Persef

NaNoWriMo: Chapter 2

2011-01-08T21:58:00.000-08:00

I know NaNoWriMo is over, but I'm gonna finish this dang it!

Chapter 2

No idea where she was headed, Flist had remembered her mother had always said something about a refugee camp. What would she say when she got there? She was covered in blood, dirty and tired. She continued on the bleak desert like terrain. Everything had been wiped away from the land. No vegetation, water or shade. The heat bore down on her weary body as if telling her to just stop. Every step she took, she could feel the blisters on her feet rub on her shoes. She had to keep going. Even though the land was deserted, she occasionally saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She stopped to look for whatever had been moving but whatever it was, creature or delusion, didn’t bother her in the slightest; she thought it best to keep moving.

On the evening of the second day of travel, she had only stopped to rest for a couple of hours, and kept on moving. Staring off into the horizon she saw what seemed to be a city. Excited at the possible sign of civilization, her pace quickened and that’s when she saw the movement again.

Convinced she wasn’t imagining things, she yelled out “HEY! Who’s there?!” She saw movement again. This time right in front of her, but she couldn’t tell what is was because it was getting darker outside. Flist gripped the carving knife she had stolen tightly in her hand. It looked like the outline of a small person, a child perhaps? Maybe she hadn’t killed everyone in the village and this child had followed her the whole way out here.

A little softer she called out again, “Hey, it’s ok, come here so I can see you. Are you from the village?” The child hesitated and then slowly began to move toward Flist. “It’s alright, I won’t hurt you.” She squinted in the darkness. The child, it had to be a child was arms length in front of her now, but she still couldn’t see. “Hold on. Let me light a lamp.” Flist reached for a lantern hanging off of her sack. She had almost forgotten that she had it. “Let me just…” she struggled with the flint as she tried to light the lamp. Setting her belongings down on the ground, she bent down on one knee, trying to light the fire. “Heh I’m not that good at this…” she admitted. “Are you from the village?” The child didn’t respond, all she could hear was his ragged breathing. With a clever movement of her hand she was able to light the lamp, but as soon as she did she heard the creature shriek. For a flash of a second she saw that the creature was, in fact, not a child but a horrific beast. Its soulless black eyes were the size of dinner plates and its hairless grey body was covered in putrid slime that oozed from various openings. Bits of skin had melted away from the creatures face exposing a good amount of sharp yellow teeth underneath. It had been sitting, crouched on its back legs and scampered away on all fours like a gorilla at the first sign of light.

Scared and confused Flist continued kneeling there for a few minutes. She could still see it, hanging back a good distance from her lamp, its silhouette visible against the light. “What… what are you?” No answer. The thing seemed to understand her but it would not or, maybe, could not respond. She kept the lamp close by and had a mostly sleepless night waiting for daylight to come hoping this creature would just go away and she could get to the city. She must have dozed off somewhere between twilight and daybreak because she never remembered seeing it leave. Shaken and tired, Flist continued on her journey.

This refugee camp was filled with a lot more people than Flist had initially anticipated. She had arrived before anyone had awoken and she could tell that the couple dozen tents were filled with people. The tents looked as if they could hold ten people at a time and that life here was just temporary. ‘I had wished for a more permanent solution than this, maybe I should look somewhere else.’ Flist thought to herself. She began to turn around when she heard some rustling in the tent next to her. Flist immediately tried to hide behind the tent and get out of the doorway unseen. She silently watched the door of the tent as the woman inside unzipped the door and awkwardly crawled out trying not to trip on the bottom flap. She was a woman of middle age, probably in her mid to late 40’s with dirty blonde hair and a plump build. “I will NEVER get used to these tents!” she whispered as she tried to stealthily make her way to a bunch of cooking gear that sat upon a group of tables toward the center of camp. The woman started to set up for what Flist guessed was breakfast for the camp. She heard her belly rebelliously rumbling at the mere thought and she could have sworn it echoed throughout the hushed campground. Flist continued to watch the woman when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Violently turning around with knife in hand Flist backed into the tent.

“It’s ok, I’m not here to hurt you.” The man in front of her looked friendly, but a bit tired. She could tell this world had been hard on him. He looked to be about 50 years old he was very tall and of athletic build, bleach blonde hair and he was wearing a uniform of some sort, different from the Coalition.

“Please, put down the knife, my name is Emanuel, you can call me Manny. What’s your name?”

Flist quietly murmured, “Flist, my name is Flist.” She could hear the people in the tent she was leaning against start to get up.

“Who’s out there Manny? Is it a newcomer?”

“Yeah, I think she’s hurt, call Helen, she’s covered in blood.” He replied.

Overwhelmed by the people starting to surround her and the sleeplessness finally catching up with her, Flist could feel the ground move beneath her feet. She felt the man quickly grab her and the last thing she heard was “It’ll be ok Flist, just hold…” The words faded out.

The next thing Flist felt was hot pain. It was dark all around her and she heard a voice. “Hey my little mass murderer, it looks like you put my power to good use. I have a present for you…” She immediately recognized the voice.

“What do you want? My parents are dead! You didn’t help me save them at all!” She screamed into the darkness.

“I gave you the power to do what you wanted and you chose to do what you did with it. You must have wanted everyone in that town dead otherwise they would still be alive today.”

Maybe it was her fault that all of these people died… “No! The Coalition MADE me resort to these measures! I wouldn’t have even had to use that power if it wasn’t for them! And LOOK what they’re doing to these people, forcing them to live in camps.”

“You’re absolutely correct Flist. You still owe me that favor, but in the meantime, I want to help you take revenge on the nasty Coalition forces that, essentially, killed your parents and your hometown.”

“You do? But what can you do? I don’t want to kill any more innocent lives.”

“I have sent one of my pets to keep watch over you and he will do your bidding. Use him wisely though because if you lose him I will be very very cross. He will make you stronger by just binding himself to you. He must never be discovered by humans.”

“Okay I understand. How do I call for him?”

“If you think about him, he will appear, he can teleport between dimensions easily. Now it’s time for you to wake up and continue on your mission.”

“Wait! But I have more questions!” Flist felt a painful surge of heat and she slowly opened her eyes.

“Well, well, well it looks like Ms. Flist is finally awake. You’ve been asleep for two days now! My name is Helen, I’m the resident nurse.” A young woman, barely in her 30s with brown hair bundled into a bun stood before her, wearing a nurse’s uniform. “We were worried you wouldn’t wake up! Welcome to Camp Hope, a little corny I know but it works!” She smiled cheerily at Flist.

Flist was on a sleeping bag on a stretcher, covered in blankets. She was in possibly the biggest tent she had ever seen. There were other patients in beds just like hers hooked up to heart monitors and IV drips. She was astounded that she didn’t see this tent from outside. “I know what you’re thinking,” said Helen, “this tent is huge right? I don’t care what the Coalition says, magic is wonderful!”

“Helen, are you talking too much again?” Manny walked up beside her. “We still aren’t sure who this girl is. We should probably get to know her a bit more.” Helen pouted and shuffled off to another patient as Manny walked up to Flist and helped her sit up.

“First of all, I would like to tell you that I’m not here to pry too much. We all come from stressful situations and I don’t want to force you to say anything you aren’t comfortable with. We are a refugee camp for Magic users and for humans who have nowhere to go. Now, where did you come from?”

She looked into his eyes and started to tear up at the question. “Ok ok, I can see that wherever you are from is traumatic for you. Were there any survivors beside yourself? Should we send out a search party?” She shook her head no, “No survivors.”

“Alright,” Manny responded, “we’ll get you set up here and I’ll watch over you since you are still very young.” She flinched at the words ‘very young’. She was old enough to take care of herself, but she agreed since this place was the only place she had.

Guardians of Graxia now on Steam

2010-11-10T16:05:00.000-08:00

If you haven't bothered to buy Guardians of Graxia because it wasn't on steam, you have no excuse now.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/90500/

I spent a lot of hard work on this and it's only $8.99 so you should buy it!

NaNoWriMo: Chapter 1

2010-11-08T22:03:00.000-08:00

Chapter 1

Flist was born into a world where wizards and supernatural beings were not allowed into regular society. This was regulation put into motion by the Coalition Force and its leader, John Markol. Thankfully, Flist’s parents did not adhere to regular societal standards. They resided in a small rural village and continued to practice their ways. Marellea and Stephen Lockwood were happily married and very attuned to each other. She was a Shifter; a person who can open dimensional portals to other worlds and control entities of these worlds. Unlike most Shifters, Marelle resisted the urge to use her powers for darker purposes. Stephen loved to study about the unusual and unnatural since he contained no powers of his own. Having Marelle in his life was a true miracle and they loved to sit together on a rainy afternoon and discuss supernatural creatures and other worlds. Soon Flist’s parents discovered that she had an unnatural ability with Shifting. She was able to see Rifts, or tears, in space and time. Her parents could tell that this would be very bad for their child, but had no other choice but to educate her correctly.

It wasn’t very long until the other villagers started to notice that Flist was turning into something horrifying. Shifters carry a certain horrifying presence with them once they have the power and normal people as well as supernatural beings can tell. Around the age of eight, the other children were afraid to play with Flist and soon she began asking her mother questions.

“Mommy, why is it that no on will play with me at school?” Flist looked up at her mother with her father’s inquisitive dark brown eyes. Her mother was sitting in her big red velvet lined couch reading, an activity that she absolutely loved. She calmly set aside her book, stood up from the chair and then knelt down in front of her daughter.

“Did you try smiling at the other children and complimenting them like I told you?” Her face was full of concern for her daughter.

“I did. I told Jenny that she had nice shoes and I would very much like them if I had them. She then took off her shoes and threw them at me and said I could have ‘em if I left her alone.”

“Oh sweetheart, I’m so sorry.” Marelle embraced her daughter. She knew that it wouldn’t get easier for her, especially in a world like this. She also knew that Flist needed positive interaction with other people or else Flist wouldn’t be able to function in society.

“Well, maybe she’s better off this way, it’s better than becoming a part of that Fascist community of people calling themselves the Coalition and getting away with murder!”. Flist could hear her father yelling from the hidden library door that her parents thought she was unaware of. Most magic users had a hidden room somewhere in their house so they could continue practicing without being easily discovered. It was late at night after her father had come home from teaching the local teenagers in their makeshift high school.

“Darling, I know how upset you get about this, but anger isn’t the way to change things, we both know this. We just need to concentrate on Flist right now. She has to deal with issues that are too impossible for most adults.”

“I know Marelle, I just keep thinking everything will get better soon and it just doesn’t; I feel… powerless. How about we home school our daughter until she can better understand. I can then help her integrate into young adulthood at the high school. A lot of my students can be very understanding and would even be interested to know her.”

They both agreed that she would be schooled by Marelle until she was old enough and then she would be allowed to mingle with the other kids her age.

Years passed by and Flist adjusted very well to society she was able to do a little magic taught by her mother and soon became old enough to transfer into her father’s classes. Just as he predicted, a lot of the other students were very interested in the power that Flist had and treated her like a friend. It was the first time Flist had had friends other than her parents or the books in her library. She began to find true happiness in her friends. She also strongly resisted the darker urges that her power gave her, much to the relief of her mother. For once, her parents finally had full confidence that Flist would grow to be wonderful woman. She learned about the war between the Coalition and the magic users 300 years ago and how it tore the world apart creating rifts everywhere until the Coalition’s machines overpowered magic and the armies drove them out into hiding. Now the Coalition occupies a city called Chi-Town and it is the most heavily guarded area in North America. With this knowledge, she also understood that people may fear what they do not know or cannot control and that the only way to change people was through understanding.

But soon, her theories would be proven wrong. Not too long after Flist turned 16 she was abruptly awoken in the night by loud crashing noises and yelling. Marelle, burst through her room with a panicked look on her face and her lacey white nightgown all disheveled.

“Flist!” a sharp whisper escaped from her lips. Marelle grabbed her startled daughter and quickly ran into the living room where her father held the hidden library door open. “I heard some in here!” a man yelled outside of the front door. They all stared at the door for a second and then Stephen’s hand was pushing Flist through the door with such force that she fell on the floor catching herself with her hands. She heard the door shut behind her and the men outside had forced their way inside the house. Her parents were fighting back, her mother using her magic and her father a rifle. Flist pounded on the door crying out wanting to help her parents desperately. She stopped and looked around realizing that she was in a library full of books she began to go through them and search for a spell, any spell to save her parents. She tried everything she could think of but she didn’t have the time to draw out the necessary ritual circles for a portal. The fighting outside continued and as she tried a summoning spell for the tenth time without the circle something appeared. She could feel an electricity crawling all over her skin, inside her body and it made the little hairs on her arms standup straight. Before her, a single white-blue electric lightning bolt formed slowly dividing in two to make a perfect oval. Bursts of statically charged air filled the room emanating from this rift in time and space. Through the portal she could feel a blistering heat wave that knocked her to the ground. Books sprawled around her she sat on the ground staring up at the portal.

“Hello?! Help! I need your help!” She screamed into the empty portal. When no one appeared she screamed even louder, “My parents are in danger! Please help me!”

“Help you? Why Should I help you?” replied a voice in perfect Demonic tongue. She had studied all sorts of languages and this was definitely one of them and this made her cautious.

“Please, we have to hurry my paren-“

“Hurry? I don’t hurry. I do whatever I please. Besides, time stopped the minute you opened this portal into my world, invading my realm. What could be so important?” The faceless voice sounded aggravated at having been disturbed.

“I’ve been trying to tell you,” she hastily replied, “my parents and this whole village is under attack. I need help and I just don’t have enough power to do it myself!”

“Oh, you power’s what you want is it? Well, that I can give you, but we have to make a deal…”

“Deal? What kind of deal? Are you talking about… sacrificing my life?” Her eyes widened as she realized what she would have to do in order to save her parents.

Laughter boomed throughout the room. It was a terrible kind of laughter that sent shivers down Flist’s spine.

“Why would I want you dead? That would not serve me.” His demeanor was now grave “No. I need you to tell me exactly what you want, I will grant you this and in return, you will have to do something equally as generous.”

“What would you have me do?” Flist was very nervous as she had never dealt with any other supernatural being.

“Well,” the voice paused, “that is to be decided. Do we have a deal or not? You have 30 seconds to decide before I get bored and leave you and your parents here to die.”

“I just have to tell you what I want?” She nervously stammered. She didn’t hear a response and thoughts were wildly racing through her head. Should she take the deal? What would her parents want? She couldn’t think and time was running out. “I’ll… I’ll take the deal. Please. Please give me the power to save my parents!” She waited for what seemed like forever. Nothing. Silence. She screamed into the portal “GIVE ME THE POWER TO OBILTERATE THE COALITION!!”

“That’s more like it”, he responded.

The next thing Flist knew was pain. More pain than she had ever felt in her life. Power was coursing through her veins, more power than she had ever felt before. The power was so strong it began to eat at her life. It felt as if her flesh was slowly ripping off of her bones and melting to the ground. All she could hear was a deafening roar in her ears. Maybe he did decide to take her life, she was dying, and she could feel every part. She was losing consciousness and was awoken by a loud painful voice. Her ears hurt from all the noise.

“You had better use some of that power or else you’ll die. Concentrate on what you need to do.”

She gathered every bit of strength that she had and concentrated on killing the men in her living room; she hoped her parents were still alive. With all the strength she had she muttered “Kill… them…” That was the last she remembered.

The next thing she felt was the sun beaming down on her face. She opened her eyes to see the blue sky above her. ‘How did I get outside?’ she thought ‘Maybe I was sleepwalking, that would be another interesting development for father-‘she stopped remembering the events of last night. “FATHER! MOTHER!” she cried. She picked herself up off the carpeted ground and looked around. Her body ached with every movement. Looking around she was filled with horror as she realized that she was still in the library, well, what would now be known as the ruins of her mother’s hidden library. The roof and walls had crumbled leaving remains of furniture and father’s precious books. The entire house had no ceiling or walls. She could see straight into her room from the library. She ran into the living room as fast as she could, scrambling past the fallen walls as quickly as she could to get a good look. She froze. Dead bodies were piled under the rubble. No one was alive. The Coalition forces were dead. She continued to frantically search for her parents when she saw them. They were dead. Crushed under the sheer weight of the building or shot by the Coalition forces she wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter they were gone now. Dropping to her knees in front of their lifeless bodies she struggled to get the fallen ceiling off of them but it was too heavy. She laid her head on her mother’s chest and held the lifeless hand of her father, imaging they were with her again. Silent tears rolled down her face as she stared into the bright blue skies.

‘How could this happen?! We were so happy together. So tolerant of the Coalition. We never struck back at them…’ She bolted upright at the thought. Calmly, she stood up, walked over to the first Coalition man she saw, picked up a piece of rubble with both of her hands. Then she raised it above his head and brought it down with terrifying force. She heard the wet, sickening crack and psychotically continued to forcefully smash the rock into the solider until there was nothing left, yelling and crying the whole time.

Covered in blood, she stood up and walked through the rubble to where her mother’s room should be. She grabbed her mother’s special ritual cloak and wrapped it around her shoulders. Then she headed to the library grabbing her father’s favorite book on demons and monsters. When she was finished she rummaged through the rubble and pried the wedding rings off of her mother and father. They were special rings Stephen had made out of what appeared to be an indestructible, black stone. She quickly slid them both on her left ring finger and left the remains of her house.

As she stepped out, she looked around the village and terror washed over her. All the houses were the same. No roof, walls crumbling, everyone dead. She killed everyone. Still covered in Coalition blood she rummaged through homes taking small items that she might need and a map. She needed to find the nearest town and quick. Something changed in Flist that day. There were so many killed. All because of the raid that the Coalition did, or at least that is who she blamed. ‘It was all their fault and they will pay, every last one of them.’ Flist gathered her belonging and headed west.

NaNoWriMo

2010-11-08T22:00:00.000-08:00

This month I have been doing NaNoWriMo.
National November Writing Month. Basically, it's a goal that challenges you to write for the month of November to create a 175-page (50,000 word) novel by midnight, November 30th. I am doing pretty well and I thought I would post my chapters to my blog as I get them. Feedback is appreciated as long as it's constructive.

My novel is based on my Rifts fantasy tabletop game so it borrows a lot of story from that world. Our tabletop games have been going great so I thought it would be interesting to write a novel about it.

If you are not interested in reading, just skip the posts that have the tag or title NaNoWriMo and you should be fine :)

Happy writing to my fellow writers.

Sunday Hiking: Goldstrike Canyon

2010-11-08T08:25:00.000-08:00

We went hiking at Goldstrike yesterday and it was just as fun as I remember but a little easier.

It's a canyon that has ropes you use to climb down rocks and is pretty exciting. I've been on the hike before and last time I fell. I also fell this time too at a different spot and got skinned knees, a hand and an elbow. Haha. Thankfully Tim had bandaids and alcohol swipes. I really need to bring first aid kits on these hikes.

After the 2.5 (estimated) hike in we finally got to the hotsprings. It's the pool that you can hardly see on the right.

Everyone down at the Spring

You are not supposed to open your eyes in the water, drink the water, get water up your nose or pee in the water because if you do, you may get a parasite.

That part scares a lot of people but the most you could probably get is a sinus infection that you go to the doctor's for and he'll give you something to clean out the parasite. It is not like a Tapeworm. This is what I've been told anyway.

Cave Entrance

In the Hotspring, if you go under the water (closing your eyes, mouth and nose) and feel your way along a wall you can end up in a cool little cave area. That picture is the entrance to the little cave and man it's like a sauna in there. Four of us easily fit but it's pitch black and hot so we didn't stay for long. It was scary because not only could you not see where you were going under water, but you had to turn sideways under water to fit between the rocks.

The hike was pretty fun though and I will always love this one. Hopefully, we'll be able to do more hikes like it after my injuries go away.

Themed Parties (cont.)

2010-11-04T08:38:00.000-07:00

This is a script from Modern Family where Mitchel and Cameron talk about their friend Pepper's theme parties.

Script:
Cameron: Our friend Pepper loves to throw theme parties.
Mitchel: Yes he does and this weekend is his first annual Oscar Wilde and crazy brunch.
Cameron: We're still recovering from his Studio 54th of July barbeque. They were fun at first. But they have become a lot of work. You have to dress in costume-
Mitchel: You have to assume a character.

Mitchel: Ugh Cam, can we just please cancel?
Cameron: I wish we could but you know he's still mad at us for missing Passover.
Mitchel: Oh. Right. Satyrday Night Fever?
Cameron: Just go, get dressed and powdered.
Mitchel: Ooooh Pepper has done the impossible, he's made 2 gay men hate brunch.

Video (There's a commercial then fast forward to 1:48):

Themed Parties

2010-11-02T16:53:00.000-07:00

I just have to get this off my chest because I'm irritated and Twitter is a poor medium to vent without a lot of opposition.

First let me start off by saying I love themed parties. They're fun to dress up for, fun to go to and nice to see all of the costumes. I've participated in most of the themed parties that my friends have thrown. I like getting together a costume.

But now, it seems like every party is a theme of some sort.

There are a few disagreements I have with this:
1. Money
Costumes cost money. Whether it be pieces to your costume, the entire costume, a person can spend from $5 to $100 or more on a costume that you will probably wear only once (though I try as much as possible to reuse them). I really don't see any extra money in my budget.

2. Time
If it doesn't cost money then it probably costs time. I would even go as far as to say that time is money so this really falls under the money category but I thought I should separate it because there are those that will say that I could just make something out of what I already have. but that takes the time I don't have.

3. Motivation
When every party is a costumed or themed party, it gets hard to find the motivation to dress up for the next one. Modern Family TV show demonstrates this perfectly. It's the one with Nathan Lane in it as Pepper. They talk about how these dress up brunches started out as fun and as time went on, no one wanted to come to them anymore because of all the work it took just to hang out. THAT's how I feel.

4. No one is forcing you to dress up
No. No one is turning me away from a party for not dressing up. But I go to hang out with my friends to do what they are doing. I know there are others like me who feel like if they go to a themed party dressed normally they will be a bit outcast. Maybe not physically or socially. But it just feels wrong to go dressed all normally when others are in costume and showing off their costumes. No, I don't have to dress up but I will feel left out if I don't and I would rather not go to a party at all if I am going to feel left out.

5. Shopping
Something I thought of last minute. I hate shopping for clothes. It is painful for me every time I do it. I don't like my size (working on it) and I don't like how most things look on me. Also, my lack of a car makes it particularly difficult to go shopping believe it or not. I never understood how difficult it is not having a car and it's really hard to understand unless you also have been without a car when you have had to commute to work and handle adult responsibilities. The shopping alone is probably the most difficult thing about themed parties for me.

I understand that there are those who don't understand this logic or just can't sympathize. That's ok. It seemed I was getting way too much resistance without much say earlier through a different medium so I had to post this and get it out of my system.

In conclusion: Themed or dress up parties are great two to three times a year.

Guardians of Graxia is now on sale!

2010-10-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

http://www.gamersgate.com/DD-GOG/guardians-of-graxia

It's only $8.99 so you should pick it up if you can afford it.

I am so glad that this game released. It's sad that you won't be able to see all of the designer stuff I am doing (scripting maps) until the expansion comes out. I think I'm listed as a tester on this version of the game. I thought that I would never be able to see this game come to some sort of a finish and get released, but I am so happy that it has finally happened.

An update on my work: It seems I will now be working until November 12th. Heh Longest week of work ever.

I don't have too much free time, so I'll leave you with that and you should totally go and buy the game.

Still employed

2010-09-27T08:19:00.000-07:00

So my employment has continued at Petroglyph.

Had a talk last week with my boss and they want to keep me on for another two weeks to continue working on Graxia. I'll take it! This has been one heck of a rollercoaster ride of employment and unemployment.

Reemployed?

2010-09-17T10:59:00.000-07:00

So funny story.

After I was let go, I got a call yesterday asking if I could come back as a contract employee for a week. It'll take about a week to finish what I was doing on the project.

Our publisher is the type of guy who turns a completely normal girl into a crazy girl.
My company, is obviously the girl. And crazy.

I agreed because I don't want my name on something that I never finished. But somehow it's a little more depressing now that I know I'll only be there for an extra week... Maybe it'll turn into something good?

Unemployed

2010-09-14T13:44:00.000-07:00

So I got laid off today with about 30 other people from Petroglyph.

Our budget got cut and so did we apparently. I got a little severance but it still sucks.
I really loved my job and was getting the hang of scripting. I was pretty good at it too.

But I suppose it's not meant to be. I think I'm still in shock because it happened without warning so quickly that I haven't really realized it yet. Well time to sign up for unemployment!

Working Out Week: 4

2010-09-09T22:14:00.000-07:00

OK so I worked out week three too but just forgot to post.

Running:
I had to do the 90 second run/ 90 second walk for a the last two weeks because I sucked at stepping it up. BUT now I've been doing pretty well and I'm not gasping so much for air at the end of the run. But I'm still going strong and it's funny that my abs and back feel stronger just from running!

Pushups:
I started doing the 100 pushups thing. I've haven't been very strong since color-guard in high school and it would be neat to do 100 pushups. The site I get it from is http://www.hundredpushups.com. I'm only on day two with a lame amount of pushups. I have this chart that shows my progress which is really cool but I'm gonna keep it to myself until I get better.

Eating:
Poorly. I'm really bad about this. Suggestions, encouragement to improve is appreciated.

San Fransisco Collage

2010-08-28T08:09:00.000-07:00

San Fransisco 2010

2010-08-26T08:26:00.000-07:00

So this last weekend we went to see a play for Jamie's birthday!

I am so glad I could make it because it was an amazing experience. Nathan, Krissy and I flew in on Saturday to meet Jamie and Danielle. Checked in at our hotel and then went to eat lunch at a place next door call Lefty O'Douls. Turned out this place had much more food than we wanted.

We then did the traditional Powell and Hyde cable car ride down to Fisherman's Warf and I made them drink an Irish Coffee at Buena Vista Cafe. They make a bunch at a time, but here's video I took from the trip that I went on with Jeff earlier in the year.

Then we went around the pier and went to the ship museum. We went aboard all of the ships there and it was pretty neat. I got lots of good pictures on the ships interior, and it was too cool being on the Balcultha which was the biggest ship there. It was so cool.

Then we all met up for dinner and then went to the play. This play is the most awesome play I have ever seen in my entire life. Maybe it's because I read the book Wicked by Gregory Maguire, all of his books are good, but I love love LOVE this play.

After the play we went to Smuggler's Cove which is my favorite place to drink (too bad it's in SF). It's my favorite because not only do they serve rum, my favorite alcohol, but they also have history on the rum in their menu! You can order old recipes of rum drinks and everything. We walked about a half mile in the wind and cold to get there and when we did get there it was at capacity. Oh no! So we waited outside for 6 people to leave as the doorman, named Jason, talked with us. I opted for the Volcano drink that is more of a community drink it said it served four in the menu, but we shared it between six. They take out the drink and it's a skull mug with a lime slice floating in the middle and on the lime slice, was a sugar cube that was on fire. Then they set it down and sprinkle what tasted like nutmeg on the fire causing it to ignite brighter and larger! So cool. I then got the Smuggler's Cove special recipe rum which was delicious and spicy. Not like my normal rum that I drink. They are big fans, it seems, of putting spices in their drinks which I never thought of but it tastes so delicious!

After this we took a cab back to the hotel to get some sleep for a big adventure the next day.

We originally wanted to go to Alcatraz as many of us, including myself, had never been. But tickets were sold out so we went on this tour that Jamie picked out. It's called Ride the Ducks. I was skeptical because not many were on the tour, our group and 4 others, and it seemed old and rickety. But I should NOT judge a tour by its popularity! It was a great tour and our tour guide was funny. Halfway through, the boat went from driving around on land to getting in the water and driving around. I also got to steer the boat for a while. I recommend this tour to everyone who visits San Fran.

After this we went back to the airport and I had to say goodbye to lovely San Fransisco. I really want to go back already.

Working Out Week: 2

2010-08-25T07:30:00.000-07:00

Whew just got back from my awesome run/learning to run thing this morning.

This week it's 90 seconds of running and 90 seconds of a "brisk walk" 4 times in a row with a 5 minute warm up and 5 minute cool down. It was hard! I mean I pushed through it and did all four 90 seconds of running and the last run was kind of weak but hey that's a big step up from last week's 45 second runs, 2 minute walks. But it feels good to stay on track with this program. And I'm happy to say that this week it stays the 90 sec run/ 90 sec walk for three days so I get lots of practice.

I have not been as good as I want to be about going to the gym though. I also need to pre-plan all of my meals or else I eat like crap. Especially not having a car, I am easily persuaded at lunch time to go wherever because I'm not the one driving. And it also means I get only one or two visits to the store a week. Pre-planning is a big deal for me and keeps me on track.

I also need to cook more than once or twice a week no matter how tired I am from work. And social events are another big downfall. Just need to work harder at eating better.

Delicious Dinner: Turkey Stirfry

2010-08-25T07:01:00.000-07:00

I used to make this for myself and David a lot because it's easy, tasty and low carb which helped since he's diabetic.

Ingredients:

2 bags of frozen vegetables (I use carrots, broccoli, water cress and sugar snap peas.)
1 lb of extra lean ground Turkey
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
Garlic Salt, Garlic Powder and Low Sodium Soy Sauce

1. Heat the pan or wok with vegetable oil on high.
2. Cook the vegetables and add garlic powder/ garlic salt until desired.
3. Put the cooked vegetables on another plate and then cook the turkey.
4. When the turkey is fully cooked, add vegetables and heat everything up.
5. Add Garlic salt, Garlic Powder and Soy Sauce to taste.

For this I also added a couple of spoons of some garlic hot sauce called Sriracha Sauce, or Cock Sauce, which gave it a little heat. Turned out a little saltier than I wanted but it's an all and all tasty meal.

Guardians of Graxia

2010-08-19T07:14:00.000-07:00

Some may think that game name is dumb. Well I like it. I came up with the "Graxia" part anyway.

Our board game, Guardians of Graxia and the card game Heroes of Graxia came in to work a couple of days ago.

This is the first tangible game that I have helped put out (oh and my name is totally in the credits inside).

Anyway, I just wanted to make a note about the game. It can be purchased here.

Also there's a podcast here about the PC game that I'm in. It's an mp3 file that will either play in your browser or download to your computer.

Working Out Week: 1

2010-08-17T07:35:00.000-07:00

So I've decided to start posting my exercise stuff here. Maybe it'll help keep me honest. While this isn't the first week that I've been doing this, but this is the first week I'm posting so we'll make it easy and call it Week 1.

XKCD.com

Running in the mornings. Man so I hear lots of debate on running period that sometimes it's hard to get motivated to do it. Some people claim that you have to have knee surgery if you run a lot, or that it's actually more detrimental to your health. But looking into it, I have found they are talking more along the lines of marathon runners and they certainly aren't talking about the mile that I intend to do three times a week.

I say intend because I cannot actually run a straight mile yet. I am currently practicing this 3 times a week with something called "Personal Running Trainer". It basically is an iPhone program that tells you when to run and when to walk briskly during the 20 minutes. You can also play music in the background of the program which I love and it does it beautifully. Every time the mans voice comes up, your music softens and then comes back up when he leaves. Plus the guys voice is nice and calm and not jarring like many workout motivators. The first week it starts out with 45 second running intervals and then 2 minutes of fast paced walking. With a 5 minute warm up and 5 minute cool down. Nice and easy.

So side note: to do this thing outside I need to BE outside at 6am. Really is too hot at 6:30am. Today I thought I would sleep in a little, but I paid for it because it was already in the 90's. Whew.

Well that's it for now on the exercise update. Hopefully I'll have a food update soon. None of my dinners have turned out as nice as the other one I posted.

Delicious Dinner: Lemon Chicken with Broccoli

2010-08-09T22:30:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of cooking a bunch of food at once so I can have leftovers. I love leftovers so much! I had 4 chicken breasts that needed to be cooked soon, so I pulled a recipe off of this health site and decided to tackle it. I never seem to make it in the estimated time the recipe gives, but it's good anyway.

Lemon Chicken with Broccoli

It turned out really delicious that I almost forgot to snap a picture of it before scarfing it down.

2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp table salt, divided
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
12 oz uncooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, thinly sliced
2 tsp olive oil
1 1/2 cup(s) fat-free, reduced-sodium chicken broth, divided
2 tsp minced garlic (I used about 13 cloves here)
2 1/2 cup(s) broccoli, small florets
2 tsp lemon zest, or more to taste
2 Tbsp parsley, fresh, chopped
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

On a plate, combine 1 1/2 tablespoons of flour, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and pepper; add chicken and turn to coat.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook, turning as needed, until lightly browned and cooked through, about 5 minutes; remove to a plate.
Put 1 cup of broth and garlic in same skillet; bring to a boil over high heat, scrapping up browned bits from bottom of pan with a wooden spoon. Add broccoli; cover and cook 1 minute.
In a small cup, stir together remaining 1/2 cup of broth, 1/2 tablespoon of flour and 1/4 teaspoon of salt; add to skillet and bring to a simmer over low heat.
Cover and cook until broccoli is crisp-tender and sauce is slightly thickened, about 1 1/2 minutes. Stir in chicken and lemon zest; heat through.
Remove skillet from heat and stir in parsley and lemon juice; toss to coat. Yields about 1 cup per serving.

This is actually really good and super easy to make.

Best weekend

2010-08-09T10:24:00.000-07:00

What is currently in my belly.

This weekend was amazing!

What did I do? Nothing special but a bunch of stuff I needed to get done. I paid my bills, played a variety of games including Rift: Planes of Telara, League of Legends, Mario Kart DS, and even hopped on World of Warcraft.

I cleaned my room and did all of my laundry, incidentally, I have not recently had all of my laundry clean at once. Ran out of room for my socks! Cleaned up the kitchen a bit and made crockpot BBQ chicken (Sooo easy to make! Add chicken + BBQ sauce + Crockpot on low and leave it for a few hours.)

Oh I filled out my Rifts tabletop spreadsheet since we didn't have game this weekend.

Also I got word finally from Think Geek about my dad's father's day present. It's so late!! So I had ordered a cool present (won't mention it in case he's reading and still hasn't gotten it) way before Father's Day so it would arrive on time. I had the wrong address though, and I asked to change it. I called and emailed and got no response. FINALLY on Saturday I get a response from them saying they are sending it to the right place now. Ugh... but yay that they finally figured it out.

Sunday I watched Book of Eli and had Yummy Atomic #7 ice cream. I choose coconut ice cream with coconut milk and pineapple. So good! All in all it was a great weekend.

As a side note: Ugly Americans is a funny show. Bit crude, but funny.

Riding the bus!

2010-08-04T09:31:00.000-07:00

View from the second bus stop.

Been having to ride the bus a little more lately and I have to say it's not that bad. The first bus sucks and is very crowded but I only have to be on it for 20 minutes or so before I have to hit my transfer. Also, between all buses I think I walk a mile which is good for me! The second bus is also newer and cleaner.

So it takes me about 2 hours to get to work with the bus and walking. I should probably look into a bus card and just take the morning buses.

Second bus view inside

Oh! I also met someone on the way to work off of the bus. He started talking to me as I was walking to work and was very envious of my job. He was pretty nice and his name was Kenny. It got me thinking about how I haven't really met new people outside of my friends group for a long time. I think the morning bus rides might be good for me. Plus it gives me about 2 hours every morning to read.

In short, the bus is not as scary as I used to believe and makes my mornings better.

Zombie Night Success

2010-08-01T11:24:00.000-07:00

Food Part:

So after hours of slaving over this chili yesterday (in between playing the rifts game), I do have to say it came out pretty tasty. I stole the recipe from Homesick Texan. The funny thing was when I was reading the post about the chili, I started to get an accent. Heh.

This Texas Red chili, took about 4 or 5 hours to make including chopping up the veggies but it was worth the hard work. I used California dried chilies in the recipe though and I should have ground them up a bit more than I did. Also it came out a bit watery so I added extra beer and masa harina to the mix. I don't have an iron skillet anymore either so I just used a skillet. A lot of factors went into how the recipe turned out. I wanted to use bacon grease for most of the cooking too, but I didn't have any. Next time will be improved chili.

The cornbread came out just like Texas cornbread. A lot of people didn't like it because it is not like the sweet cornbread they are used to. It tastes just like bread and corn. No sugar in it and not cakey at all. I think the purpose of serving this kind of cornbread with chili it so that it doesn't clash with the heat and flavor of the chili. I put my cornbread at the bottom of my bowl and pour the chili over it. It is so delicious that way!

Movie Part:

For the movies we watched The Happiness of the Katakuri's and Dead Snow. The Happiness was as weird as I remember but the karaoke singing part was the best really. Just like the Korean Karaoke bars, it had a sing along I didn't remember and everyone participated! Ha it was hilarious. Dead Snow, which I had watched the day before was full of gore and zombies as to be expected.

In between movies we decided to swim, regroup for drinks and chat outside. I was making Zombie drinks all night until we ran out of orange juice. It was a fitting drink for the theme. All in all I have to say zombie marathon movie night was a success. I ended up going home at around 2 or so, very tired. It was really less of a marathon though. We should definitely have another one since we only got through 2.

Excellent

2010-07-30T12:59:00.000-07:00

So apparently Persef on google is taken up by someone else. Too bad.

First post!

Been busy here at work with our new titles Guardians of Graxia - which is a board game and PC game. And then there's End of Nations. It will be and RTS MMO.

Other than that, I got new glasses. They were particularly expensive without insurance and now I have to live off of ramen or whatever I can find, but BOTH pairs of my old ones were being held together by electrical tape. So I have snazzy new ones and they are a little purple like.

My Glasses

Nothing too interesting except for the ZOMBIE MOVIE MARATHON at Clippership. It is a spontaneous adventure that we came up with when realizing (in a slight panic) that nothing was happening this weekend. I plan on making Chili. Delicious Texas style chili. I will probably be making two batches, one for real Texas and one less spicy for the meek-hearted. Just like the movies are gory!

So far the movie list is:

The Happiness of the Katakuris
Dead Snow
Zombie Strippers
And more!