Happy Birthday to me

Okay, so my birthday was actually Tuesday. I'm a little late. It's my birthday and I'll decide when I want to post about it. So there. Shut you up in a hurry.

Anyway, it was a long day because of work, but it was nice when I got home because my family was there to shower me with love and presents. I had an ice cream cake, too. Delicious.

I got a PSP (PlayStation Portable) and it's really cool. I am really enjoying it so far. I got two games for it, which are both really fun. One is Medievil: Resurrection and the other is Burnout: Dominator. Both are great, but I'm really loving Medievil. It's been so long since I played the original on the PS One. Sir Daniel Fortesque rocks all video game characters. Ever. Except for Gray Fox from Metal Gear Solid, but Sir Dan is a close second.

Anywho, that's all. I'm off to finish my cake! Oh, I should probably eat supper, too. No particular order.

Aha!

Saints and Soldiers. That was the third WWII movie I couldn't remember in my last post. It was bugging me.

I'm terrible at titles

The above is a Water Djinn from the game Guild Wars: Nightfall. The creators of Guild Wars has put out miniature pets for the player's enjoyment. These pets can be obtained by playing the game for a year. They appear in your inventory as a birthday gift and you get a random mini pet. Most of the pets are pretty common, but some, like the one above (mine), are quite rare and quite valuable. There has been a pretty big market for these mini pets in the game. You can make a lot of gold buying and selling these things. I paid about 135,000 gold for this mini Water Djinn. It took a long time to get the cash, and a long time to find a seller who would be willing to let one part for that amount of gold. They normally go for more. Some mini pets are worth millions. I got lucky.

Speaking of birthdays, mine is coming up. Tuesday marks my 24th birthday. Happy Birthday to me.

I'm not sure why I posted the picture or wrote a paragraph about that. Lack of anything better to write, I suppose. I thought the picture was cool and I guess it never hurts to talk about video games, though I guess the majority of the population that blogs would rather I write about politics or movie stars. I try to steer clear of both (with the exception of writing about my crackpot theories of conspiracy, espionage, and World War III) because, well, who cars? Politics are important, yes, but it can so irritating at times. I grow so tired of seeing the campaigns on TV, on billboards, and on cardboard signs stuck in my front yard.

As for the movie stars... I grow so sick and tired of hearing about movie stars. Who cares about Britney Spears or Paris Hilton or any other filthy, STD-ridden whore that can't drive seem to go more than a few days without landing themselves in jail or having a photo snapped of their uncovered nether regions. Who cares? Why does anyone care about movie stars for that matter? You can like their work, you can like the movies they are in, you can even be star struck when you see one of them, but why... why do we care what they do on a daily basis? Why do we care what Tom Cruise does on a Saturday morning? Why do we care when Jessica Simpson uses the ladies' room on Friday night? Why do we care? Why are we so concerned with the personal lives of other people? It's called a "personal" life for a reason. It is supposed to be that.

Why would I waste my time writing about something millions of other people have already blogged about anyway? I keep my blog limited to my own life. It might not be interesting, but at least it is something that not everyone knows about. It is me. My personal thoughts and views. That is why I don't conform to the standards of a star-crazed society. I apologize to anyone who might read this and expect great and wonderful things. I am not a writer. I do not lead an interesting life. What I write comes from a dirty shelf in a dark, dusty closet lodged deep into the recesses of my brain. It also comes as I go. I make half of it up as I go. In the case of this blog, I made it ALL up as I went along, starting from the first word.

Wow. Not sure where that came from. Not sure bearing it had on anything. I told you I made things up as I go. I rarely stay on one topic for long.

My girlfriend of - hm, let's see... 10 months? Sounds right - 10 months broke up with me today. That always makes for a good day, hm? Not fun. That's all I'll say on the subject. I hate sappy, mushy "I'm sorry, let's talk about it" stuff afterwards. What difference does it make?

Any ladies out there? Hello? I'm not as horribly cynical and pessimistic as my blog may make me seem. Really.

Anyway, my mini vacation is over. I go back to work tomorrow after 4 days off for the Thanksgiving holiday. Not looking forward to it. Work has gotten quite unfun lately. My boss is being a bit.... ornery, I suppose the right word would be. She seems to have a constant thumb up her rear. Not sure if it's because the end of the year is looming just over the horizon or if it's a natural thing. I'm leaning toward the latter. Females tend to get stuck on a certain setting and stay there for a while. I shall remain in my little cubicle in the corner, not say anything, do my job, and leave. Better to slip in and out unnoticed.

I watched a movie today. Enemy at the Gates. A good World War II movie. I enjoyed it quite thoroughly. My brother loaned it to me and said it was good. He was right. I like WWII movies, for the most part. Saving Private Ryan, Enemy at the Gates, and... gosh, there was another one he let me watch a while back, but I can't remember the name of it. Had a Christian sniper, an athiest medic, a British pilot, and a bunch of guys getting killed. All I remember is that the sniper's nickname was Deacon. Can't remember the name. Oh, well. My brother will tell me.

That is all! I've posted a bit lately. My last three posts, including this one, are new, more or less, so regular readers, don't stop here. Continue reading.... or I'll come find you.

The growing idiocy of online users

"Me fail English? That's unpossible!"

Ah, the immortal words of young Ralph Wiggum. Sadly, it accurately depicts many of the students in today's public school system. Children and teenagers these days have been twisted and seduced by the glamour of the pop star/movie star life and as such, put education on the back burners. After all, you don't have to be able to spell "cat" with a C if you have a million bucks, right? You have other people for such remedial tasks.

But only a very select few of people will ever make it to that kind of fame and fortune, and in the end, their inability to construct a complete sentence with any meaning will knock them back down to the dark abyss of poverty.

Far too much am I chatting with someone on the Internet that has no regard for the proper use of the English language. Rather, American English. The two are indeed different. Too often do I see "wus up!" or "how r u?" or any other number of poorly spelled and rather incomplete thoughts. This saddens me to no end. Has the computer and technology made the general population even more stupid? Or is it simply a case of laziness? In my opinion, typing "how r u?" takes far longer than "How are you?" I don't have to think about using proper grammar and spelling. I have to think about typing in shorthand. You see my point.

I'm not talking about the commonly used "LOL," "BRB," or "BTW." I am guilty of using those. I'm talking about using short hand in every sentence that one types. The combination of letters and numbers to form words like "Great!" or "mate." That's what saddens me. Does it really take so much effort to type correctly?

Typing in this shorthand does nothing constructive for today's youth. It teaches them that they can be lazy when it comes to communication. Where will that lead them in life? How will their professor (on the off chance they even get into a college [or graduate high school for that matter]) react when they hand in their term paper titled "Y my 5ummer wuz gr8." I pity that professor.

On par with this shorthanded typing is the so called 1337 speak. In this case, numbers are substituted for the letters they most closely resemble. In case you cannot figure it out, 1337 is "leet." Leet supposedly means that one is better than another. They are elite. But this spelling (or misspelling, if you prefer) only proves their inability to communicate with any type of proficiency. They are not elite. They are merely another member of a society that is becoming exponentially dumber with each passing day.

How can one function in society when they can only type with numbers and short hand? It boggles my mind. It is unfortunate that this not only affects teenagers and children on the Internet, but the adults as well. I speak to too many adults that use the same type of poor grammar and spelling and wonder how they ever made it in life. I don't understand how someone can force their brain to do this.

So I end with that; grateful for the few friends that I have that understand proper American English and how to incorporate it into their typing. Thank you to those. For everyone else... go to school, you lazy morons!

The only people I give leeway to when it comes to misuse of grammar or spelling are foreigners that may not be experts at the American English language. Most foreigners are taught English (taught by British instructors). This can vary greatly from what we use here in the United States. I'm still not a fan of 1337 speak, though. Don't do it.

The day after

I trust everyone's Thanksgiving was enjoyable and you were caught driving under the influence of tryptophan. If you were, well, you can be thankful the bail was within your budget.

I've decided to keep the same template for my blog page, but I will change the font and font color to that of the previous two posts. I like blue and you can't go wrong with Times New Roman. I do wish I could use other fonts, but given the limited options, this shall suffice.

You might notice the new page hit counter above my profile image. Nifty, hm? It fits the color scheme of my page, too. That's pretty much the only reason I put it up. It was blue.

Anyway, that's all for now.

Bye, I suppose.

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm not going anywhere for Thanksgiving, but I probably won't bother to write anything tomorrow, so I'll get it out of the way now. Happy Freaking Turkey Day! ...or something like that.

I despise turkey. Ugh, it's awful. Doesn't matter who makes it or how big the turkey was before it got shot, beheaded, de-feathered, and stuffed with... stuffing. It's awful. It's so horribly dry. It's hard to chew and it has no taste whatsoever. It's like gnawing on your shoe. For a long time, I was forced to eat this junk, but fortunately, now that I'm much older, I finally have a bloody choice. My choice? Anything else. I might have some ham and mashed potatoes or something. I'm not a big fan of ham (or any meat for that matter, save for shrimp), but it's a lot better than turkey. There's only a handful of things I hate more than turkey and roast beef ranks high on my list. That's a whole 'nother ordeal.

Anyway, I suppose I should get back to work. Had a slow moment for once and decided to write something.

Happy Thanksgiving to America. Well, Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow.

Busy, busy, busy.

Geez. Work takes time! Time I usually take to write something important. How dare it. How dare it cut into "me" time. Hmpf.

Sorry, people. I've been quite busy of late, as you just read. Working and playing games. I did leave out the latter part, didn't I? I've been really getting back into The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I love the game and it runs so beautifully on my system. For that matter, every game runs beautifully on my system. I played for a long time a while back and beat it several times with several different characters, but I took a break in favor of Guild Wars. I did what I set out to do in Guild Wars and now I have left it behind, more or less, in favor of Oblivion.

I currently have a level 32 Imperial ninja/warrior that I'm puttering around with. I call him a ninja warrior because in stealth mode, I've got a constant 85% chameleon effect going on and stand directly in front of someone or run all around them and they can't see me. I'll jump into an Oblivion portal, stay in crouch mode, and steal the sigil at the end, closing the gate, all without being seen or even drawing my sword. Hah. It's almost too easy.

He's also a warrior because I have my blade and heavy armor skills maxed out and I have full daedric armor which makes me a tank among fluffy bunnies. I can kill most daedra in a single strike while in sneak mode with my trusty Goldbrand. Most things fall to me in a single swoop.

I rock. I used to have a level 39 Argonian ninja/warrior way back when, but an issue that caused me to have to reformat my harddrive made me lose the save games. Starting over wasn't so bad, though. I loved doing all of the guild quests again. Once again, I am the guild leader of every guild. The Dark Brotherhood is the first one I go after. There's nothing cooler than the Black Hand robes and murdering people. Then I do the Mages Guild because it's a fun series of quests after you get the reccomendations (which can be a pain), followed by either the Thieves Guild or Fighter's Guild, just depending on my mood and if I feel like playing the ninja side of things or warrior side of things. I wind up doing them all, though.

Anyway, maybe I'll get a screenshot of my character sometime soon and post it. For now, though, all you get is the Oblivion logo.

Bye for now!

A new look

I've decided to change things up around here. I'll be experimenting with different fonts, font colors, and templates, so if you come here and it's one thing and then come back and it's another, that's why. There's nothing wrong with the way it is now, but there's nothing wrong with a little change either.

I finally got my first paycheck today. It's been ages. It wasn't much, but at least it's something going in and not coming out.

I'm tired and cranky. That's all I have to say for now.

Greetings and salutations!

People still use words like that, right? No? Why not? They're great words. I make it a point to say "Greetings" at least once a day. Normally I use it when speaking to people online, as I tend to get weird looks if I use it in face to face conversation, but I've decided to say "Screw it" and say greetings to someone in person.

Alright, so there was really no point at all to that paragraph. Obviously I can't write an entire blog about the supreme awesomeness of title, but it got me started, so that's a plus, right? It's come to my attention that I've put too much concern into who reads my blog and whether or not they leave a comment. This goes against my very nature as a person. In real life, I couldn't care less whether or not you liked me. In fact, it's better if you don't like me. Then I don't have to pretend to like you and I can forgo being civil altogether. Saves us both a lot of time!

Anyway, that being said: Comment if you will, readers. I care not. Invade my interweb, read my rantings, and depart with nary a word uttered.

Today's topic shall touch on China. I've written about China before, so it's probably not going to be surprising that I have another conspiracy theory to reveal to you all.

Everyone in the US that has a TV, has picked up the paper, or has spoken to someone on the street knows that this year has been marked by the recalls of millions of toys coming from China. The problem with these toys ranges from lead paint to traces of the date rape drug. The targets of these toys? Children. Hm.

For years, China has been quietly building up their military strength. Their army now numbers at least 8 million, easily giving them the largest army in the world, shattering the numbers of the US, Britain, and Russia. China has also been quietly revamping their ability to mass produce. This should be a concern to all. I shall explain why momentarily.

Toys are meant for children. Tainted toys are meant to harm children. Harmed children fall victim to a variety of health issues. Children with health issues, over the course of time, short or long, die.

China has long been suspected of starting World War Three, which it could easily do with Russia to the north, Japan and Taiwan to the East, and a miraid of small nations to the south. I find it strange that suddenly, after all this military buildup, China "accidentally" starts poisoning toys. Why not? Why not poison the children of the United States. Children would die. The elderly will die as normal, but pose little threat in a war. This leaves only adults and teenagers. With the majority of the military tied up in affairs in the Middle East, the US would have no choice but to implement the Draft once again. With our pasts and futures dying off, all that is left is our present. Our present is sent off to war. Our present will surely suffer massive casualties.

The Unites States and the Allies won World War II because of the US's ability to mass produce. For every US tank destroyed, 4 more took it's place. The Germans, while possessing superior firepower, could not withstand the relentless assault of mass produced weaponry. This is why China is now increasing their ability to mass produce. Think about it. 8 million men and women fire a lot of rounds during the course of a battle. Rounds that need replacing. Equipment will need replacing, as will vehicles. A well-oiled and functioning Chinese manufacturing line could spell disaster for any country it decides to invade.

I shall watch you, China. I shall watch you.

(No, no, once again I am NOT anti-American. I am proud to be an American. We have a great country. I realize the last flew blogs I've written concerning war and the participation of the US has the US losing, but come on... do you really think we'd stand a chance fighting two wars again? We have too many resources rotting away in Iraq. If we pulled them out and focus solely on a Far East threat, hey, with a little help from our northern Russian "allies" and UN forces, we could possibly win another World War, but.... we couldn't right now.)

Try, try again.

A quote I found last night made by a friend of mine. Pretty funny, but has a good point.

When at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

"Don't you think all the great inventors went through similar alpha test phases?! Why, where would Einstein be if he just woke up with a hangover and crabs one day and decided he didn't give a flyin fark about relativity?!" - Tim

Edit....

Yeah, so I took care of my little lunch problem. I now have a half hour lunch and can leave at 4:30. :) Yay for me. Traffic, you shall rue me no longer!

...and lunch time.

Most people like having an hour long lunch. It gives you a nice little break in the middle of the day and it gives you just enough time to get some errands done should you need to do them. It allows you to run down to the local McDonald's and grab a bite to eat if you don't feel like spending the same amount of money at the local vending machine in the break room (for significantly less food, I might add). It gives you time to check your email, write a blog, and converse with your peers about the happenings of your day. Great! Everyone loves hour long lunches!

....Um. No.

What's the bloody point? I start work (Mon.-Wed.) at 8am. I leave at 7:10am. This puts me right in the middle of the morning traffic. It takes me 30-40 minutes to go 8 miles! That is ridiculous. Fortunately, I don't have to take the interstate. Add another 30 minutes to that route. What does this have to do with lunch? Actually, nothing, but I'm giving you story guidelines. I leave work at 5pm. This puts me right in the middle of rush hour traffic. I don't get home until 6pm. I go to bed at 9:30pm. Wake up at 7am, then repeat the process all over again.

Where does lunch fit into all of this? The morning traffic I can't do anything about. It's a fact of nature. Grass is green. Water is blue. There will always be traffic in the morning. It can be added to the list of things that are guaranteed in life (along with death and taxes). But, the evening traffic can be avoided. *gasp!* *shock and awe!* Indeed, it can.

How? Stop giving us an hour lunch! There's no point for it! I sit here every day, staring blankly out the large window to my left. There is nothing to bloody do! I waste an hour! An hour (or rather, a half an hour. Blasted federal lunch rules.) that I could be working! Having a half an hour lunch means you leave a half an hour early. That would mean I would leave at 4:30pm. Ergo, I miss the evening traffic by a half hour! Now this is something to be happy about! I can make it home early! I'd have more than 12 minutes (exaggeration, so sue me) to kill before it's time to go to bed!

Woe is Mark. Woe is Mark, indeed. I shall gladly give a half hour of my lunch to someone else.

Break time... again.

Break time at work. 15 minutes to sit back and relax, take a look out the window, or send some emails. Or blog. I'm learning new things here at work. Namely, how to do more work. Fun. Why not? I'm here anyway. More things to occupy my 8 hours.

I should write an email. But to who? No one to write to. Or no one I'm allowed to write to. What a farce that is. It will forever boggle my mind. None of you have a clue what I'm talking about, but that's quite alright. It's not for you to know. Stay out of my business, ya hear?

Break time is almost over. I have things to do now.

Bye.

Yup. "Bye." Such a cold word at times. That is all I have left you with. Simply "bye." Nothing more. No professing my feelings in a warm, thoughful, heartfelt ode to your life. No "have a nice day!" No anything. Just "bye."

Hm. So cold. Brr.

Meh...

....does anything else really need to be said?

Swedes, I need help!

So I have obtained a few of Kent's latest songs (from the album Tillbaka Til Samtiden), but alas, I am stuck without the lyrics. As I cannot read Swedish (yet), I can't go to any Swedish sites to see if they have them listed.

The lyrics I need are as follows:

Vy Från Ett Luftslott
Elefanter
Våga Vara Rädd
Generation Ex
Ensammast I Sverige

I beseech thee, Swedes that may stumble upon this blog, help me! You shall earn my eternal gratitude for the task at hand.

Lunchtime!

It's lunch time and I've nothing else to do, so why not write? Don't think I haven't noticed the sharp decline in readers lately. From 5 to... 2? Ouch. I am deeply wounded. I never claimed to have the most fascinating blog. You know what you were getting into when you signed up. It's your own fault if you don't like what I have to say, but the least you can do is mock me viciously in a comment. Comments are good. Comments are great. Why not leave one? Bloody ingrates. I spend all of this time and energy writing some grand epic and no one bothers to read it or leave a comment. I despise you all....

Day 4 of work. I've been here since 7am. It is now 12:43pm and in the middle of my lunch hour. Well, not really the middle, it's more like 15 minutes into my lunch hour, but I digress... Thursday are going to be rough, I think. 7am-6pm. 10 hours. Yuck. I have a hard enough time getting to work at 8am during my normal schedule. At least the traffic on the way here wasn't too bad and the traffic on the way home should (key word there) be okay. My job is mind-numbingly boring, but once you get a rhythm going it's not terrible. It's just staring a computer screen for 8 (or 10) hours a day. It's not a job for everyone, but for those who can do it and not feel like murdering your coworkers should be quite good at it.

Time for me to go. I have a large window to my left. It's time to stare out it and watch traffic go by for the next 40 minutes.