Graduation and Laptop!

June 23, 2012 - Today, I graduated.

That's pretty much what I'd say if I were to ever look back on this day; one of the highest achievements I've made in my life! The feeling of knowing that I made it through so many years of school is staggering, and I'm just so happy that I made it.

On a second note, this is my first ever time posting from or owning a laptop! I bought it just after graduation: a Sony Vaio laptop, 15.5-.6" screen, and 6GB memory. Loving it already!

That's just a little update to what's been going on today, I know I don't post often, but hey, whatcha gonna do? I'll try to keep more frequent updates as I'll be able to start the habit of blogging. See you guys in a little while!

What is this? a TRIPLE horn?



 

Triple Horn



As some may know, I play the French Horn in the high school band, and I thought playing what they call a "double horn" was the best you could do. I started out on trumpet in 4th-5th grade, then switched to the single horn in 6th, then double in 7th-present. At that point, I thought that was as far as it went, but then, I recently found that there are actually two other types that I and my band instructor had never even heard of: the Double Descant Horn and the Triple Horn.

To start with, the difference with the single and double horn is that in the double, there is a "trigger" or thumb key to press, where in the single, it is just a finger rest. In the third horn, it is the same, but the instrument can play a greater range of notes with more ease (as is the same with single to double). I've decided that owning and mastering one of these triple horns would be my next goal for becoming a better musician in general (along with my long-term goal of going to college for music.)

Dragonland 2011 Album "Under The Grey Banner" Review

My first impression of this band, I have to say was pretty high from the start. I only recently found them from some random person's "Top Albums of 2011" (it was rated in the top 30 out of the 90-ish he had commented about), and straight away I liked the album cover, as you should be able to see just on the right over there. ==>

The second thing that really interested me about this band was that they were Symphonic Power Metal. Yeah. They have multiple talented singers (two male, one female, and a combined chorus) and some impressive instrumentalist as well, including a backing orchestra and exotic instruments like a lute and harp in some places!

Now this part REALLY intrigued me, this album tells the third part of a chronicle the band has been writing since day one. Each song progresses in the plot of the album and tells of war and the perspectives of people. The background music even sets a setting of where the place is, along with some clever narration (yes, there is an actual narrator in parts). Along with the theme of telling a story, common melodies resurface in other songs throughout the album to help to fit sections together in an entertaining way.

I strongly suggest giving this album a listen, whether you enjoy metal music or not, just so you can read along with the lyrics to the story. For now, I leave you to your own choice in the matter, and I'll try to be back with a new album review whenever one manages to grasp my attention.

Need A New Book?

Then have I got a book for you!

In a world where you are owned by the company you work for, and take it as your last name; where countries are not run by a government, but by the biggest companies in the world; where sabotage and making money are often your only concerns is where Max Barry lands you in his novel Jennifer Government. A single parent of a young elementary school daughter and government agent Jennifer Government concerns herself when an old colleague threatens to merge some of the largest companies in the world in order to have full control over this economy-driven world. A worker for the man's company, Mr. Hack Nike, is given the task to initiate the plan, given no choice but to obey for fear of losing his job. The plan to release a new and expensive line of shoe of which there was only to be fifty pairs and after they are purchased, the shoe owners would have tragic "accidents", which in turn would promote the shoes. Jennifer hears about the Nike boss and goes to stop him, meeting Hack later on, and together, they form an alliance to take down the corporation and attempt to stop Nike from controlling the world. With the other plot twists and interesting characters, I found myself unable to start to understand before the author twisted the plot and created something I hadn't thought of or expected.

Want to find out more? Well I'm not saying a word more about it other than to mention it is a fantastic read and deserves some attention. Barry really knows how to keep you in suspense at various times throughout the novel and always keeps you begging for more.

Why I hate PvP

Firstly, to those of you who don't know what "PvP" is, it stands for "Player versus Player" and it gives the right to one person to duel/fight/kill/etc. another player. 

If you have ever played an MMO, then you probably know how it feels to be in the middle of something and then someone comes along and decides to kill you, for absolutely no reason whatsoever than to piss you off. For me, this has happened multiple times and has caused me to "rage-quit" from the game on multiple occasions. I realize that not everyone thinks the same way as I do, but I would think that if the other person had this happen to them, they would react in somewhat the same way, or at least think about/act on it.

In some games, PvP can be even more devastating than it sounds. In games such as World of Warcraft (WoW), a person can be killed, and the only penalties would be to be sent to a graveyard; forced to search for their bodies and resurrect their corpse. The second way would be to take on Resurrection Sickness, reducing your stats by, I believe 75% of normal and armor and weapons to be damaged by 25%. 

In a game like Runescape, however, if you are killed, all the items you are wearing and in your inventory except a select few (usually character-bound items and the three most expensive items) are dropped on the location you are killed and placed under a gravestone. This lasts a maximum of twelve minutes (depending on the gravestone you upgrade to) or until you either return to collect your dropped items, the items are picked up by the person that killed you, or the items disappear for good because of being left on the ground for too long. In the case that you attack the other person (on accident or on purpose in The Wilderness) will cause you to be skulled, making it so that you would lose EVERY item you have on you at the time (again, aside from character-bound items). This is a HUGE loss of money depending on the items the person is carrying at the time (though a profit to the killer usually) and can be frustrating on a very high level.

I think that's enough of my ranting for now, but any other opinions are welcome and will be considered.