call me crazy...

Or is college supposed to be a place where you can have fun while managing the work that's given to you. Or am I just an exception to the whole rule of "college is FREAKIN' HORD that I don't have time to talk to my friends from high school that went to other colleges"? Also, I noticed (from what I see anyway) that they're not liking college, as opposed to those who are.

Now what defines liking college? I'm not so sure. From what I understand, it's a combination of liking the people, having fun with what's given to ya, and managing your work. Lately, I've been asking people how they are, how's life treating them, and how's college treating them.

"Sorry, busy. Can't talk." "I'm busy." "Hi. Bye" "Must sleep"

Huh?

It's only first quarter/semester(remember I'm one of the few kids on quarter system) and yet so many people are working so hard. On paper, the roles are supposed to be in reverse. I'm supposed to be crying cause I'm on quarter system. More work is packed in. In fact, finals are two weeks away. But here I am with my classes adding up to 18 credits. Somewhat stressed, but it doesn't stop me from keeping in contact with friends. Maybe it's the fact that Rochester is in the middle of nowhere and that because I don't have a car, I don't get to have fun. But then there's the fact that I go to fellowship, I go to club, and a lot of other things(hockey games and college sponsored events, to name a few). Maybe the work is too easy or I'm just that smart. But then I'm not that smart and the work really is not that easy, cause then I would've gotten this material in a moments notice. Maybe it's cause I don't like it here? But I am. In fact, I love it here. I love doing what I do, working to get that profession that I've always wanted since I was 9. That effort I'm putting is going somewhere, right?

Or am I wrong? Maybe I'm not working HARD ENOUGH?!

Yeah sure, screw that.

So the question I'm posing is...am I crazy, or is college supposed to be this hard.

Out of habbit already

Words are a powerful thing. A few can influence, inspire, confuse. Anything. Try not to think about it they say. Patience. A result will come. Frankly, I take it with stride myself, but sometimes it's hard to ignore the things people say to you.

Hopefully orange box will take things off my mind. That or any form of work will do.

Subject: Halo and "other"

[Skip down after the picture to...ya know...actually read about my life and not a game]
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So the release of Halo 3 has come and gone, and after 3 days (goes to check the bungie website), the kill count for all the players playing the campaign mode is nearing the 1 billion mark. Pretty impressive for 3 days if you ask me.

Since Tuesday morning, I've been playing on my off time from class (which is usually after 6-8). I haven't been playing as much as my friends, but I think I've been playing enough. Playing it enough times showed me that Bungie put a lot of time and effort to make it nice for the fans. Far from being the greatest game ever though. It gets more credit than it really deserves. To those that play often, the multiplayer has its definite differences from that of 2, but to the average player, it may not seem the same. Just run, gun and shoot. Storyline is straightforward and escapes the confusion set in 2. However it isn't the best story ever either. Something that makes me go "Wow" is a good story. Halo doesn't. I think of all the shooters out there though, Halo has the most decent one.

More attention should be focused on the multiplayer gameplay aspect, since that's what Halo is all about. The Matchmaking service is probably the best I've ever seen, using a ranking system and a skill level system so that players don't get caught getting killed by pros and that things seem generally fair. Bungie also logs every game you play, from where you die, how you die, what medals you've earned, and other things. Pretty extensive, and this is why Bungie gets props from me. The effort put into this is astounding. Personally, I don't play many online multiplayer games. Maybe I really don't know what I'm talking about, but hey man, logging matches of the players that number of the hundred thousands must take up so much server space. Looking at the picture on the right, we can see what parts of the world are playing. White means players are present. That's pretty cool, but that's what gets to me in games. The little subtleties in games that developers put into it, cause coming from a programmers perspective, making all of this is SO HORD. One highlight is forge and theater modes. Make your own maps, then watch you screw around in the map editor.
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So...waiting in line for games does NOT APPLY AT ALL here like it does in New York. I mean, here I am, at a tech school, where there is actually a pretty decently sized contingent of halo players. What does that tell me? Go to wal-mart a few hours early before release so I can nab an actual copy(cause I didn't reserve it). Come 8:30, wal-mart was freakin EMPTY. No line, only a few people getting groceries, but other than that, nothing. Me and johnny are thinking to ourselves...what's goin' on? Turns out that most of the people waiting on line(around 50), started coming at around 10:30, so that was a big "D'oh" moment. Doesn't stop us from having fun though. So what do we do in wal-mart? Johnny buys risk, which we didn't even play. We go to the sporting goods section and that's where I find the paddle and start swinging like a mad man. Then one of the lowly wal-mart employees tells us to cut it out cause he has to clean. Too bad. We nab the copy and all is well. The day of the launch, there was a small game play party for the game design students. High light was the 4v4v4v4 team slayer matches cause big battles = big fun. Explosions, death, the works.

So all was well until yesterday night when the fire alarm came off. Fire drill? I didn't realize dorm houses had fire drills. Didn't matter. The alarm was loud, the lights were blinking and I just wanted to get out of there. Took my jacket and headed out. Turns out the other buildings didn't come out. So, huh? Turns out that it was an actual emergency, but it really wasn't. Know why? Cause someone burned popcorn. fricken popcorn. It was all fun and games. One guy that lives on my floor ran in to get someone. "I'm A HERO DUDE. *raises arms up in empowerment* I said it was a giant rave in the dorm house cause all the lights were flashing so all we really needed was a nice beat, and some BASS. In any case, that's all. Halo really is running my life, so I gotta put that crap done and actually study.

Oh yeah, according to Abel, master chief dies. Oh really? Ya rly. *nods head in agreement*

It's fricken Game time

So...what? No class for another 3 hours. You know why!? cause that comp sci test was cake and I just blasted through everything. It's like AHHH BUST THROUGH A WALL easy. We'll busting through a wall isn't easy. But it could be. For like the Hulk. Or something. I mean what?

In any case, today is September 24th. Are you gonna go out of your way to FINISH THE FIGHT?! Cause I am. I wouldn't have been saying that if it was...3 or 4 years ago? I hated Halo and I was a hardcore PC shooter. Time's change don't they. I just don't like shooters in general, except for that decent one like Halo. I might buy source or team fortress in the future, but that's the future. After Halo and Smash i'm gonna be BROKE. POOR. Like all the other college students. Huzzah! It doesn't matter cause Halo will probably run a good chunk of my life for a good few months. I'm gonna go to the midnight launch at the wal-mart tonight, so I'll post up stuff on that. And then on Halo. And how I'm not gonna sleep. And how im gonna drink those BAWLS. You need some extra BAWLS?!

The Weather Here

So...my stay here so far has taught me something...

The weather here is screwy. Like more screwy than it usually is back at home.

Take today for example. This morning felt like a November day before it snows. Then comes 12 PM. It's warm. Like T-shirt and shorts warm. So...welcome to Rochester

Things to do

1) I am never, EVER gonna take 8 o'clock classes ever again. When the time comes to sign up for next quarter's classes, I'll shoot for 10. Maybe 9 if I'm generous.

2)Pre-order halo 3. Duh.

3)Don't succumb to, "Do you wanna play some GAYMS?!" (Chad Warden)

Just passing the time.

So work is abound and assigned and the first week of actual work is done. I have a paper due next week as the major assignment of the week, but things don't seem daunting. I mean, older students just say "Get used to it", so that's basically what I'm doing. Getting used to it. What else can you do? Cry? Whine? Not really. In my opinion, at least. It's college. You're responsible for yourself for the most part, with the occasional nagging from the parent. That's all good.

As for class itself, discrete math is considered a circus because our teacher answers the questions for us after writing the questions on the board and then pausing for a second before continuing. Can't really learn if don't let the students figure it out for themselves. Writing seminar is starting to be more of a history lesson about terrorism than a writing class. My first real assignment is due next Thursday, so i actually write in that class. The programming project was a real pain the butt. Can't use the fricken' date class so i had to sparse the date string in an array and just cycle everything. Took me forever to write that. I hope Prof. Neimi doesn't make me do something like that agin.

Freshman Seminar with Professor has been fun, listening to his visions of grandeur, stories and what not. One thing he wishes to do is have the xodus LAN and gaming festival take up the whole floor of the arena at RIT. Not hard to do, since we have all the equipment on campus. The challenge is to get the club running xodus to pull it off and to get gamers to really get into action instead of sitting on their buts and do nothing but play games. That's more of a challenge, I'd say. On Thursday, he talked about specific dates. A couple of days before the Halo 3 launch, Microsoft is coming here to give out a few advance copies of Halo 3. Next week Thursday is game day to celebrate the game design program's start. Free Schwag for us. On the 28th, microsoft is coming again to give us the XNA talk, which is basically a talk about the game development system on visual C# so that we can develop games for xbox live arcade. More free stuff like vista, office, and halo, among other things. October 4-7 is the Brick City homecoming. Phelps was wondering, "Why have homecoming is there really isn't any homecoming football game?" Another idea he had was to buy football gear, get some people together put them on the field and play madden on xbox's. Against another school. Doing the same thing. He also wants the feed of the game broadcasted through the ritz sports channel with commentary and everything. Talk about ambitious. We'll see whats gonna happen in the coming weeks.
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So yeah that's academics. I'm probably gonna talk about that every week, if it's a lot of very little. Who knows. Socially, the friend circle is growing. Slowly, yet surely. We've been gaming a lot. And I mean A LOT. It's one of the things to do. I even bought a 360 from someone on my floor. Now it's just a matter before Halo 3 comes out. Breaker's club has been fun, and workin the six-step is just like starting all over again to develop a strong base. Plus it's good being active. Speaking of active, I've been swimming. Like a lot. 4 times a week for an hour. It's been making me feel great getting in the water and just pushing it.

Then there's the frat downstairs. Me and johnny basically are gonna be on the verge of joining soon. Story is that I beat they're guy that was good at Marvel vs. Capcom 2. He wasn't that good. He'd be NYC chump change. So basically the frat boys screamed out loud. "YOU BEAT HIM?! YOU BEAT HIM! POUND IT." So I'm this small legend that beat their dude. "The guy that beat rizo." Johnny is just known by association because he just so happened to be there. Overall, they're pretty chill. Damn, then there's pi delta psi. The asian only frat. Ho' crap is bronx science all over again. No doubt. Asian's stick together in packs. Always did. Always will. You got some of the token ones that venture out, but that's about it. I wasn't really a member of the asian community, since all they really do is stick together and not get out of that shell. Can't do that. Never did. Probably never will. Didn't feel like I fit in with acs anyway. We'll, good luck to kevin joining pdp. He might have fun.


Next post is gonna be about Halo 3. No doubt. It's coming out in less than 2 weeks, and since I got a 360, it's pre-order time. I'll post about the various LAN and launch parties and how school is gonna be empty.