or anything
I'd rather try something slightly different and fail than just make something like everyone else.
For sure. The most control you have from the sound engine is during the laning stages. Each laning track has to be split into 3 layers of intensity which is mixed dynamically depending on the ongoing action. The only control you get over the other track are loop points and that's it. Still, I'm enjoying the exercise of making the tracks and learning some things which is what's important. I'll definitely send you some more stuff further down the line. Honestly, the laning and death track I showed are among the most melancholic out of all of them, so perhaps you'll view the others as more balanced. We'll see I guess. What's your steam? I'll throw you an invite. Maybe we can have a game sometime. Though I'm not too great and I tend to watch more than I play!
I'm in the last stages of training for my November 13th half marathon. Last Saturday was 10.6 miles, and I'll shoot for about 12 miles this Saturday. The following Saturday I'll start tapering off, and then the weekend after is the race. And then Wednesday after the race I'm flying to the Adirondacks for a couple days of hiking. I hope to hike Thursday and Saturday. They've been getting snow already, but I'm hoping to still drive to a summer trailhead. It's only open Memorial Day through snow making the road impassible, and there's one summit back there I need. There are 46 High Peaks, and I've bagged 25 of them. I had been expecting a 2018 finish, but I think if I plan carefully I can finish by the end of 2017. While I have more than half of the summits, and while I've completed a couple difficult ones, I still have several challenging hikes, especially since I go solo. I'm not comfortable climbing the infamous Saddleback cliffs alone the first time, and that adds at least a day if not two to my completion.
I mailed in my ballot for the Teamsters election* this week, and am early voting for the presidential election next week. I'm excited for this shit to be done. PEAK SEASON is coming up at work. It is going to be ... fun. Lucrative. Mmmmmmmm. Tastes like regret and double-time. WE ARE MOVING. Not sure where yet. Maybe Lawrence, maybe Joco (god I hope not), maybe the Waldo area, if any of you are familiar with the KC Metro area. We could have a down payment for a house put together so fast if we moved in with either of our parents, but that idea blows, so renting it is. Plus, we aren't sure if we could get a mortgage since we only work 25-ish hours a week, even if it is at a high pay rate. I finished spinning the plys from the first batch of wool I bought a year ago when I decided to take up spinning again. Now I'm plying them into yarn. Not sure what I will do with it yet. My consistency is ok. Varies from Worsted to Bulky, with most of it being Aran. ______ * I haven't seen any Hoffa/Hall shit at work, and a fair amount of Teamsters United support. I also haven't seen any get out the vote efforts in my building by local. HMMMMMMMM.
I had this wonderful feeling last weekend of thinking I got so much done for my move this coming Saturday but of course now that it's Wednesday I'm freaking out realizing I have so much more to do. I have to get a bigger suitcase tomorrow which is why things are on hold at the moment and hopefully things will go quickly after that. On another note, ever have a dream with a baby or toddler who can't yet talk talking ? They are the creepiest dreams ever.
As promised here, I uploaded what I think of as my "Leonard Cohen song": rd95, thenewgreen Not yet mastered, but mostly done - still waiting on my friend to record some violin for it, and to do some minor tweaking. Lyrics: Pulling the last red hair from my beard/ You wrote your name in the bathroom mirror/ Tracing the outline of your hand on a still warm bruise/ Now I know why you slept in your shoes. I saw your face in the back of a farmer's almanac/ could've sworn your eyes were brown/ I am losing the last names of all my exes/ may they never be found. Wiping away all the dry blood where the skin was torn/ You left your mark on the back of the door/ Scraping a coin on my neck where the skin turned blue/ let's see what's behind door number two I wrote your name on the back of a dusty photograph/ of an old coastal town/ I am losing my last chance with all my exes/ may I never be found. (sex) But anyway I have a job now! Hosting at an upscale restaurant every weekend. The work itself is pretty enjoyable, but the commute is not awesome, and I don't make tips. Still, happy to have work, and some sense of consistency in my week. All the open mics I would be going to normally are cancelled this week on account of... Cubs. Let's hope they make it.
I changed my wallpaper More to come later, patients on the way.
Me 'n my pops voted today. Gridlock is dumb, but voting down a party line feels dumber. Ah well. Getting tix to see Obama on campus tomorrow after class tomorrow. Seems the big trip for next weekend to CA is definitely happening. Going to start drawing a bit more today.
Right?!? I usually vote for whoever has the best plan for the role they are going to fill. I had to vote D straight down the ticket because I couldn't find any Republicans that were FOR anything... everything they said was negative and couched in opposition to the policies their opponent was supporting. Which is moronic. It's easy to comment on someone else's policy or position. That's cheap and easy. What is hard is coming up with an idea/proposal/plan, putting it together, and putting it out for public scrutiny. And standing up for it when people attack you. THAT's the real work. Sitting in the back of the room with your arms folded and whining about someone else's policy is not productive. I sure hope the moderate republicans split from the Republican party and start a new party so we can actually have open and honest discussions and debates. Gridlock is dumb, but voting down a party line feels dumber.
I shamelessly agree with you on every point. For better or worse, on the ballot as well. Was in line to see Obama come on campus when I read through this. Lots of "4 more years" chants and Republican bashing going on. I found it interesting how Obama spoke to the importance of voting down party lines to avoid gridlock - bonus points to which side he encouraged. I've been hearing this from a lot of friends recently as well. This could well sound bad, but I'd be happy if at least Dem's swept all other seats to shut out the Rep's to make them reconsider their party... Picture time! This is what VIP passes afforded you: This is what regular seats afforded you: Note: he was way closer than what the picture looks like. You can tell from this comment that I didn't get the VIP pass, hehe.I sure hope the moderate republicans split from the Republican party and start a new party so we can actually have open and honest discussions and debates.
I think there's a lot of room to the Left of Clinton (see: Bernie Sanders), and that Clinton could even move farther right. If a moderate Democrat joined her over there, and then took the reins, then even centrist Republicans could get behind this "conservative Democrat". That might spawn a Center-Right party that is more in tune with the modern social climate, pushing the conservative Christians further to the extreme right, and making room for real work to be done in the middle, where something like 72% of Americans actually identify themselves. Socially liberal, fiscally conservative, with a hankering for science and evidence-based programs, and a diminished role for government in everyday lives. I'd vote for that shit in a second.
I'm rapidly approaching the point where I'd rather be unemployed than work at my current job. It's also not going too great, and seeing as I have a year long probation period, that could be reality soon whether I want it or not. On the plus side Blood Music is up for #scificlub this coming Monday. I'm excited about that one, but it's hard to find the time between job apps and self loathing to read right now.
Take the job a day at a time bro. Save as much money as you can to build a cushion in case you let go, or heaven forbid, rage quit. In the mean time, job hunt. Send out at least one e-mail with your resume each day. It takes thirty minutes of your time and helps you feel hopeful. Take it from me though, 90 percent of your emails will go unanswered and some of the ones that do get answered will turn out to be jobs you don't want for one reason or another. Keep at it and keep your head up. :)
Thanks man. I've been applying for a while now but I need to step it up. I'm actually looking into Lyft driving as an interim thing. That could make rage quitting too appealing though. This job has become so toxic to me though that I'm at a loss about what's best for me right now.