It's been a long time....

Last time I wrote here, it was last year. New beginnings have come and passed, lives have been changed, things have been learnt. I, however, am still here, I promise!

Without further ado, here is a quick rundown of the past eight months in 5 breaths or less:

December hit us with a fair amount of snow, nothing major, and it soon melted. February through April it was all allergies and couples getting married, allowing me more 'me-time' that I did not want,as everyone seems to be busy with this thing called "married life". *shrugs* The saying about May flowers coming with April showers was wrong this year, and up till now everything melted, and summer seemed to arrive faster than expected, the heat melting May into June. This was the month the heat peaked, and it held stead all throughout July. A few family vacations happened somewhere in there (yes, I actually left the house for more than 4 hours at a time), and next thing I know, its August 1st. For those who do not know, my birthdate happened to fall on the 26th of August, 21 years ago. My birthday approached, and with it came the storm clouds. I don't blame poor April, August can be a bully and steal things, like in this year, all the rain. Java was picked up, as well as French (again), Italian, German, among other things added to my //TOLEARN list. That double slash was a reference to Java's //TODO comments, if you didn't catch it. My birthday stumbled upon me, nothing different than usual. a few "OMG HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"'s from friends online (thanks for nothing Google >_>) and a couple presents, the usual "thoughtful gifts" from my mom, and the "practical gifts" from my step-dad. I did, however, get a jar of nutella :D. And now we find ourselves here again, August 27th, back at the blog. I'll be moving a few of the writings I've done in this period of absence over to here somewhere, so keep an eye out for that!



-Octo out

"week unplugged" day 1

This is it, friends. My "week unplugged". yesterday I decided that my life had too much in it, and it was time to get my time back, so I opted with the hardest thing for my techie life. Unplug myself from the internet. electronic devices were ok, such as for music, and note taking, but anything outside my local home network is strictly prohibited. Here is how day 1 went:

Friday     09:45pm - made the decision to go unplugged
               10:00pm - started meditating, trying to clear my head. what felt like 10 minutes later....
               12:27am - realize I had been meditating for 2:27 hours. O_O dang.
               12:30am - do 20 mins worth of pushups right before hopping in bed by 12:50
Saturday
               01:28am - (rough time estimates from now on) tasker checks for my gps location, and given I was home, turns on my wifi and connects to the home router, letting 20+ notifications through, waking me up.
               01:47am - tasker disconnected, as well as anything else that would be automated.
               08:00am - sun starts rising, I've been drifting in and out of consciousness for 8 hours.
               11:58am - (exact time here) wake up, full alert, reach for the phone, set it back down.
               12:40pm - take a shower listening to some glitch mob I have in my computer upstairs (listening though the home network to my phone, plugged into my bathroom speakers)
               01:45pm - realization that I don't have my mind palace developed enough to remember a week's worth of occurrences, and that I need to start writing things down.
               02:25pm - finally caught up to the daily happenings, wanting to make cookies, since its a saturday. Of course, I dont know any recipes from the top of my head, and can't look online, so off I go trying to scour the house for recipe books that my mom didnt take with her when she moved out.
               02:38pm - found a "Cooking for 2" magazine, with four pages of sweet-tooth recipes from cream-filled chocolate rolls to tiger butter candy (whatever that is).

From then on, my day became a blur as I went with 2 friends for some parkour fun at the nearest playground, followed by a trip to Golden Corral buffet, and then a movie (walking with dinosaurs, and sneaked into 47 Ronin afterwards). the day is over, it being 6 minutes past midnight, and I have a massive headache, but managed to remain unplugged. Time to see what tomorrow brings.

PS: I did go online to publish this article on the blog, but did not check notifications on phone or email.

I've Got a Dream

Last night I had a dream, and it was the coolest dream I've ever had. As some of you may know, in personality types i'm a INTP/INFP. With that out of the way, let's get on with the dream. It started off in some sort of room that looked like the inside area of a spaceship, with a group of young people anywhere from 12 to 24 years of age. The room was square in shape but the walls had two angles to them, making the room appear hexagonal if seen from the side. The floor was a light, non-reflective aluminum color, with a locked hatch in the center. There were thirty seats arranged in two squares of 5x3 on each side of the hatch, all pointing the same direction. Each seat had a 5 point harness. the walls were the same as the floor except the room had yellow-gold, ruby-red, and emerald-green highlights throughout it, i figured each meant something symbolic.  Sitting in the seats were my closest friends, from school to online gaming, and even some people that I didn't enjoy the company of/didn't enjoy me as company. Everyone looked happy to be there, and with high hopes for whatever came next.

grenhorns

cant remember amber

rednecks

3 styles of clothing-> full tight, full loose, half/half

dorms were open all night, with glass between girls and guys

everyone was happy and content to be there

highly competitive

classroom had two heights of seats, with double stairs for the balcony

classes were taught with projector and BYOD that was given at introduction

I was greenhorn

4 people per room

scal, koyu, chicken, chrispy, dallen, and xavia were all there

scal=greenhorn, (tight)

koyu (half tight), dallen(loose), me(loose), all same launch, fresh greenhorns

chicken=amber(half tight)

chrispy=amber(tight)

xavia=redneck(half tight)

everyone spoke only three languages to each other: english (brit/aussie), french, and russian

uniforms were main color with joints covered in black stretchy fabric and grey highlights merging black and color. patches: country of origin on right shoulder, rank steps on left shoulder, last name, chosen unique nick on left chest, with student number under it.
full tight uniforms were like a one piece long pant-long sleeve uniform.
half tight were a two piece set, the pants were much like sweats, but right below the knees had an elastic band that followed till the ankle, so the bagginess wouldnt get in the way. the shirt was the same design, a tshirt under with a loose shirt on top that tucked into the pants and the elastic bands right below the elbows.
the full loose uniforms looked like sweats, and a skintight longsleeve shirt with a tshirt over it.

girls had their hair however they wanted, but it needed to be up during drills (same with long haired guys)
it was almost like a military school with three ranks, and 5 steps between ranks (green-3, red-4).
the rank tree went as such:
color leader       1 per color
step leader         5 per color
section leader    5 per color, physical sections, related to bunking, multi steps
bunk leader       8 per section
everyone else    4 per bunk
160 of each color, 480 students total, somewhere around 150 faculty

the school was on low orbit of Earth, and an elevator was taken up to it (first room of the dream)
every class was done hands on, from literature (En/Fr/Ru) and chemistry to cooking and strategy games

started listening to music from Q, cant concentrate anymore. oops.

I'll finish this later today after a shower and food.

thanks for reading, Octo out.

A concerning concert, and a new kick at life

Unlike yesterday, today flew by very quickly. Doesn't help that I woke up at 3PM because I was up until 5AM creating the blog/internet hub thing that I now have. No matter, being unemployed and having no life does have its perks. By the way, to anyone reading this, I totally recommend a book called "The Screwtape Letters" by none other than Clive Staples Lewis (C.S. Lewis for short, and yes, he was the guy who wrote the Narnia series) I borrowed the book from an old friend, old being completely in context, considering he's somewhere in his late 40's, and man, that vocabulary is beautiful. But I haven't had to look at a dictionary yet, so it's all good. :)

Aaaanyways.. I woke up, as per usual made my trip to the fridge, didn't find anything great to eat, so I munched on a banana while creating the last banner/page for my site, which is the sheet music request form. With that out of the way, I was ready to start a new life, where all my social media/SEO came together under that one URL. Little did I know that an email from a "Jacob <last name withheld> " was waiting for me. in this email, Jacob explained that a friend of his was making a movie and that his friend asked him to write the soundtrack. Dallen and I had always joked about creating movies out of his book ideas, and Ben (a musical friend of mine) and I would write the OST (original soundtrack) for it/them... but this, having someone I do not know, asking me for help on a soundtrack... blew me away. He then proceeds to explain the plot line, which is the typical 'good guy caught in the wrong, makes up for it, falls in love with important person's daughter" story line. (see The Princess Bride for reference, as well as TRON Legacy) From my early morning thinking (5PM), I figured that I would check noteflight, since Jacob mentioned having music there. Yet another surprise was waiting for me. He (under the username Cody) had listened and given input on most of my piano solo arrangements (which you can find by clicking the noteflight banner on the right), but had also already started the theme.

Jacob, if you're reading this, this next sentence is coming from a tired Octo, and someone who just finished listening to Christmas music: The theme needs lots of work. There is a melody, and some harmony, but no base chords, and it seems to be stuck at the same 3 chords, which is no problem, really (see 'Now You See Me' OST) except these chords aren't in any particular order, and seem to be all jumbled together. Jacob's avatar pic on noteflight is a marching band member, so I assume that he has theory under his belt. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what happens when you write music that works "in theory". It doesn't work in real life. It doesn't sound good. it's.... well....nasty. ._. so, as the good guy I am, instead of responding to the email, I saved a copy of the theme, figured out the main melody (by ear of course. what? you thought I would actually read the sheet music? lol xD) and added the base chord progression down, along with a few 'themes' to it. the typical romantic (sort of a tango), the battle (<insert drum cadence here>), the beat-down (main theme is sad already, not much work there) and the conquest themes (much harder, since the chords matched that of Now You See Me OST). .....Except I forgot to record it all, so I'll have to refigure it out. I had key changes, chord progressions, theme changes, everything down, but because I wasn't actually thinking about the music, I don't remember much of it... sad panda.

Tonight was also a rehearsal for the community Christmas concert, which I am sad to say that I am not singing in, since nobody told me that it was happening. being a hibernating hermit, there are its downsides, specially since 90% of the good looking girls in this town sing, which means that they are singing in the choir. might have managed a few dates, if I wasn't so...inward-bound. no gain, no loss, though, so no matter. the rehearsal was alright, and most of the orchestra members know exactly what they're doing. The choir, on the other hand, sounds like someone shoved an oboe mute down their throats. ( do they make oboe mutes? thinking back to high school times, I think they should)(and not for the player, silly. For the instrument. back to the choir, though.) Their volume was about half of what it needed to be, and the orchestra kept overpowering them over and over again... which is sad, since all the songs they sing the choir has beautiful parts, including the Hallelujah Chorus.

Ohmygoodnessthatsongislikeromancetomyears. ..But seriously, hallelujah chorus, being sung by people who know what they're doing, is the most beautiful choir piece ever written, in my opinion. Take a listen here if you don't believe me. Hear how clear you can tell what they're saying? Let me tell you, that's roughly 200 voices. Sounding like one. It's brilliantly beautiful. Aaanyways, The blog seems to be a hit amongst friends except +Embry White who still wants to kill me for the low quality banners I created at 2AM.

So, looking up, spellchecker is telling me that amongst isn't a word, and yesterday it was telling me that dreamt isn't a word either... but twerk is a word... honestly, I want Shakespeare back. the good ol' days when the vocabulary of a young child was greater than the used vocabulary of most English teachers now. I say used, because most of us know what the big words like colloquial and pantomimical mean, we just never really use them.

May I issue a challenge? I think I shall. You. Yes, you, reading this. I challenge thee to a contest. I shall Give thee a word and thou shalt create the most intricate and verbose phrase that only a mind such as yours could geniusly invent. With the challenge set, I shall escort myself away stage left. As it is habitual, I acknowledge and give thanks for your time spent perusing over my poorly worded life, and recommend that you do not obliterate the thought of populating the lives and minds of those within your electronic reach with my postings, be it family, friend, or foe.


Almost forgot. The Challenge word is "Pasquinade". As you finish your phrase, and realize you have a better one, feel free to comment again. The challenge is against yourself only, and feel free to share this with friends to see what their phrases might be!

PS: if you managed to read through the whole post without clicking the dictionary links for the words, and still managed to understand everything, let me know, and kudos to you! *high fives* :D

And so a new adventure begins

I Have no clue why I decided to start a daily blog. Maybe it was the fact that one of my best friends just left on an LDS mission to the Philippines for two years, and I figured I should keep track of all my insane stunts and crazy ideas for him to read and laugh when he gets back. Maybe it was the fact that I am going to Portugal (my home country) for a month over Christmas and wanted to keep track of everything that happens. Maybe it was simply that being unemployed, I needed something to do, and a blog seemed like a good idea.

Either way, here I am, and here you are, so we might as well get started.

Today, being a wednesday, ran rather uneventful. I woke up having dreamt all sorts of ideas (this blog might have been one) and headed straight to the kitchen for food. Last night my dad (step-dad) and I went to an authentic mexican restaurant for dinner, and I had to bring the rest of my food home with me, since I could not finish the heaps of meat, rice and beans that they piled on that 2 foot diameter plate. So, like any hungry guy would do, I ate the left-overs for breakfast. Rest assured, I did heat them up first.

After that, I happily waltzed over to Llydia, my vertical Kawai piano of whom I recently pulled apart, cleaned, lubed and pieced back together, and sat down with a few piano songs from Michele McLaughlin playing in my ears.

As odd as it sounds saying it, I grew bored of playing, so off to the computer I went. Recently I contacted a new friend (Anna <last name being withheld>) who, in my opinion, is the female version of me, but a few years older. She is a web designer, and thinking like I always do, I figured I'd give it a shot. Thinking back to the old age of Blogger, I decided to give Wordpress.com a try. .....Except I am not willing to spend money just so I can customize my "theme", or the CSS style sheet, and since I couldn't force CSS into the posts (kind of like an SQL injection), I quickly migrated back to Blogger. Happily did I find that their UI got a revamp, and more options were added. Yay for free customization! But since blogger doesn't have the amount of storage that Wordpress does, I upload all files into Wordpress, and just link to them in Blogger. Brilliant, I know. :)

After a few hours in GIMP creating banners (the noteflight one had to be frankensteined together) and a few more stealing the styles from wordpress and applying it to Blogger, The Rant Corner is finally complete! <insert evil laugh here>!!! The only thing missing really, is checking if Blogger has an android app, so I can post on the go when I'm in Portugal.

With that said, it's 2:24AM, and I need food. I mean, I need sleep too, but I'm hungry since the only thing I ate today was that giant breakfast. And the banana. ...And the rest of the cinnamon chex cereal thingys.

I think that has been all for today. As always, thank you for reading, and don't forget to share my page(s) with friends, family and other arranged/deranged kinds of kin!