3 Games, No Exams and A Yearbook For Good Measure

My exams finished a bit under a week ago, but I've been a bit occupied, so I haven't been able to blog(until now).

In order of importance, here are the sins that occupied my time:
1)Jade Empire
2)Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 2
3)Mass Effect - leading to PC problems somehow T_T
4)Sisyphean tasks

I might as well start explaining the items on this list, so lets go.

First and foremost, the Jade Empire I refer to is an RPG by Bioware. It's an epic RPG with an Asian mythological framework. In other words, it's Knights of the Old Republic + Buddha + Bruce Lee. I love the gameplay, it's pretty good. For those of you who are wondering, it's like maybe 3 or 4 years old (I'm not 100% sure). The story is a bit cliche though...but that doesn't make it any less fun to beat up some ghosts or Imperial soldiers. I recently beat the game following the Way of the Open Palm(simply put: what would be called the Light side in KOTOR).

I now want to replay it as a follower of the Closed Fist style(you guessed it, the Dark Side). The game dresses it up saying that Open Palm isn't necessarily good, while Closed Fist isn't necessarily evil, but I never really bothered myself with the technicalities.

Bioware, despite having this little problem with avoiding RPG cliches, are really masterful storytellers. I was impressed by KOTOR, and I'm impressed by Jade Empire. I'd give it a 9 out of 10.

You guys should totally check it out. Here's a gameplay video:



I know I'm a bit late in getting around to playing Modern Warfare 2, alright? Geez...pushy bastards. In my opinion, the game deserves the amount of hype it has been getting. However, while the multiplayer is quite fun, the single player story is pretty neat. If Robert Ludlum and Tom Clancy got together to make a game, this would totally be it. It has quite a few adrenaline-filled, fast paced moments just like what you'd expect to see in the hottest military action movies; from escaping Russians in a snowmobile to chasing down arms dealers in Brazilian slums to sex scenes, there's something in it for everyone. Well, everything apart from the last thing on that list. :P



Now, we move on to Mass Effect, the third item on our list. Before I start, I'm going to say, I never finished it. In fact, I don't think I did 10% of the game. Why?

F**king HAX!!

Well no, not really. But it was buggy and my PC is a bit crappy; it crashed quite a few times while I was trying to play the game...so I'll probably put off playing it to sometime in the not-so-distant future. Still, from what I saw so far, I liked it. The film grain effect was slightly annoying (don't worry, you can turn it off, and you'll probably get used to it anyway). However, I kept it on, and was richly rewarded during cutscenes (such as conversations with NPCs and the like). It REALLY adds an element of realism to the looks of the characters. Well, the human characters anyway. Turians look a bit unnerving to me, film grain or not.

Somehow my PC got screwed up when I was playing Mass Effect. It blue screened and reset a couple times. Long story short, System Restore FTW!! Thankfully, I'd done a restore point on like the 4th of June (not to my knowledge...the system restore fairy was really looking out for me on that one), so I didn't really lose much (apart from my dignity...this is the first time I've EVER had to use system restore since it came as a feature -_-).

Now, I've saved the painful part for last. I am now finished with Community College. It will be official when I actually finish the graduation ceremony, which will be held on the 27th of June. Oh, no...wait, that wasn't the painful part...that should have been at the top heheheh.



We're not getting a yearbook. Why? I dunno. I don't know of any other years that got one though. I have decided to change that. I've started to round up a bunch of friends to make a yearbook. I can't believe that a school would just let us go like that (despite the fact we're only too glad to leave) without a yearbook. It's just so...gauche. Anyway, I've decided to step in and fix their gaffe. I'm not as insouciant about these things as I may look.

With luck, it should be done by the week after the graduation ceremony. To keep costs down, we intend to distribute it digitally. I'll let you guys know how that pans out. So far, I have some awesome people willing to help. Here's to hoping.

Risen from the Dead,
Lord Robinson

P.S. For those of you who don't know what a Sisyphean task is
go wild.

Dubstep and T-2 Weeks To Exams

As of late, I've started listening to a lot of Dubstep. It's really awesome stuff.






I really love the warbled basslines most of them have.



Dr. Philth has really earned a place in my heart. Well two really. One for awesome music, the other for the most awesome name EVER!! Now I finally have real motivation to mess around with that copy of Fruity Loops Studio I have lying around on my computer. With a bit of effort (and the grace of God) I can probably make something that sounds as filthy as these slime monsters (yeah, that was a lame one...bear with me, I'm new at this).

I finally got my exam timetable. I have my Caribbean Studies exam in two weeks (plus my SAT subject tests next week Saturday). Should be manageable. I don't intend to touch a Caribbean Studies book, much less look in its general direction. I also intend to get a distinction doing that too. Don't follow me. I'm what you call an idler, or to be more politically correct, a wasteman.

So while I'm here, making beats on the eve of probably the most important exams of my life, remember what your good friend Gavin Robinson told you. Don't be like him.

Later folks,
Gavin.

Japanese Dancehall Slackness and Mock Exams

Recently, a couple days after my colossal failure in the cross country race (well, not really failure...but blah), we had this lecture on dancehall music by this Professor named Dr. Sonjah Stanley Niaah. Or at least I think that's what her name was.

Anyway, it was pretty interesting, and long story short, dancehall music seems to have some MASSIVE financial benefits that Jamaica could utilize if the country were able to effectively control the distribution of its music on the global market.

Also, I also learnt that Japanese girls can really beat themselves against hard surfaces such as floors and men better than most Jamaican girls...seriously, I have proof. At the end of the presentation, we watched this film called something like "Born in Jah-pan" (can't remember the exact name, and couldn't find it on Google). It was done by some Japanese student doing film school in America. It was pretty awesome.

Japan looks SLACK!! I'm pumped to go man, because some of those sessions down there seem worse than the infamous real Jamaican "Passa Passa". Seriously, the girls were just beating themselves against any rigid object in sight, human, table or otherwise. My mouth didn't close for like the full 35 minutes of the presentation. I've gotta admit though, I can't say I found them attractive. Not because of the self-hatred leading to the self-abuse. I just mean I don't find Japanese women, or Mongoloid women on a whole physically attractive (with exceptions). I don't know why, its just something with me.

But, enough about Japan, which is in the future, and more about my life in Jamaica in the present. The pace of things at school is getting intense. We're wrapping up the final lab reports, and (supposedly) have started studying for mock exams. About two weeks after mock exams, our CAPE exams will start. Beautiful huh?

I'm a bit nervous waiting for a response to my application to UWI medical school. I think I have a pretty good chance of getting in on my first shot, but I'm still worrying a bit. I shouldn't really, because with the way things usually are with the University of the West Indies, I won't be getting any confirmation of acceptance until late August. So it doesn't really make sense that I worry now, but I still am. Ugh. I hate when that happens. >_>

As it pertains to studying for exams, I'm trying to finish up the entire Physics syllabus by myself. It's not going badly. In fact, I think I can finish by next week Thursday (March 18th).

Electricity and magnetism are pretty easy, but they tend to slip out of your mind if you don't study them for a while. Operational amplifiers and circuit construction are awesome. In fact, last week Thursday, we built a couple of simple circuits using NAND gates combined to make different logic gates, such as AND, OR, NOT, NOR and XOR gates. We (the class) tested our output on a bunch of pretty LEDs (ours were red, and their cheap design kept on confusing us as to where the anode and cathode were, as well as causing the legs to break easily). We had a circuit building race (unofficially anyway). We never won, but we definitely had a lot of fun.

Pretty good for a Thursday, I'd say.

In other news, I'm thinking about starting my own little webshow. Nothing too involved or overblown. Just me, my camera, my room and my head full of wacky ideas. I pretty much have everything I need. I have a microphone and a camera that can record high quality videos. I don't know how much exactly, it's a Coolpix S620. Its megapixel rating is 12.2 MP, but its quite unlikely that videos are made at a resolution that high (since a still shot at the highest resolution is about 2.56 mb). Videos and pictures come out looking very good. I'll keep you guys posted on it. In fact, with luck, my first episode should come out early next month, after the assignment pressure with labs has eased up, and I only have to worry about studying for exams.

Anyway, I think I've said all I can really say for now.

じゃまた、
Gavin.

Avatar

Well, as of last Thursday afternoon, I'm away from school on my Christmas holidays. So yesterday I went to watch Avatar. How do you like them apples?

When I saw the preview for Avatar, I KNEW it was something I had to watch. (Not that I'm a Smurf fan or anything...O_o). Anyway, it was a pretty big in Jamaica, since they had a massive premiere on one side of the island(which a friend of mine got invited to, but not me...grrr...), and at the local cinema, they finally realized the joys of 3D. Yup.

To be honest, I sort of spoiled the movie for myself by reading reviews. That's not saying the movie was bad (it was really good actually), but I guess my expectations may have been a bit too high because of all the reviews I read. The 40 minute fight scene at the end was awesome, but in my opinion, it wasn't epic on the scale of Star Wars(like some reviewers said it was).

I'm not one for a love story, but I'll admit that it never got in the way of the film too much. It's not particularly like the story was NOVEL though, those who have played Assassin's Creed might have a rough idea of what one of the main plot devices was. Here's a hint, if it looks like an Animus, sounds like an Animus, but its not called an Animus.....

What annoyed me about the story was its environmental crusading, brought out through its one-dimensional human characters("But Gavin...it's in 3D!!" "Shut up."). You have your stereotypical evil corporate mogul that wants a mineral called, brace yourself for it..."unobtainium". You have his loyal army of futuristic soldiers with all forms of mechs and ships that burn forests and kill natives without remorse (apart from one of the better looking female pilots, how convenient is that?). You have the tree-hugger scientist who is so arrogant, she is convinced that you can just TELL people to kindly move because they're resting on the million dollar ore motherlode. And you have the Copenhagen summit, which...wait...where did THAT come from?

Yeah, I sort of find it a strange coincidence that the film came out during Copenhagen, but ugh...whatever.

Now, I'm going to talk about the computer graphics. The CG in the film is AMAZING. In the Marine base, I could honestly not differentiate between which parts were computer graphics and which parts were the physical set. The forest is even prettier. The forest is vibrant, alive, pretty and just REALISTIC(well, if you consider trees with glowing purple tendrils to be realistic, but please, just play along). I mean honestly...the night scenes in the forest were some of the best CG I have ever seen in a movie.

The Na'vi(read: "Giant Smurfs") run into the uncanny valley problem at a few points, but to be honest, I hardly noticed it in any of the main Na'vi characters. It really shows more in the flat Na'vi characters.



I would definitely tell you to go ahead and watch Avatar, its not like you'll be wasting your money. Watch it in 3D too. Seriously. Avatar, my dear readers, is CG history in the making. Let's hope that the game adaptation of it won't be rubbish.

In other news, since I can't remember if I said this before, but I stopped learning 漢字　by grade. I've just started reading Japanese news online and learning 漢字　as they come. Basically, this means that my vocabulary consists of mostly kanji pertaining to economics, at the moment. Hm.

Now here's the sad news. In a move that can best be described as some sort of perverse parting shot, school has left me with two projects to do. The first, is a Chemistry project on Industrial Processes. A MASSIVE Chemistry project at that too. Also, I have my Caribbean Studies Internal Assessment (a project) to do. Wish me luck.

Later,
Lord Robinson/Gavin/Haze

A Compendium of Whats New Since I Last Updated

Yes, its another one of your favourite types of post to read, my beloved Happy Desolation readers. It is my greatest pleasure to present to you, the billionth "Here's Whats New Since I Last Updated This Blog" post.

To celebrate this special event, I have decided to do something new. This something new, is actually a compendium of everything interesting that has happened since I last blogged. Without further ado, I present it:



Yes, nothing has happened. Oh wait, apart from the following:

1) The pace of school has sped up. I have end of term exams starting next week Tuesday.

2) I'm hot. I'm losing weight. Still a bit puffy and fluffy though, but the chicks like it that way, don'tcha? (Screams of "NOOOO!!!" lol)

3) Directly related to number 2, I've started Pai Lum Tao Kung Fu classes. Yes, Yours Truly is a Kung Fu ckhead.

4) I've learned a lot of Japanese since I last updated, but my rate of learning has slowed down, thanks to this millstone around my neck called school.

Christmas is coming soon. That means Christmas PARTIES!!! Heheheheheh...(would any one of my DEAREST FRIENDS reading this, be so kind as to hook me up with some free passes...thanks...you guys are the best!!! lololol)

I really forgot about Happy Desolation for a little (not forgot as in forgot that I had it, but forgot more as in NEGLECTED it). I really, really do want to be more regular with my blogging in the future. If things work out as they should, I should be actually.

Well yeah kids, that's about it really. Have fun till next time.

Peace,
Lord Robinson.

Life and Breadboards

Well, its Friday night as I type this. This is my second week back at school. It feels different somehow. I'm in my second and final year. I guess I'm supposed to feel older and wiser. I'm feeling none of the above. I've completed a week's worth of labs more or less. I suppose I'm getting more experienced with them, since I hardly had any issues really. Well, apart from with my Physics labs, where I'm having hell with the breadboards.

Then again, it's REALLY fun watching my group members getting shocked by raw wires and burned by overheated resistors while I just sit there smirking...but I digress, I'm a prick like that.

On a more personal front, I haven't quite lost much weight, yet I'm convinced that my attractiveness has skyrocketed. Seriously. Maybe it's the fact that I'm a second year dude now, and that does wonders for my reputation. Maybe its that nice, shiny "Honour Roll" pin that I got on my first day back. Or maybe it's because I managed to drill into my head over the summer that I'm God's gift to women.

I'm going with the last one. I've been trying to internalize that mindset for quite some time now, but I think I just woke up one morning and I had that attitude. It's awesome really. I suppose it's what everyone calls "swagger". I call it "me".

Yeah, moving on. I'm here, doing what I'm famous for. Obsessively reading...this time, about breadboards, so when we proceed with the experiment next week, I'll be an expert (as always). I'm pretty excited to be working with electronics this year. Honestly.

By the way, the whole neurosurgeon dream, while I'm not going to say it has been thrown out of the window, it has been derailed. I'm going to be going for a PhD in Computer Science. All of my friends who I've told this have been like "DUHH!!! Did you FINALLY hit your head and knock some sense into yourself? That was how it should have been in the beginning!!!"

Thank God I have middle fingers on both hands.

Anyway, yeah, this is just to let the people who follow my blog know that I'm still alive. I guess I'll be back next week with some wacky, witty and original.

Till Then,
Gavin.

Dead Space!!!!

Dead Space is awesome. Its scary, but not too scary. The suit looks cool, the weapons are pretty creative and I love the zero gravity sections!!! Buy, borrow or steal. Preferably the first or second one.




CAPE exams finally start week after next. My first examination is Communication Studies. Since the school year is technically over(that is, you won't find me anywhere around the school campus until next September), I decided to make a list of some interesting quotes from my friends.

So here goes:

Number 1:

Me: "Hey, Clive, have you seen Smithy lately?"
Clive: "Yeah, mi did see him pon Saturday inna mi neighbourhood."
Me: "Oh ok....wait....inna yu neighbour WHAT?"

Cultural Note: "Hood" is a slang term for penis in Jamaica for all of you that don't know....ignoramuses. :)

Number 2:

Teacher: "So what's the answer to the question class?"
Vivek: "-2/(x+3)^2"
Teacher: "No Vivek, sorry."
Michael: "Dunce fuck!!!"
Teacher: "Whats the answer Michael?"
Michael: "15(x+3)^4"
Teacher: "You're almost right, but you forgot a term."
Vivek: "Yeah...dunce fuck!!!"

Number 3:

My friend Orlan walks by a bunch of girls the day after the incident at the airport with the hijacking happens (click here for more background info). As all the people who know him can tell you, Orlan is obviously partially of terrorist descent [hehehehe :) ].

Girl: "Its the hijacker. He escaped!! Run and call the police!!!"


Trust me, there are a lot more, maybe I'll edit this post later and add more. I'm updating this from the school library computer. When I reach home, I'll probably make the additions.

Peace and Love,
Gavin

Unfortunately...I'm Still Alive

Well, I'm here. I'm writing up a PowerPoint presentation to use in my speech for my Communication Studies IA(are you regular readers sick of those 3 words yet?)

The Devil(colloquially referred to as school) has been keeping me down as of late. The good thing is, all the stress of schoolwork has driven me to find good music to listen to while toiling away in the labour camp. So without further ado, I present my top 20 songs for the past month and a half:

1) One Four Love Part 2 - Mos Def and some other black guys
2) Down Goes the Devil - Channel Live
3) Lock It Up - Channel Live
4) Alcohol - T-Pain(yeah...the fact that I'm listening to him surprises me too)
5) In the End Remix (I have no idea who did this song, but it sounds GOOD!!)
6) It Was a Good Day - Ice Cube (I vaguely remember bitching about the virtues of this song in a previous blog post.)
7) Rob and Sherri - Matthew Dear (This is really creepy if you're not used to techno... lol)
8) Satisfaction - Benny Benassi
9) Bitch/Technologic Mix - Benny Benassi
10)Session - Linkin Park (If I remember correctly, this was on the Matrix soundtrack.)
11) Clubbed to Death(Kurayamino Mix) - Rob Dougan (Another song from the Matrix soundtrack.)
12) Still - Common, Talib Kweli and Gangstarr
13) Rhymes and Ammo - The Roots and Talib Kweli
14) Sea Weeds - Captain Dan and the Scurvy Crew (pirate rap is teh HAXXORS!!!)
15) Mad Izm - Channel Live and KRS One (All time favourite people!!!)
16) Sex for the Sport - Channel Live (Another all time favourite of mine...seriously.)
17) Homicide Ride - Channel Live (Yeah, I have a thing for them.)
18) Burning and Looting - Bob Marley and The Roots
19) Come Fly Away - Benny Benassi
20) Baby You Got Me - Erykah Badu and the Roots

Time for some video love kids:

Don and Sherri by Matthew Dear


Yo Ho Ho By Captain Dan and the Scurvy Crew


So...what else have I been doing that is uncharacteristic of 16 year old kids with CAPE exams?

Well for one, I've been playing Devil May Cry 4 and Left 4 Dead like crazy.

Another thing is that I've been investing in an eye patch and a peg leg so I can join Captain Dan and the Scurvy Crew after I leave school. It'll probably be the only future I have ahead of me...kidding...lol.

Yeah, that's about it.

Peace out people,
Gavin.

Woohoo!!! Level 60!!!

No, I haven't actually wasted that many hours of my life on a certain RPG. Rather, this is my 60th post on Happy Desolation. As you can see, I decided to celebrate with a new blog layout(Shit, do I know how to party or what?). Anyway yeah, its back to school for me.

School is not treating me very well at the moment. Nor am I treating it very well. As such, I propose to hack the school's network.

Ok, fine...maybe thats a bit too extreme. Still doesn't make it any less fun though. lol. What I really want though, is for June to come. By June, this damn school should be just a distant memory in the haze of cigarette smoke, liquor, loose women and computer parts. Oh well.

CAPE Unit 1 (thats the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Exams) is coming up within like 2 months, so just like during CXC time, I won't be blogging as much. There might also be a surprise coming up for all you loyal readers.

Write to you guys later!!

Microsoft Word 2007 is a B****

So kids,here's my latest bitching topic. I'm working on my Chemistry project which I got for the holidays. I'm on the second to last topic, so I'm almost finished. Out of force of habit, I press Ctrl+S to quick save on a regular basis(like every 10 minutes or so).

So I press it, and it brings up the huge "Save As" dialog box. I decide to refrain from cursing at that point and just save over the document, which would have the same effect as the quick save. It's located on the base C:\ drive. I click the button. The little green bar on the status bar at the bottom of the screen fills pretty quickly, then it appears again. About 85% of the way through it stops and tells me there is an error in saving chemproj.docx. I curse.

My little brother hears me and laughs.I decide to try it again. Hmph. Same f**king thing. I decide to outsmart Microsoft and copy the entire document to an empty word document and saving it. Didn't make a scrap of difference. I got an error there too. Shit. I do a bit of googling for a solution, since I typed a lot and I don't want to have to retype it.

I see somebody talking about disabling their firewall and antivirus. I'm skeptical, but desperate, so I try it. Nope, no such luck.

I resign to my fate of losing the 3 paragraphs I wrote. I close it, and give up for a few seconds. I decide to open a blank document, type some crap, and see if it will save. It does. I decide to try saving my project again. It doesn't. >_<

I scream, and try the tactic of copying the whole document to a blank file again. I save it to My Documents, and somehow it works.

Its pretty damn weird.

Right now however, I'm just thankful that it worked. I'll figure out the issue later. There is no way I was planning to lose 3966 words of information that was hell to find.

*Sigh*
Oh well. I just had to let it out. I also did a Twitter post about it. For those of you who don't know, besides being an aspiring computer programmer/neurosurgeon, I also want to be a PUA. You can see the Twitter status update on my other blog.

Thats about it still, so I'll write up something some other day. Wish me luck on the project.

Merry Christmas: The Official Post Mortem of Ebenezer Scrooge

Well, this was a pretty good Christmas in terms of loot. I got a stack of 25 blank DVDs, a can of axe, and most importantly a new cell phone. Its a Samsung...something...blah, can't bother to go look at the box now. lol.

As it pertains to my Communication studies IA, which I may or may not have mentioned in a previous post, I'm making pretty good progress.If I were a studious person, I could be finished by the day after tomorrow.

But alas, I regret to inform you that I am not a studious person. I'll be finished by like next week Monday, I guess.

If you're lazy(like me) and can't bother to read everything up top, but you had to read this text due to its coloration, just watch the video below to summarize how my day was.



This song is called "Today Was a Good Day" and its by Ice Cube. Its one of the songs in the soundtrack for GTA: San Andreas, which I have been playing a lot of lately.

I've also been playing Red Alert 3. That game is so much DAMN FUN!! I mean, its a ridiculous excuse to revitalize the careers of some porn stars and B-movie actors, but damn, it is FUN!!

Oh, and I think my balls are getting bigger. I'm also learning how to grunt. The reason? Gears of War. There is so much testosterone in that darn thing, I'm jealous. I think that game may be applying peer pressure(Is that even possible?). I tried it on the recommendation of a friend, and despite getting killed every second wave, I love it. The Lancer, with the chainsaw bayonet is so cool. Its officially cooler than the plasma sword in Halo(although that can't compare to the Sword of Mana).

Before I'd go, I'd just like to address the fact as to why this sounds different from my other posts. The reason is because in this post, I actually have SOMETHING to talk about, as opposed to many others, where I'm just giving you, my dear reader, reassurance that I'm still alive.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone, including those who live in timezones where its still Christmas Eve and those who live in parallel universes that don't celebrate Christmas, and all the Ebenezer Scrooges who wish it weren't Christmas.

OMG!!! Really?

I don't believe it.

It turns out people actually DO read Happy Desolation. Wow. I feel umm, accomplished.

Anyway, I passed all my unit tests, but didn't really excel(except for Maths and Comm Studies). Oh well.

My exams started this week. So far, they have been GREAT!!! I feel great after leaving them because I know I've done well. I have Chemistry, Physics and Math next week. Guess which one I'm worrying about? Thats right, Chemistry.

I haven't sat down to program anything for a while. I'm going to do some stuff over Christmas so I don't get rusty. But, thats after I finish my Communication Studies Internal Assessment, Biology Meiosis models and some other thing I can't remember at the moment.

I'm just taking the night off since I'll have the weekend to study.

Thank you all my loyal readers. I love you all....sort of...not in a sick way..I think.

Later..
Gavin

The Past 2 Months In Less Than 500 Words

Wow, perfect. Another "sorry I haven't updated in so long" post. Its sorta becoming a habit, don't you think?

Well, without further ado, here's the rundown of the past two months.

1)School started. Its a bitch.

2)I learned a lesson the hard way about the importance of backing up stuff. My old computer's motherboard,hard drive,graphics card and memory stick went bad all at the same time. Lost over 200 GB of stuff.

3)I finally realized that I was really good at Mathematics and probably should consider taking over Stephen Hawking's job at CERN.

4)I underwent a period of psychological trauma after starting college Chemistry and realizing that electrons don't actually orbit in shells, their positions are random, that is, they have a 95% chance of being found in a regions of space known as orbitals. I wept.

5)I had an epiphany, and realized that its pretty simple to build a nuclear bomb.

6)All hail President Obama!!! Finally, a balla president. Lots of people died that night, since after seeing that, they probably had nothing left to live for.

7)At some point, I realized that I more or less forgot about Happy Desolation. Some good Samaritan reminded me about it(Thanks Robyn!!).

That's about it. Lets hope from now on, I can be more regular with the updates. For your sake,since I know you all live for this. lol.

Google Chrome is Awesome

Hmm, it seems like I'm betraying Firefox, and Google is too. Google Chrome, their new browser, is AWESOME. In fact, I used Chrome to update this blog posting. Its really ergonomic. No annoying title bar or anything else to clutter the screen, just a clean, streamlined interface.



Get it here and give it a shot.

In other news, school has started for me. Time to prepare for a year of work.

My exam results were great. Eight distinctions for the following subjects: Bio,Mathematics,Chemistry,Physics,English Language,English Literature,Infotech and Spanish. I got a B for GCE Add Maths. Thanks to all my well wishers.

Thats about all I have to say for this update.

See ya people,
Gavin.

Who Wears Short Shorts? - Watch more free videos

Hehehehe.

That aside, by next week this time, I'll only have one more exam to worry about. Yup, thats right, the Add Maths Paper 2. I feel really good about the CXC. I mean, Physics and Chemistry were just amazing.I THINK Bio was good too, but I might have mentioned my track record with Bio earlier...

Oh well, I did a little bit of work on LunaGFX, only now, I've changed the name.

That's right kids, LunaGFX is now known as the X-LAX Graphics Library, the crappiest graphics library known to man or monkey.

I'm serious.

About the name change that is, not about the crappy part.

In a week kids!!


P.S. I might be getting a summer job. More about that some other time.

WARNING: Old Hip-Hop

That song was Chanel Live's Sex For the Sport. If you liked that let me tell you, there are a LOT of old great hip-hop songs. Today, I typed up a design document for my game...you know the one the Lunatek Engine is supposed to be used in. Its nowhere near complete, but I decided to give all you wonderful people a look. Normally, I'd force you to download it, but I found this wicked thing called ScribD, which is like Youtube for businessmen lol.

Read this doc on Scribd: AOWDD1

Yeah, its a mouthful and I do apologize for the googled graphics.

Tata!

YAAAH TRICK YAAAH!

I love that damn video!!!! Most people say Soulja Boy sucks, and I (sorta) agree. But this song is just so positive, and its one of the funniest music videos I've seen for a long time. This time, you just can't hate on Soulja Boy. The part with throw some D's on it was pretty clever, and shows that even if he can't rap, he at least knows his puns :).

I really wouldn't have known about it, if a friend of mine hadn't started saying YAA BITCH YAA! as a response to every question. A typical conversation between us now looks like:

Me : Hey man, whats up? You ok?
Him : YAAAH BITCH YAAAH!
Me : Okay then. Have you seen Clive around?
Him : NAAH BITCH NAAH!
Me : Right. Umm, I'm going to eat lunch now, what do you want on your chicken?
Him : THROW SOME D'S ON THAT!!!
Me : Uh-huh, ketchup it is.
Him : YAAAH BITCH YAAAH!
Me : Someone, please kill me.
Him : YAAAH BITCH YAAAH!
Me : GET OUTTA MY FACE!!!

As for mock exams, the studying isn't going badly. I think I've done a lot of Biology, so now I've just got to get in some Chemistry and English Literature. As usual, Physics and Add Maths are not a problem.

I haven't started work on LunaScene though. Go cry in a dark corner somewhere.

On a more serious note, it seems like Lupe Fiasco might take over Talib's place in the rap game. Check this:



I love the way the vocals of Matthew and Lupe contrast. I want Matthew's voice. It would be so cool...but screw it, you can't always get what you want.

Gavin out. Over.

School is Rotting My Brain

Well, I knew it would be a lot of work, but geez...I'm overloaded. Between lab reports and my IT SBAs, I can barely find time to take a breather. Oh well, that's life.

In the time that I haven't been studying, I've been reading up on SSE and Artificial Intelligence, especially pathfinding algorithms. Pathfinding algorithms are actually strangely interesting, but then, I'm different. I've also been brushing up on a bit of shader work.

Yesterday, I got my report card. It wasn't all that bad. I got the 96% average I expected for Information Technology(pssh....) and a surprising 98% average for Additional Mathematics(I expected mid 80s). I also got a 94% average for Chemistry, and a 78% average for Physics.

My Biology grade however is shameful. That one is really gonna haunt me for a while.

Oh well, screw it. If anything, I'll just clean out the innards of my brain with a shotgun.

Yesterday, I also played against Clive in Halo 3. I LOVE THE FRIGGIN' GRAVITY HAMMER AND ENERGY SWORD. We played a match with only these two weapons, with Clive preferring the sword and me preferring the hammer. I won. Our scores were 30:20. We also played with guns, where I won again, but by a smaller margin(30:26).

Clive kept on trying to pop me with the mounted gun that he broke of, but... I'm just too good lol.

Sayonara,

I'm Alive

Well, I did promise that there would be less postings this year, since I'm really busy. I'm working on the fundamentals of the second part of that Irrlicht-Python integration tutorial, but as I said I'm really busy, so its going pretty slowly.

I've also started working out...since I'm pathetically weak and it can do good things for my concentration. Well not pathetically weak, but I think I could be a lot stronger. I have mock exams late next month, and I get my report card this week Wednesday. Thankfully, I've done well enough not to fret.

That's all, life is pretty boring right now so:

LATER!!!

The Latest from The Twisted Mind of Gargamel

Well, my Internet just got fixed today(sucky Cable and Wireless!), so being the antisocial person you've all come to know and love, I was bored. To occupy myself, I decided to write a couple of Irrlicht tutorials. There are 3 of them in total. Two cover basic Irrlicht concepts, that is, setting up a window, and displaying an image, while the other one covers integrating Irrlicht with the Python scripting language.You can find it on the links to the left. I will post source code as soon as I get up off my lazy ass and decide to include it.

As for LunaLib, well...LunaLib ain't dead...Its on life support bitch!!!
A must watch for all the Boondocks fans out there:



Anyway, school resumes on Tuesday. Badabababada, I'm dreading it. Well, not really, its just that a sh*t load of work is going to be piled up on me. But I can handle it...I'm Gavin!!!!

...Right? I'm sure I can do this...I think.

Bye!!!