My Guild Wars 2 Story: Beginings

So I dropped the ball again but instead of writing about how I want to do better I'm just going to write a new post and move on.

Guild Wars 2. It is awesome. I've never invested in an MMO before but I have always held an interest in Guild Wars and I made the decision that I wanted to join in the fun last year. As I was looking at what to buy I saw that they were coming out with GW2. So I saw the previews and it took a lot of will power to hold back and wait for Guild Wars 2 to be released. I was disheartened to find that there wasn't a release date yet. I really hate waiting for something when I don't know it is going to get here. It's at least mildly tolerable when I can see the deadline, but not having anything but the promise that it will come out is very hard on me. Eventually I got to the point where I wasn't checking the website every day.

Then the release date was finally set and to my dismay it was going to come out over the summer, when I would be at home and not have and amazingly fast internet connection, but rather have a satellite connection that was barely an upgrade from dial-up. The sorrows of a college kid that live in the boonies. The months leading up to the release were miserable, I would receive endless emails about pre-release events and beta projects... Then it hit me what if my computer can't run GW2? My best friend and I realized we needed to find this out as we both had computers that were most likely not up to par for most graphically intense programs. They were laptops that were used for taking notes in class, writing papers, and browser based games that we used to waste time between projects or to rest our brains. We looked up the requirements and as far we could tell we might have had a chance but no way to guarantee that we would be able to run the final product.

Then something happened that was devastating and yet a small miracle. My computer started to freeze randomly and upon further reflection I realized that I might have been damaged in a lightning storm that occurred while I was at work at my summer job. I always leave it plugged in and usually unplug when I see a storm coming since I don't have a surge protector in the room that I use my computer the most. When I'm at home I spend a lot of time in a room that is in the garage because I like to be away from the house sometimes. The point is I now had a reason to upgrade. I was blessed to receive an additional scholarship and I managed to have enough money saved from my summer job that I was in a financially stable position to responsibly buy a higher end laptop that would be able to support my multimedia endeavors and run games and most importantly Guild Wars 2.

So that is how I am now able to play my first MMO that I paid money for. I've played on free MMOs but they always lacked certain things. Obviously MMOs arn't free to run so they make the more appealing features and items cost. I've also never like the idea of subscribing to play a game. I want to buy it once and then play as much as I want. That's why the Guild Wars franchise appeals the most. It's a game that you can play solo and also play with friends or neighbors of the GWs community. I'm going to cut off here and I'll probably talk more about GW in the next post.

Long time no See?

So lets look at how successful I have been in keeping up with this blog..... Yeah how long ago was it since my last post? Well frankly I haven't had time, but there were a few time were I've had an epiphany or two on what to do with this blog. Based on the title I'm suppose to speak my mind so I think I'll be following the example of Phil De Franko on YouTube, I'll try to give my opinion on events or random stuff. The other thing is that I'm an English major and therefore I write papers about books, literature and the like so those are also my opinions so I might summarize my papers or post snippets of them. I know that I'll run into issues with people who might plagiarize but I think that those who do will only hurt themselves. Though I would like to mention that my papers could also help jump start brainstorming for others if they happen to stumble upon them and I would have no problem helping a fellow student or colleague. Any way that's all for now I guess, I've got a lot to do.

Finals Week

        Finals Week, those two words usually strike fear and terror into college students. This week seems to the most crucial and trying time for current students and still stirs graduates to the core. A huge percentage of a students grade usually lies in the outcome of a final. Even if your grade is not dependent on the result of your final there usually is a tidal wave of work, study and preparation required to make it through this week of immense stress. The thing that is nice about being an English major at Concordia is that I haven't had a lot of "cumulative" finals. The bad thing is that there are usually enormous papers to write and just like most college students I procrastinate and end up writing the whole thing the night before. I must say that I had to take Principles of Biology as a gen ed. and I absolutely manhandled that class. If it weren't for my abhorrence for Black Board and my inability to remember to take the online quizzes I probably would have aced the whole class. Instead I ended with an 88% but on the "final" which was actually just the last unit test, I scored 114 out of 100. This professor gave extra credit questions on the test and she also curved because she had her baby over thanksgiving so the last two weeks were independent study. Needless to say I was the curve, or broke it. Now that finals are over and I'm back home for the Christmas Break/ til next semester starts I have another predicament.
        I'm home which means I'm in the middle of no where. Yes i enjoy being home and with my family but there's only so much you can do and after awhile I'll get sick of it. I also start to miss my friends from college and I can't visit them and I start feeling "college sick". Like home sickness but the other way around. College has become my home and also where I have the most opportunities to go out with out driving thirsty to forty minutes. Most of my high school friends are doing their own thing and frankly I haven't even talked to all but my closest friends. Well I do need to get my stuff unpacked and go through old stuff and see what we can get rid of. So there is stuff to do but I seem to lose motivation so quickly.
        I also need to watch what I eat. I've lost some weight and I need to keep it off if even lose some more but with a refrigerator and pantry full of munchies and a sudden feeling of lethargy it's going to take a lot of will power.
       So to my fellow college students take your break to release your stress have fun and enjoy it while it lasts. Also please feel free to click on ads and show some support to a fellow broke college student. It's like a possible ten cent free donation and it costs you nothing. I also look forward to any comments that I could use to blog with or engage in conversation. Seriously I'd like to get feed back, or email me at SycoFox (at) gmail.com

Focusing Content, no more "rants"

I have decided I need to find a certain type of posts and content that needs to be made on this site. By choosing the type of content posted I think that I'll be able to make better posts and therefore attract readers. I have a second blog that I have designated for my devotions when I decide to take the time to put them up. Even though I don't want to limit or keep the Gospel from readers of this post, I think it's fair to say that you may read this blog for your own reasons and will not want to see my rants or religious views. I will do a better job of keeping this blog clear of rants because I am personally embarrassed by my self for allowing my unprofessional lack of restraint of my thoughts. Not that I am ashamed of my God but I don't want to push others away or give false impressions. I believe if a reader wants to hear my views or the Gospel they will be lead to those resources. Again I will work on finding a steady theme to this blog and I hope that who ever finds this will appreciate what I put up. Thank you

"Appliances"

Yeah right now I'm thinking about appliances. I had a fight with my coffee maker over the weekend. It's a cheap little thing and on the front it says Mr. Coffee (I assume that's the brand? and I hope I can use that name on this inconsequential blog). In all reality it was user malfunction and not the products fault but you think after 3 year with it, it would have been more considerate to it's faith friend and courteous owner. When making coffee I put in the proper amount of water and coffee grounds in the filter, and flip/push the on button. The contraption to supply the power is awfully strange, at least to me. It resembles a switch but you push it more than you flip it.  The little thing starts to gurgle after awhile and and then it starts to percolate or whatever. The boiling water goes up and and then falls into the filter and scorches the unsuspecting coffee grounds, which release their aroma though it's just  Seattle's best Coffee found at Target.

It's level four coffee and in small print it says Henry's blend. I hope Henry's taste in coffee is respected cause it's tastes fine to me, but I wouldn't want to drink something that would be considered substandard. The other description given says that it is a coffee both for the connoisseur and those who have trouble spelling it. So I guess it must have some report with food critics. Or it's just a piece of marketing deception. I digress.

What happened next was I usually like to let the filter fill up before putting the pot underneath to drain the coffee. I'd like to believe that this lets the ground "cook" longer and release more of their nutrients and flavor, mostly I just care about the caffeine. Anyways I left the maker pot-less for a little too long so when I did put the  pot in  I noticed that coffee grounds drip trough with the coffee for they had floated above the filter. This has happened before, I usually just restrain the coffee. I stopped the machine and let the coffee drain. When I opened the lid I noticed little brown bits on top of the filter holder thing, and then I noticed them in the unboiled water. So I had to rinse the whole thing out and I feel some grounds got pulled into the tubing and what not. I hope that doesn't cause problems later. If I smell burning I'm throwing it out but I'd rather not because I probably wouldn't be able to get a new one for awhile.

The next day I made coffee again and prayed the poor thing would function. It did, but the filter failed. some how part of the filter fell down and the specks of caffeine producing goodness plummeted into the coffee pot. I poured the coffee into my trusty Tin OSU Buckeyes Mug. I added half a pound of Domino sugar four heaps of Meijer Brand Non-Dairy Creamer and a splash of some other brand of Vanilla coffee syrup that I got at target with the filters and coffee. I usually have to let the coffee cool off significantly before consumption. By the time I'm down to the last ounce of coffee it's technically cold. I love to take the last of it like a shot, just shooting it down. I actually think this last bit of coffee is the best, I prefer frozen coffee beverages any way and the sugar tends to settle a bit. Unfortunately due to the creamer clouding the drink and therefore making me unaware of the spitefull bits awaiting revenge for stealing their precious caffine and scorching them they just sat at the bottom patiently waiting, I took in the last of the coffee. Instead of the euphoria of caffeine and heavenly delight of sensory stimulation, I got a mouthful of bitter fiends of leftover bits.

So there's my coffee anecdote.

Opening the flood gates of my own brand of Chaos

So I don't know who will ever find this but what the heck. This is another attempt for me to try to get my ideas out into the world and to just rant or release my pent up mental and/or creative energy. I have a YouTube account but my computer and editing software never seem to like me so I've neglected that. I also have a twitter that only has 18 followers and most of those are random and I have no clue how they found me and I'm unsure they are even real people. Though I've had two random "celebrities", one is a jewelry artist and the other is a small cast member from the "The Guild". If you find this I'm not dissing you but I don't understand how you got subscribed to me, I actually thought you were quite good. I've also had random friend invites on Youtube. But this is besides the point. I'll probably forget about this blog after a few weeks or maybe it'll survive. Who know maybe I'll get my 15min. of fame one day.... yeah i guess if it's God willing. I'll probably get lost in the sea of fellow wannabes other ranters.

I work in the art gallery at my small private university so I have four hours ever weekend to write about stuff that is not at all legitimate to my academic studies that I should be working on.

Speaking of which I'm at the end of my shift so I won't get to do my introductions till the next blog post so until then I guess....