Winds of Change

   Anymore I find myself wondering just how much life will change in college. I suppose I don't so much mean life as I do the relationships I've made these past twelve years. 

   Time was, you went off to college, saw your college buddies on breaks, and sort of drifted apart from pretty much all of them with few exceptions. But now, with Facebook, Skype, and the gaming community in general, I can't help but wonder what it will be like. I like to think I'll still, if not see them, interact with them fairly frequently. Everyone involved in Nerds Under Fire I'll have to, so there's that.

   And then there's relationships. The big one. This is the one that scares me. Going off to a college where you won't see your SO for days, weeks. It makes me wonder how people hold up with that kind of thing. The old trope is that long distance doesn't work, but like I said, times are a-changing. But how much? Is long distance viable, or are we just lying to ourselves? Time will tell, I suppose. Tropes won't stop me from trying.

   Wow, this kind of bummed me out. But I guess you get days like that. All well. On the bright side, my grades are up, the new 3DS is out, and I'm back to playing the violin all the time. I even got voted Most Musical by my graduating class along with a close friend of mine, so that's pretty cool. 

   I'm looking forward to a relaxing week off. I'll definitely try to get out as much as I can, though. Lately I can't stand staying home and doing nothing. I get antsy. It's actually a nice feeling, I feel like I'm becoming a little less reclusive, especially since I started building up this blog and NuF. I've been meeting new people, both on and offline, and I can almost hold a conversation with someone! Haha.

   Well, anyway. I think that about does it for me. See you all later.

~Joe

Convenient Connections

   Lately, I have found myself thinking about how I make connections between things like objects or thoughts.
   This seems weird and tangent-y but I've always found it very easy to make huge leaps in logic very quickly. This has helped me a lot, actually. Especially when I'm writing code. I see somethings not working, and it's just incredibly easy for me to pick out the error and either find a way to fix it, or circumvent it.
   I'm finding it a little difficult to think of a decent example, but for the life of me I just can't. It's something like...everything in my mind is connected. There really aren't any individual thoughts, it's more of a giant web with everything interconnected. No real center, and nothing really hangs out on its own. In some crazy way, remembering that I need to walk the dog is connected to my preferred method for solving basic vector problems.
   Does anyone else experience this? Or am I just totally insane? Maybe both. Either way, it's both insanely ridiculous, and incredibly convenient because it's really easy for me to solve logical problems.
   Anyway, I've spent the past week playing the new Super Smash Bros like a freaking madman. In the first day I unlocked Falco, Ness, and Dark Pit. Now I also have Duck Hunt Dog, Jigglypuff, and a couple others I can't seem to think of at the moment.
   My only real complaint about the game is the lack of some sort of story mode like subspace emissary like in Super Smash Bros Brawl. This is replaced in the 3DS version by Smash Run mode, which is okay, but really just not that interesting. I tend to think that there will be a story mode thing in the Wii U version though, but we'll just have to wait and see.
   Pokecast is still going strong and doing fairly well in the numbers. To be honest, it isn't really the numbers that matter to me though. Even if everything I did got precisely zero hits I would still probably do it. Because why not? I do this because it's what I enjoy. Knowing people care to listen to my insane babbling is just a pretty awesome perk. I don't need to be Scott Johnson to feel fulfilled.
   While I'm on the subject of podcasts, I should say some about Geek Council. For those who have been following, you undoubtedly noticed it never actually premiered. Well, fear not my friends! Starting in November it will premier-this I promise. I look forward to launching this with all of you. It should be quite the adventure.
   If you'd like to be the first to know when all this goes down, by the way, make sure that you regularly check www.nerdsunderfire.com. It's always the first place I update.
   Okay, plug over. I've got quite a weekend ahead of me, so I'll see you all on Monday for another blog post.

Tacos,
Gladdstone

Back to Work

   Okay guys, here's the deal. New school year, new me. I'm going to get back on track with this blog. That means updates three times a week for the foreseeable future. Senior year is going to be a ufn one and I really want this documented.
   As I said, it's my last year of high school, and I'm feeling pretty good. I'm talking all APs this year which means I don't have to deal with as many morons, and the classes I'm taking are pretty great. I think I'm probably most excited about taking AP Computer Science. Most of my friends have it with me, so I think we'll have a good time in there.
   In some other news, the marching band show is really starting to come together. If we can pull off the music, I think we have a real shot at taking home the championship title this year, which would be really great for my senior year. Also on the marching front, I have officially applied to be a baritone in the White Sabers Drum and Bugle Corps. They're located in Dansville, NY, which is a bit of a drive, but they are an excellent DCA corps. Long term, of course, I want to audition for the Cadets, but this will be a good opportunity for me to better learn my instrument, seeing as I've never really played brass before.
   I recently ordered Ni No Kuni for the DS from Amazon. I found myself with a hankering for a good JRPG, and there just isn't any good ones out in the US so I was forced to turn my head over to the Promised Land of role playing games where I found this little gem for somewhere around $20 (that's including shipping, so pretty low for an import game). That won't be here until October or so (thanks, Amazon), so I'll have to report back when I finally get it.
   For those of you who haven't been watching the new season of Doctor Who as it premiers YOU NEED TO BE DOING THAT. So far, Peter Capaldi has completely blown me away as the Doctor. They've done a complete 180 with the character and I couldn't be more pleased with the results. The only thing missing now is the classic "I am the Doctor" monologue, which doesn't seem to be quite Capaldi's style, but damn it, I have got to have it at least once. I don't want to take the time to review each individual episode, however so my plan is to do a full season review once it's completed, so watch out for that,
   Finally, don't forget to check out my new Pokemon podcast-Pokecast. This week I was joined by Nik Walz, and it was a really great show. You can find us on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, the Xbox Podcast Directory, and of course, nerdsunderfire.com
   Stay nerdy, my friends.

Tacos,
Gladdstone

Relatives Gone, Back to the Blog!

   Hey, everybody. After a brief hiatus for having family in town, I'm back with plenty to talk about. I've actually considered cutting these back to just Friday updates for the summer, seeing as there isn't too much going on, but I'm going to give it another week or so before I do anything.
   Having forgotten to announce it in my last post on Friday the week before last, I had family in town all last week, hence no blog posts. I just didn't have the time. They're gone now, though, so finally back to my regular posting schedule.
   So recently, I've really been hankering for a good JRPG. The bad news, however, is that I have approximately $0. Since it's launch, Square Enix's new game Bravely Default has been a grandslam among fans of the genre, but I still have yet to pick it up. Recently in Japan, however they released a demo which includes the first four chapters of gameplay. That is one hell of a demo. The demo then has an upgrade fee of what converts to about twenty dollars American. No news on whether or not this demo will be available in the US (please, please, please!) yet. As of right now, the Nintendo E-Shop is undergoing maintenance, unconnected to this, of course, but preventing me from attempting to see if this demo is available. Hopefully by Wednesday I will know, and possibly be playing the demo.
   Speaking of games I can't play because I don't have the right system, as of 17 July, 2014 Playstation owners who preordered Bungie's Destiny will be able to join the beta testing. You lucky bastards. I still don't own the Playstation 4, and I just can't justify buying the PS3 when the next gen console is only a hundred or so more. However, for those of you who are lucky enough to have a PS4 and have preordered this seriously kickass looking game, you will be able to begin killing things at 10:00pm PT. For those of you with the Xbone, you will be able to join the beta on 23 July, at 10:00pm PT. The beta will be offline July 21 and 22 for "scheduled maintenance" and then it will end on 27 July at 11:59pm PT. However, it does appear as though Bungie intends to do multiple phases of beta, akin to the Wildstar model, so you should be able to get in plenty of buggy gameplay before the game officially launches on 9 September.
   Moving onto something I haven't talked about in a fair amount of time-Hearthstone. The July Season began 7 days ago (duh) with it's featured Curse of Naxxramas cardback. Even without the announcement from Team 5, it's pretty obvious that they are pushing to have Adventure Mode out at some point this month, and not a moment too soon, I say. I've been getting my ass handed to me in ranked play for long enough and I can't even look at the arena button at this point. I think we're due for something new to come along and shake things up.
   Personally, I'm still running my budget Zoolock deck, but I also threw together a little aggro mage. The trouble is, I can't seem to get out of the control mindset when I play mage decks, so I don't think it will work out in the long run. I'm also still on a quest to make a viable priest deck (Amaz is my hero). I don't know why I love that hero class so much-I don't even have a priest in WoW-but I really love the way it plays and I'm dying to be able to play it well.
   I've also been practicing my violin a lot recentyl, I finally memorized Beethoven's 5th Sonata Op 24. My left arm is absolutely killing me, though. Everything below the elbow is just really sore, and I can't figure out why. I really don't think I've been pushing myself all that hard this week. Regardless, I think I'll lay off for a day and play some more of dem vidya games.

Tacos,
Gladdstone

Time to Pull the Trigger

   Here we find ourselves at yet another Monday. These damn things seem to come around once every seven days or so.
   In all honesty, I do look forward to these posts every Monday. Even when I have a bad day, they're a great way to get me out of my slump. These past couple days have actually been really great. I had my AP English final today, and it was pretty easy. That leaves just one more final-Chemistry. And that one will be super easy. So all I have to do is get up tomorrow, nail that, and then I am officially on summer break! And judging by what we've been planning, it's going to be a good summer.Unfortunately, this will have to wait at least another week, because I'm going to have family in starting Friday or Saturday. Hopefully we'll be launching Geek Council in the next few weeks here, so keep an eye for that on iTunes.
   Now onto some some interesting news, Nintendo recently lost a lawsuit in the U.K. involving a company called Philips, a company making the claim that the company infringed on several of its patents. The judge ruled that Nintendo's Wii, Wii Remote, Nunchuk, Wii Motion Plus remote, Balance Board, and the Wii U console and Gamepad all violated patents held by the Philips company. Philips also filed lawsuits in France and Germany, making the same claims. Nintendo has gone on record as saying that it has every intention appealing the decision, as they believe the patents are invalid.
   As someone with a fairly limited knowledge of even my own country's patent laws, much less those of the international community, I'm not certain of the implications a loss has for Nintendo, although it seems they will most likely end up making some sort of monetary payment to the company. While Nintendo has been having a rough time lately, I hardly seeing this proving to be a killing blow for the company. At the same time, it can hardly be good, so we'll just have to see how this plays out.
   On another note, there's the game No Man's Sky that was recently announced at E3 so far just for the PS4. At this point I'm having a really difficult time picking between the Wii U and the PS4. But, given that I have the 3DS, I think I'm going to have to spring for the PS4 first, just to mix things up. Anyway, if you didn't see it already, here's the trailer for the new sci-fi sandbox game.

   If that doesn't make you want a Playstation 4, I don't think anything ever will. Each player will start on their very own unique, and undiscovered planet. From there you can discover and scan new forms of planets and life throughout this universe, along with the other players.
   This sounds incredibly fun to me, as I love exploration in games, and yet, this has been described by the game's creator as "the most boring way to play the game." What it seems to be, is that enemies will randomly appear throughout the game, and you can either stay and fight, or make an attempt to outrun them. Very little seems to be known about most of the features of the game, as it's team seems fairly intent on keeping most of the features hidden. This mystery is a pretty big draw, and even with the Hoen remakes announced for the 3DS, this is quite easily my most anticipated game from this year's E3. No release date has been pinned down as of this moment.
   That's a lot to look forward to, on top of all the other amazing games that came out of this year's conference.
   Until Wednesday.


Tacos,
Gladdstone