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

Learning

   So over the past couple of months I've learned a few things.
   First, I've learned that if you do something that you love, getting material things out of it really doesn't matter.
   Second, I've learned that hard work pays off. Similarly, slacking does the opposite. The longer you slack, the harder you'll have to work just to catch up.
   And finally, I've learned something about this blog. Schedules don't work. My life barely even works around a schedule. How can I expect the way in which I record it to work around that schedule?
   So I'm coming back. This blog is a really nice way for me to record my thoughts. I like having a place to sit down, unwind, and write a little bit. It's a bit like a journal, but with the sensation that someone out there is watching.
   Now, I'm not saying that it's all about page hits, far from it. What I'm saying is that the idea that someone out there could even visit this page once and just glance over a post is...therapeutic.
   Oh, damn. I got distracted and accidentally started Ancient Aliens on Netflix. What a dumb show. Now my suggestions are going to be 50 shades of dicked up.
   That's right, I'm still using that phrase, and if you're going to read this blog, you better damn well get used to it.
   Anyway, this has been nice, but I've got stuff to do. It's crazy to think Nerds Under Fire launched just over a year ago and it's already starting to take off in a really cool way. Just a little thought dump. I'll be back later. Buh-bye.

Joe F.

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

Not Even Wednesday Anymore

   Happy Wednesday, everybody. Hope you're all having a great week so far.
   My week so far has been completely insane. After Sunday, which really wasn't all that relaxing, I had school followed immediately by work Monday, robotics and band Tuesday, and work tonight. Tomorrow I have a hair cut and band, and then work Friday, and finally more band on Saturday. So quite the week ahead, still.
   Work was pretty easy Monday night, but on Tuesday Nik and I found out that the new robotics website (which we're in charge of) needs to be live ASAP (as in that day). So, after coding our asses off until midnight, it still isn't totally completed, but it's going live anyway. What we have will have to be good enough, because the website that currently exists is just an absolute disaster. There so many pages that neither Nik, nor I have seen all of them (it was created before either of us joined), and just about every single one of those pages has some sort of bug, ranging from a minor thing you may not even notice to a massive, site-breaking problem. So our director's decision was to nuke the whole thing and start from scratch.
   After robotics, Nik and I went to marching band rehearsal, which was really, really boring for some reason. I don't usually think the repetition is boring. It probably has something to do with the fact that I am just totally exhausted.
   Speaking of which, it's already not Wednesday anymore, so I should probably cut this post short. Be sure to check out the Nerds Under Fire website, we just updated our art page with some new work, and new artists. Also be sure to find my podcast Pokecast.
   Plug plug plug plug plug.
   I think that's about it. See you all on Friday!

Tacos,
Gladdstone

Don't Forget Your Filters

   Happy Monday, I guess. I hope you all had a nice weekend. I certainly did.
   Saturday we went to the New England Six Flags. Personally, I'm not a big fan of amusement parks, but it was nice to hang out with the guys. We did a vlog from Nik's phone (seeing as my phone was broken by someone in the marching band who will go unnamed...), but I haven't received the edited edition as of yet, so we'll see if that ever gets done.
   Speaking of the Nerds Under Fire crew, I'm working on putting together a new art page composed of stuff not only from Nik, but also myself, and my girlfriend Tiana (mostly her). Many of you have seen both Nik's and my own work, but Tiana is in her own league, so she will definitely dominate the page.
   You'll also be able to buy Tiana's prints on an Etsy store that is currently in the works. This is unaffiliated with Nerds Under Fire, but I thought I would give her a plug, anyway. She's an incredible artist, and I'll be sure to post a link to her store as soon as I can. Definitely something to check out. She's amazingly creative and does some incredible stuff.
   Anyway, back to Six Flags, we had a pretty good time. The park wasn't anything super special, but the rides were pretty good. Although I must say, I spent a long time looking for a decent souvenir and I could not find anything. I didn't expect much, but come on. Just incredibly stupid stuff. Granted they had awesome DC merchandise, because they have a deal with DC Comics, but what I wanted was something from Six Flags, which was weird. However, if you want to buy cool DC superhero stuff, Six Flags is the place to go.
   The only real disappointment of the trip was that most of the pictures I took didn't come out as well as I'd hoped. There are one or two decent ones, but of three rolls of film that's not very good. This is mostly because I kept putting off putting on the UV filter, or the 80b. Either of those would have helped a lot, and I'm really irritated that I wasted $30 on those prints.
   The moral of the story is, I really freaking need a digital camera because I simply do not have the money to be developing film all the time. Hahaha.
   Hope you guys have a great start of the week. I'll check back in with you on Wednesday.

Tacos,
Gladdstone

I'm Shipping Up To Boston

   Hi guys! Joe, here. Checking in from the Marriot just outside Boston, Massachussets. I'm sitting in my hotel room right now, we just got back from The Blue Man Group (more on them later).

   Thursday was fairly uneventful. Boring, even. Made better by the fact that I was leaving the next day for our band trip. We left at 7:30 this morning and got in around 2ish, maybe? I'm not totally sure. After hanging out for a bit, we went on one of the famous Boston Duck Tours. Other than some great photo ops, though, it wasn't super interesting. I did get some fantastic water shots, so all in all worth it. 

   I'm going to take a tangent here and say I hate cynics who have to lump all of humanity together. I won't name any names, but a certain person I'm sharing a hotel room with feels it nescessary to mention that he has no faith in humanity at least three times every day and I swear I am this close to throwing him out our third story window.

   Anyway, after the duck tours we went to a "hibachi" restaurant called Fire and Ice. The idea is, you og up to this buffet style area and pick out your food (all raw) and take it over to be cooked. An interesting idea, but it's pretty unsanitary. The food was okay, not the best hibachi I've ever had by a long shot. The shrimp particularly was quite mediocre. Regardless, I wouldsay that it was fairly decent meal that wasn't too expensive. 

   After Fire and Ice we went to see the Blue Man Group perform. Which was...interesting. Fairly funny and entertaining, but I really didn't see the huge appeal of it. It was really just a lot of random stuff. Lots of three guys in blue suits throwing food. The little music that there was was extremely good, but I expected more. I think if they had more of that and less of the weird skits I may have enjoyed it a bit more. 

   Tomorrow we're off to Six Flags. Personally, I would rather walk the city and get more pictures,but it should be a fun time. I have to remember to buy something for Tiana there. Hopefully writing it down will help me remember. 

Tacos,

Gladdstone

The Closest Shave You'll Ever Know

   Wednesday is here, and that means just one more day until I'm off to Boston for my last marching band trip ever. Sad, but I can't wait.
   As I write this, I've finally sat down to watch Johny Depp's Sweeney Todd and I must say,I had no ideaeither he nor Alan Rickman had the voices they do. They really are fabulous together. It's an excellent movie. I've never completely figured it out, but I absolutely adore dark characters. The Phantom, Dr. Horrible, Sweeney Todd, they are all some of my absolute favorite characters in all of fiction. Interestingly, they're all from musicals, which probably helps seeing as the villains/dark protagonists always have the absolute best songs (come on, do you mean to tell me that Music of the Night or My Friends aren't a couple of the best songs ever written?). Although, I must say, Jamie Bower is the real vocal star in this film. What a voice on that one. Absolutely astounding.
   Anyway, I'm about an hour in, and the chemistry between Depp and Carter is absolutely incredible. I will absolutely have to look for more with the two of them working together. One thing I don't understand, though, is whether or not he's killing everyone? It seems like that, but that would be stupid.
   I'll be singing these songs for weeks-I'm certain to sound like a bloody psychopath, Although, to be completely honest, that won't be a huge change from what I usually sound like.
   Before I change gears, when the homeless woman called Mrs. Lovett a witch, I about died. Greatest happy accident ever.
   In other news, I caught wind of an incredible opportunity today. Tiana told me about a Europe trip run by teachers at the school. It's not through the school, but the teachers run it still. The only issue, is it cost about $3,000.
   On the bright side, I think that if I pick up a few more hours at the restaurant, I shold be able to afford it, although I may have to cut out buying the new Super Smash Bros for a while. Completely worth it, though. We fly into Milan, and visit several villages in Italy and the French Riviera before going to Madrid, which we fly out of. Granted, it's only 9 days, but I've always wanted to go to Europe, so I'm incredibly excited-especially to be able to go with Tiana. It will be an amazing chance.
   I think that's all for now. I'll check back in on Friday (from Boston!).
   Oh, also-I will never trust a barber again.

Tacos,
Gladdstone

A Little Sore

   Hi everybody. So I've been gone for a couple weeks, and if you follow www.nerdunderfire.com you know it's because my computer sort of wet the bed. Luckily, I've gotten my old one fixed and tuned up so you can expect everything to slide back into place.
   I had a bit of an experience yesterday. Not only was I in a car crash, I walked away unscathed. My friends and I were on a road trip up to some waterfalls to go hiking and do some photography shots, when my friend made a left turn, not seeing the oncoming car.
   I was lucky enough to be in the passenger seat.
   Thank God, I saw the car coming and unleashed a string of obscenities the likes of which have never been heard on this earth just in time to make my friend stop the car. Both airbags deployed, but thankfully the most severe injury was my friend who was driving who got his hand on what we think were his keys. Even my iPad was okay.
   To be honest, I feel like I should be a bit more worried. I could have died if we hadn't stopped quickly. At the very least I would have been injured pretty badly. But I'm not. In fact, I shook the whole thing off pretty fast. Which is more than I can say for the guy in the other car. Man, he was livid. I understand that he might be a bit mad, it was our fault, and we did damage his car, but they're called accidents for a reason, right? There really is no reason to be cursing me out while I just try to make sure everyone's okay.
   His friend was funny (in the way giant dicks can be). He seemed to have it in his head that we were gonna run away or something. He kept yelling at us not to move and to stay next to the car. Like we're just gonna run off into the woods or something. What a dumbass.
   Anyway, it's time to move on. I'm just glad the whole thing is over. The car is probably totaled, but my friend is only getting a few points on his license, and he's going to appear in court and see if he can't get the charge reduced a bit. I think everyone should just be thankful no one was hurt and move on. I got a few pictures after the fact so maybe I'll put those up one of these days.
   On a slightly happier tone, we had our first marching band competition of the season last Saturday in Corning. Our visual was absolute shit, but the music was fantastic. I mean, we just sounded great, and I loved every second of it. We took first place in our division (Small School 3) with a score of 69. That's 3 or 4 higher than the second place band, if I remember correctly.
   Glad to see we're starting my last year off on the right note (get it? Huh? Get it?). It really bodes well for Dome this year.
   See you all on Wednesday.

Tacos,
Gladdstone

Misleading Assignments

   That's it! Here we are, Friday has come at last, and that means I have officially survived my first week as a senior! Crazy to think how far I've come.
   The past two days have been pretty busy. It was all standard stuff during the day Thursday (except for AP Physics, but I'll get to that in a minute), however, I had to work that night-sadly missing marching band practice the night before our first football game.
   Now as I may or may not have stated before, I recently left my job as a grocery store clerk to be a busser at an upper class restaurant a little farther from my house. It's fairly easy work, and both the tips and hours are fabulous, so I'm loving it so far. Anyway, I was working last night, and we close at 9:30 on Thursday nights (or at least we stop accepting walk ins). I'm in the back cleaning the bread station and my manager is up front about to lock the doors when these door ginormous assholes walk in.
   I would like to take this moment to clarify, yes, they were huge asses. And yes, like that South Park episode.
   Anyway, they sat down and of course got appetizers, then entrees, and then OF COURSE they had to have desert. Long story short, it turns out they've done this more than once (most likely so they can have the restaurant to themselves) and I didn't get home until 11:30. Then I still had to do my homework.
   And while we're on the subject of homework, let me say that the AP Physics homework is SUPER misleading. He assigned two problems the first night. Just two. It took an hour. Why, you ask? Because they are then further divided int 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e, etc. It was insane. So my brain was pretty much fried by the time I finally went to bed.
   Today was a bit better just in general. Most of my classes are fairly easy, and with the exception of physics, they haven't really assigned much homework tonight.
   I went to the football game with the marching band tonight, and we did fairly well, it being our first public performance. Not great, mind you, but good enough. I think with a little work we could really polish this turd up and make 'er shine!
   And now it is the late so I am the sleep.

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

Home Sweet Home

   Here we are, at long last the long awaited day is upon us-the very first day of band camp. The beginning of the end for me. For others, it's the beginning of a truly great journey, although they may not know it yet. I truly envy the rookies this year. They're starting off with a great group, and they'll go really far together.
   As for my own personal journey with the band, it is coming to a close, but not just yet. I still have one final season with the Tigers Pride Marching Band and I intend to make it count.

   Although I do talk about it being the end a lot, I'm trying not to focus on it. I really just want to enjoy this year and not worry about it being the end.
   So, with that in mind, I'm going to talk about the first day of band camp for the 2014-2015 season! It's a bit weird with all of the older students gone-we ARE the older students and that's a huge perspective change. Even after the first day, I can tell that it's going to be an excellent year. We really have a shot at the championships this year. Despite the fact that we lost plenty of really fabulous musicians last year, we got a lot of great rookies in return. Not to criticize last year's batch, but they still struggle a lot with the fundamentals. This year, the rookies are picking up everything very quickly and already showing signs of great potential. As long as we can keep up this level of focus, no one will be able to stand in our way!
   Today, being the first day was actually fairly uneventful. We introduced ourselves to the rookies and went over a lot of fundamentals. Our director Mr. Bill also handed out most of the music-a shock, I really didn't think that he would have it done in time. Hahaha.
   The show is going to be really great this year. It's also very well suited to my situation. Home Sweet Home. After all this fun going through Haunted Carnival, New York, For The Birds, and Tonight, it's nice to be reminded of what marching band is. Home. The marching band has been my home for a long time now, and that's what it will always be.
   To quote the Doctor-I have a new destination. My journey is the same as yours, the same as anyone's. It's taken me so many years, so many lifetimes, but at last I know where I'm going, where I've always been going. Home. The long way 'round.
   And that's exactly where my journey with the band has taken me-it's taken me home, and I couldn't be happier.

Pride.
Gladdstone


   

O Captain! My Captain!

   Before I begin tonight's post, I'd like to dedicate it to a great man, Robin Williams, who tragically took his own life today. The joy you brought to our lives will never be forgotten.

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,

The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won,

The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,

While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;

                         But O heart! heart! heart!

                            O the bleeding drops of red,

                               Where on the deck my Captain lies,

                                  Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;

Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills,

For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding,

For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;

                         Here Captain! dear father!

                            The arm beneath your head!

                               It is some dream that on the deck,

                                 You’ve fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,

My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,

The ship is anchor’d safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,

From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;

                         Exult O shores, and ring O bells!

                            But I with mournful tread,

                               Walk the deck my Captain lies,

                                  Fallen cold and dead.

~Walt Whitman

    After missing another week, I'm back. That's the thing about summer. Time tends to get a little weird and scheduled things start to get away from you. At least, that's the way it is for me.
   Regardless, I am enjoying my last few official days of summer. Thursday is "vet day" for the marching band, and then band camp starts in earnest next Monday, so we're basically closing the book on the summer of 2014, here. I'd say it was a good one.
   Last week I went to see Guardians of the Galaxy and I cannot stress how great this movie is. As far as superhero movies go these past several years, I wouldn't quite call it Avengers level, but far, far better than Thor or even Captain American. Absolutely a new favorite. I found it to be a perfect blend of comedy and action-personally I prefer a little more drama/seriousness, but I couldn't help but fall in love with this movie. I won't spoil anything, of course, as it just came out. Suffice it to say, that line at the end needs to be a movie. If they can pull off the Guardians of the Galaxy, I think they might just be able to get away with it. Besides, it happened in the 80's, let's see history repeat itself!

   In other fairly big news, today I launched my first solo podcast Pokecast-a podcast focusing on news from the popular Pokemon series of anime, video games, and TCG. Episode 1-Bulbasaur is up on the RSS feed. You can listen to it now on the Nerds Under Fire site, or wait and subscribe when it is approved by iTunes. During our first episode, I discuss the new mega-evolutions announced for Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire as well as the new Pokemon Center website, and more! Be sure to check it out and leave feedback at nerdsunderfire@gmail.com.
   I think that will about do it for this post. When we next meet, we will have both a trailer and launch date for Warlords of Draenor, so stay tuned for that. Have a great week!

Tacos,
Gladdstone

I Don't Get Paid Enough For This

   We've looped around to yet another Monday-not that it really matters to me, I'm on summer break. Saturday was fairly uneventful, but Sunday was amazing.
   On Sunday, I took a day trip with Nik, Tiana, and Amanda W. went to Dorney Park (an amusement park in Pennsylvania). It was about a three hour ride, and it was so much fun. Tiana's mother drove us down, which was better than me driving because:

          a.) My car doesn't even work.

          b.) That's a damn long drive.

   Now the only trouble was I am not a ride person, and neither is Nik. It's less that I'm afraid, and more that I just don't get anything at all out of them (although I am also scared). In the end, they made a deal with us. We would each get to give the two of them a dare if we went on any non-roller coaster ride they picked having two vetoes. It was difficult at times, because I don't cope too well with things like g-force. The last one was this massive freaking swing. I almost backed out, but I did it and it was awful. Tiana actually ended up feeling pretty guilty afterwards because I had a minor panic attack on the ride. Although, I only hyperventilated twice, and it was fun to spend time with my friends. We had a really great time.

   The only thing I had to do today was pull a four-hour shift at work. That was pretty easy, though other than one douche.

He does not get paid to deal with your shit.

   First of all, let me point out that every store has different policies, and every state has different laws. In New York, you cannot sell alcohol to anyone without an ID regardless of their apparent age. That being said, most of the time, I will just ask people their date of birth as long as their obviously over 40 or so. The date of birth is just because I have to punch it into the computer.
   So basically what happened is this guy came in to buy some sort of beer or something and I asked his his age. He wasn't from New York, and for some reason he got really pissed off. He stared at me for a good 10 seconds, glaring at me before saying "are you fucking kidding me? I'm 55, idiot." Thanks, bro. Thanks. That's a totally reasonable reaction you gigantic, self-centered douche.

Want want want want

   Seriously, people. We cashiers get paid minimum wage, which by the way is not even remotely close to what we get to put up with every single damn day-also not even close to livable. So please, if you can't be nice, at least try to be a little polite to your cashiers, and your baristas, and all the other poor shits that have to put up with this stuff.
   All right, now that I've vented a bit, it's time to move into a little bit of news. Still waiting on my Warlords of Draenor beta invite, and actually, while I'm on the subject, I still don't have my Heroes of the Storm beta key, either. To be honest, I think I'd rather get the latter. Odds are I wouldn't play a ton of the WoD beta, probably just enough to report some bugs. I would really prefer to wait to experience it for the first time when it launches. But with Heroes, it's more skill than seeing things, and I'd like to be at least fairly decent at it when we finally get the full game. But no, apparently I'm not allowed to have either of them. Curse you, Blizzard! Although, to be fair, I did get into the Hearthstone beta as soon as it started, which was pretty great.
   Thanks for tuning in and listening to my griping for another week.

Gimme My Key!

   We have once again reached the greatest day of the week-the promised land of the calendar, Friday! And that means...time for a blog post!
   Truth be told, I really kind of miss being busy with school. I don't like sitting around all day, and it seems like my friends are never available. I sat around all day Thursday contemplating getting in the car and driving off a bridge. So. Boring. Luckily, tomorrow is graduation, and I'm performing at that with the band. Do you know what that means? Pomp and Circumstance, Pomp and Circumstance, Pomp and goddamn Circumstance. Over and over until one by one, the entire band hangs themselves. So, yeah. Good time.
   Then Sunday I'm going with a group to an amusement park for the day. I'm not usually one for rides, but I do enjoy getting out of the house for the day, so it will certainly be a fun time.
   Speaking of fun, the Warlords of Draenor Beta went live today! This is a big step in the right direction. IT could mean that we may get the actual expansion within a fairly reasonable amount of time, possibly even in time for Christmas, which seems to be their goal.
   I'm signed up for the beta on Battle Net and I've put in for just about every beta key I could get, so with a little luck, there will be a review up within the next month or so.
   Not so much fun would be my car breaking down today. I was supposed to go up to Charlie's after work, and I ended up having to get a ride from a relative because there is something seriously wrong with my car. It sounded like it might explode, and it wouldn't start.
   As such,  have to be up early tomorrow so I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut this entry a bit short. I'm going to have to be up trying to fix my car so I can get to graduation on time.
   Until Monday!

Tacos,
Gladdstone

Thanks, Geico

   Happy Wednesday, everybody. I was going to say happy hump day, but that stupid damn insurance commercial has pretty much made it a crime to use the phrase "hump day." Thanks, Geico.

The true face of evil.

   Today was my first official day of summer break and it felt pretty good. It was nice, although I did have to work. They haven't scheduled me to work a Wednesday night in a while, and I forgot how freaking busy it is. I go from work, to my violin lesson, then I come home, write this blog, then there's usually an update to be done on the Nerds Under Fire site, and then there's audio editing to be done, and then I get to go to bed. Today was made even busier because I had a rehearsal before I went to work. So as you might imagine, I'm a bit drained at this point. 

   Regardless, I'm feeling pretty good. If you've been on the site during the day this week, you'll notice things will start to move around every couple minutes, and don't stop for two to three hours. I've been trying to find a layout I like, but I just can't quite seem to nail it down. I've been trying to set up a slider to show my recent posts, but Blogger has been thwarting my every attempt. So if anyone has some helpful tips, or just the code that would be great. 

   In light of the recent lull in Azeroth, I've found myself in Telara in the past few days. For those not familiar, that would be the supposed "WoW killer" Rift which went free to play within a year. 

   Now don't think that I'm slamming the game. It's an excellent game, but I don't like the term "WoW killer." At this point, I really think the only thing that will kill WoW is itself. From my point of view, the only way it will ever die is it will just slowly dwindle out over the course of the next decade or two. Moral of the story-WoW is here to stay for a long, long time.

   Back to Rift, I must say it's really quite good, and they really have an excellent free-to-play model from what I've seen so far. You can pick between two factions, each with three races. From there you can pick from the four base classes-warrior, cleric, mage, and rogue. Now that seems like a small amount to choose from, but from there you can select your "soul." This essentially determines how you play the game. There are four roles in the game-tank, DPS, healer, and support. What's really fascinating about this game, however, is any class can be any role (that is, if you purchase the expansion). Without the expansion, for example, mages can support, DPS, and heal. However, if you purchase their expansion you can tank. 

   Now I'm just going to take a break here to let that sit in.

   Yeah, you read that right.

   Mage.

   Tank.

Remember what happened last time?

   I nearly purchased the expansion right there and I hadn't even gotten into the game yet. 

   Once I was in the game, itself I was quite impressed. Everything runs very smoothly, and the art style, while a little darker than WoW's, it's quite pleasing, and the graphics are extremely good looking, even on the lower settings. 

   I haven't even leveled beyond the starting zone yet, so you can expect a lot more to come, but I certainly expect to play a lot more of this game over the summer, especially seeing as it's more accessible to my friends that can't afford the $15 a month to play WoW. I highly recommend this game.

   Hope to see everyone back for Friday!

Tacos,

Gladdstone

Netflix Screws Me Again

   First week of summer down, several more to go. 

   To be honest, I'm not super big on summer break. I just don't have a lot of stuff to do. Today I went for a walk with a girl I know from school. We did about four miles, which is pretty good. It was a fun time, my dog got some exercise, and she's fun to spend time with. Tomorrow, my copy of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is supposed to come in the mail from Amazon, at long last. Take that, Netflix! Take my Joss Whedon away from me, will you? Well I'll just take my business elsewhere!

Aw, yeah.

   While we're on the subject of Netflix, I want to vent a little about their new UI. It. Is. Disgusting. First of all, I don't see what was wrong with the old red and black motif. It was sleek, modern, and functional. The new interface didn't lose any functionality, but what it did lose was the sleek, modern look of the old Netflix. 

   The red and black had a very modern, polished look to it. This new white/red style basically just looks like some 7th grader learned the basics of CSS and pissed all over their website. And the new logo is just weird. Something about it is just generally off-putting. Maybe if they put it back with the old color-scheme it would look decent, but I really don't like it as is. Now that I think of it, that old interface was still worse than the one from even earlier. I don't like the self scrolling bits. It feels really slow. So, I guess the moral of the story here is that every time Netflix updates, they get a little bit worse. Pretty soon, they'll be the Myspace of video streaming. Or maybe a better allusion would be just another Daily Motion or Vimeo. Basically, all right, but no one really cares. 

   I finished season one of Once Upon a Time and I'm closing in on the halfway mark in season two. Seeing as season three isn't due on Netflix until September, I may have to bite the bullet for a while on Hulu Plus, which I personally despise because of the ads, but I think it's worth it for the third season. If I don't, then you can probably expect a review of the series up through season two to be up on here by Monday. I'll do what I can to avoid spoilers, but as always, I'm not perfect, so if you absolutely do not want any spoilers, I recommend you don't read on Monday. 

   This weekend, I'll be recording the third episode of Geek Council, this time featuring my friend Nate as co-host, so watch for that. Be sure to check out last week's episode with my friend Tiana as we discuss the possibility of a real-life USS Enterprise, the new Legend of Zelda game Hyrule Warriors, and dissect-can you guess? That's right-Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

   Enjoy your weekend!

Tacos,

Gladdstone

Because I Can

   So summer is more or less here for me. I'm halfway through my finals-I've only got AP English and Chemistry left to take next week and then I'm a full-fledged senior.

Break out the allergy nasal-spray, bitches!

   This should be a fun summer for me. Nik and I both have cars and licenses now so we can take the whole group basically wherever we want. I'm thinking of getting everyone up to Ithaca to do some hiking. If you aren't familiar with the area, it's a town in upstate New York with some of the most beautiful waterfalls and hiking trails within reasonable distance of where I live. Of course, we also have the Adirondacks and Catskills, but those are a bit out of our way.
   Just yesterday we got out of our AP United States History exam and ended up spending the rest of the day up at the mall-because we're apparently stereotypical 90's teens now. Regardless, I may or may not have purchased a belt featuring the three Kanto starters and a Pokeball on the buckle. Spoilers: I totally did. And it is totally. Freaking. Awesome.

Aw, yeah.

   If I'm being completely honest though, it doesn't really feel like summer. More of like a spring break. Seems like this year totally flew by, despite being completely awful. I can't help but think things like "better not sleep in too late tomorrow, you don't want to start a bad habit for when you have to go back to school mon-oh wait." I'ts kind of nice at the same time though, because then I get to remember I have the next couple of months to do basically whatever I like, such as drag my friends out to go hiking for no good reason other than I can.
   In other news, tragedy struck the other day when I turned on Netflix only to find that one of Joss Whedon's greatest masterpieces-Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog-had been removed from the site. Words cannot express the fury I feel at this both loss and betrayal. Anyway, the moral of the story is, after a long and fruitless hunt at the stores in my area (always try to buy local first, folks!) I found it on Amazon. Unsurprisingly, those geniuses had it on sale for $5.00. Now that is knowing the market. They knew people would want to go buy it now that Netflix dumped it. Well played, Amazon. Well played.
   I'll see you lot Friday. Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelt of elder berries. Now go away before I taunt you a second time!

Tacos,
Gladdstone

That's a Wrap!

   So today was my last day of school, and personally, I am so glad to finally be putting this year behind me. There were a lot of great things that happened this year (one of those being this blog), but all in all it was pretty crappy. Junior year is a really tough year. Will senior year be easier? I doubt it, but it will be a bit more relaxed, at least.
   I think all of the firsts this year was the problem. On top of some fairly difficult classes, I had no lunch most of the year, and then pair that with still getting used to balancing work and school,  add in the stress of having expenses (private lessons, insurance, gas) and buying my first car, it has been a tough year. Next year I will definitely be a little more used to all of this, and hopefully, a little bit better at balancing everything.
   If I could give some advice to people coming towards this age, I'd say be very careful about overloading yourself. I wasn't, and I spent most of the year just bairly keeping my head above water-financially, academically, and mentally. Keep in mind that if you want to get a job, it will interfere with your schoolwork, and if you're not prepared for this it will affect your grades. Also bear in mind that people are going to start hounding you about college and you have to be ready for it. Even if you don't know what you want to do when you graduate, you're going to need some sort of answer. Maybe you don't have a career in mind, but you know you're going to attend college? I'd say take the time to look at a few colleges, community colleges especially as they're just chock full of students trying to figure out where they want to go from here. Basically, it's cheap and it will buy you time.
   Have you ever sat at your keyboard, looking at that little blinking line, and it just taunts you? I'm not sure why, but I've got a thousand thoughtsa whirling through my head right now and I just can't seem to focus enough to write.
   I need a vacation.

Tacos,
Gladdstone

Socially Awkward

   Guess I missed my Monday post this week, all well. I was kinda busy, you guys understand, right? Life's gotta come first. As soon as I start making money from this, it can become first priority. Until then, we'll have to cope.

   I thought today I'd talk about one of my slightly more severe quirks, and I thought of this because I know of a lot of people that have the same issue. People familiar with me will know that I have fairly severe social anxiety. Sometimes, it makes me look like a bit of an ass, because someone I'm acquainted with will say hi to me when we pass on the street, or in the store, and I'll try to say something, but nothing comes out. It's a little hard to describe, but basically my mind starts to go a mile a minute as I try to figure out how a normal person would respond, and that results in either a really delayed response, or no response. Either way, I end up super embarrassed and walking in the opposite direction very fast.
   Recently-at least since I started working as a cashier-it has gotten slightly better because I'm interacting with a lot more people daily. What's odd, is I don't have a fear of public speaking (ie, to a group or crowd) but the idea of one-on-one conversation terrifies me. Does anyone else have this? I think what it is, is that when I'm presenting something to a crowd, I've got something prepared, or at the very least, I know what I need to mention., and I can work from there. In conversation, I tend to get jumbled and say things completely out of nowhere. And then while the other person responds, I'll be so wrapped up in figuring out what the next thing I'll say is, I completely miss their response. As you might imagine, the situation tends to dissolve from there.

Behold: the portal to hell

   I bring this up because earlier, I finally renounced public restrooms for good. This all came about because, as I do every 9th period, I mustered up the courage to use the school restrooms (actually one in particular, I use it exclusively), and after the bathroom was finally empty, I went to put toilet paper over the seat, only to find it damp.
   That's right. And yes, it was all of the toilet paper. After dry heaving a bit, I washed my hands three times, and then went home to take a shower and wash my hands again. Having had this experience, now coupled with a thousand other horror stories, I have chosen I will only use private bathrooms going forward, using public restrooms only in the most dire situations. As for how well this goes, I'm out of the house often.
   Wish me luck.

Tacos,
Gladdstone

Maleficient the Passable

   Whoops, guess I missed Wednesday again. Sorry everybody! My bad! Let's all just move along, nothing to see here.
   Moving on, it has been a pretty slow week in terms on interesting-ness, but it was still fairly busy. Like I said, I had Tuesday off and I went to see Maleficient with some friends. On the docket tonight will be a brief review (spoiler free, I promise). But first, let's get everybody caught up.
   Tuesday was a nice day off, and then Wednesday was fairly relaxed other than a practice Chemistry regents. Honestly, it wasn't too difficult. I really expected to do poorly and I did quite well. I didn't go to my lesson that night because of schedule conflicts, and I finished the office later that night (either then or

Pictured: the UEHS Orchestra 2014-15 year

Thursday night, I honestly can't remember). Either way, wow. Just a fantastic end to a fantastic show. If you read Monday's post, you'll see I was getting pissed off, but I love the direction they ended up taking it in the end. It really was perfect. Thursday night I had the end of the year concert for orchestra. That's always fun, but sad. Each senior picks a song for the group to play, and unfortunately, we had 16 seniors this year. So yeah, long concert. But anyway, it was sad to think of all the people I'll probably never have the opportunity to perform alongside again. Rivenburg cried, of course, and that just made it sadder. It's crazy to think I'll be sitting in the concert master seat next year. Horrifying thought. On the bright side, I got a chance to catch up with an old cellist friend of mine, Michelle, who told me to start an 11th Doctor roleplay blog on Tumblr. So that's a thing now. Anyone who is interested in reading or participating can find it at www.mybowtiebringsallthegirls.tumblr.com. Not much there, at the moment, but it should be getting off the ground in the next couple of days. Today was fairly dull, went to school, went to work, came home, blogged, and went to bed (not yet, but soon. Soon.). With that, I think we'll move on to my Maleficient review.

Truly the face of evil

   So, Maleficient. Have I ever said how horrifying Angelina Jolie is? Her face is a train wreck. Somewhere along the line she just ended up with so much plastic in her face that she no longer appeared alive. As of right now, she looks about 4 months dead, and I honestly just don't see how people find her attractive. But regardless of her nightmarish looks, she honestly did fairly well as Maleficient. Not the best performance I've seen recently, but it certainly could have been worse. The musical score was good, but again, nothing wholly remarkable. The only thing that really leapt out at me was the CGI, which I thought was extremely good, with some exceptions such as a couple parts of the flying scenes where it just looked awful. Honestly, the CGI either looked fabulous, or dreadful, with no in between. The story I found fairly lacking. It felt very dragged out in the beginning, when it discussed Maleficient's childhood (not a spoiler), and then rushed through the rest of the movie to get to the Sleeping Beauty crap. The actress who played Aurora was Ellie Fanning. She's a very cute girl, and she performed very well. I can't say it was the best performance I've ever seen, but it was certainly some of the best in the movie, and I really hope we get to see more of her as she grows up and matures. All in all, I'd give the movie 6.5/10. I wouldn't say not to go see it, but if you have to choose between this and, say Guardians of the Galaxy, pick Guardians. If you do happen to like the idea of this extra character development, this movie may be for you. There isn't a lot, but enough.
   Before I go, I should mention the Geek Council will be available on iTunes soon, I promise. We've hit some logistical problems, but the recordings are still happening. The episodes are being developed, we just need to get it up and running. Promise.

Tacos,
Gladdstone