I would just like to remind the general public that their latest album, Welcome To The Masquerade, is freakin' awesome.

http://www.welcometothemasquerade.com

- I took an hour break from studying the other day and played Modern Warfare 2. In that hour, I single-handedly made an entire team rage-quit in Team Deathmatch. Apparently, people don't like having their entire team killed by a single chopper gunner in about 15 seconds. Whatever, I liked it.

- I punched 2 girls in the face today.

- Multiple times.

- I'm about to have a guy banned from the 405th forums. Not surprisingly, it doesn't go over very well when someone claims to have created something from scratch in 3 days from leather and scrap metal, and it turns out that he simply bought it online and changed the orientation of the parts. I guess that's the good part about amateur fraud - if they were any good at the fraud, they'd probably just have made the real thing in the first place like they claimed to. But as it is, the guy ham-handedly threw this together and then had the audacity to rub it in MY face, personally. That doesn't go over well with me. I called him on his lies and informed the moderators, who then called for an explanation. I am seriously going to enjoy watching this idiot go down in flames. I hate lies so much.

- I just used single-handedly and ham-handedly in a single post. What about single-hamdedly? Nom nom nom.

- I really like reading www.itmademyday.com. It's like www.peopleofwalmart.com, except I don't feel the need to take a shower afterward.

- I punched those girls in the face because we were sparring. They've now decided that it's probably best to have me fight two at once, as the one-on-one thing is not going well for them. I'm starting to wish I had more competition, because I know I have a lot of room to improve. I also feel limited because I can't throw elbows or really punch them very hard at all. Oh, and stop-kicks are awesome.

- My car's back end broke loose when I gassed it from 35mph in 2nd gear. This is getting stupid.

- Okay. I need to study, now.

I was reading the latest edition of Game Informer, since they decided to politely leave one in my mailbox. This was their 200th issue, and as such they decided to list their top 200 games of all time. This was based on their influence on game development, originality, blah blah blah... the things one would naturally think would earn a game a spot in a sort of gaming hall of fame. And it got me thinking... what are my favorite games?... which got me thinking even more... what games have I played and beaten?.... which made me think of something that shocked me... I have played and beaten a SHITLOAD of games. I can't even begin to list the number of video games that I have played through, but it is easily in the hundreds. Wow. Part of me wants to feel bad about it, but you know what? The only reason I could ever feel bad about that is because the societal majority likes to look down on the hobby. Simultaneously, it lifts up books, movies, and other forms of story-telling experiences. Screw that.

So I began compiling a list of my favorite games from the major genres that I enjoy. I probably forgot some of them, and really couldn't decide which ones I like more than others. They each hold such special places in my heart that I almost feel like I'm betraying a love if I leave one off my list. So I'll just go ahead and list the pertinent ones that would otherwise spark this violent internal conflict.

First Person Shooter:
- Halo 1
- Halo 3
- Modern Warfare 2
- Modern Warfare 1
- Bioshock
- America's Army

Action:
- Gears of War 2
- Grand theft Auto 4
- Metal Gear Solid
- Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
- Dead Rising
- Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
- Twisted Metal: Black

Survival/Horror:
- Dead Space
- Resident Evil: Code Veronica

RPG:
- Star Wars: Knights of The Old Republic
- Mass Effect
- Fable 2

Strategy:
- Starcraft
- Command & Conquer

Racing:
- Forza Motorsport 3
- Gran Turismo 3
- Project Gotham Racing 2
- Project Gotham Racing 3

Fighting:
- Soul Calibur 2
- Soul Calibur 1

Other:
- Portal
- Lemmings
- Intelligent Qube
- Viva Pinata
- Rock Band 2

I'm certain that I've left some critical games off this list. I'm also certain that I'm going to remember the games as soon as I get back to the apartment and see them... which will inevitably lead me to rush and correct this list as though I must do so before the games find out they were forgotten. Whatever. This list only begins to touch the huge number of games that have touched my life. It is unbelievable what a huge impact video games have had on my life, and how they continue to be even when they shouldn't (i.e. when I should be studying for finals...).

Undead Labs Planning Zombie MMO for Xbox 360

Finished applying resin to the helmet of my Halo armor, so I decided to lay out all of the armor to see how it looks.

And Patrick, after looking at this picture for a while, I'm really starting to think the AR is small. What do you think?

So I was perusing the intarwebs, facetube, and spacebook, and I stopped by one of my frequent watering holes of information - a place called 405th.com. As many of my friends know, I'm currently working on building a fiberglass Master Chief suit. Well, this is the hub for that sort of tomfoolery - a sort of Tortuga for Halo costuming. Except no pirates. Well, there may be software pirates, but I digress. In the midst of my gawking at the horrific "costumes" that were clearly made by blind people, of which there are many, I found something astonishing. Usually, despite the overwhelming amount of information at their disposal, people summon the great strength of their collective ineptitude to create awful catastrophes and proceed to wear them in public. I laugh. I cry. It goes in circles. Every now and then, I find something that makes me nod in approval, but that's a rare instance. Even more rare, however, is the situation that I'm about to describe - one which knocks my socks off (even though, I know, Mythbusters busted the myth of socks being knocked off... shut up... it just means it's more amazing than reality. Ha. There.).

There was a video a while back that showed some guy working on an animatronic Elite head. It looked like something out of Jurassic Park, except not a dinosaur. It was awesome, and I was blown away. What I didn't know, at the time, was what he was creating it for. It wasn't just a prop - it was part of a suit. Please, please, please watch this video. You don't have to play Halo, know Halo, or even really know video games at all to appreciate how cool this is. It's like getting smacked in the face with awesome. My jaw dropped when I saw this.




Every now and then, you just have to sit back and marvel at someone else's creation. This is one such time. It puts anything - ANYTHING - I am making to utter shame. I know I'm going to love both my armor and Patrick's armor, and I know that they're both going to be awesome, but wow... just wow. This guy must eat leprechauns for breakfast, because that shit is magical.

Look, I know that I have several friends that have cats and have had them declawed, and you may be one. I am not judging you or condemning you for your decisions. However, I am coming out and vigorously asserting that declawing cats is one of the worst things you can ever do to a cat. It's a purely self-centered decision that belies a willful ignorance on the part of our society as a whole. Let me briefly explain what I mean. It is virtually never done to benefit the cat - only the owner and his beloved and precious furniture - and our society accepts that as a fine trade-off. The medical evidence of the damage it does to cats, their behavior, and their general livelihood is well-documented. To put it simply, it is the equivalent to ripping out all of your nails and cutting off the end of your finger at the last joint... and then forcing you to walk on your amputated stumps.

So I finished my Halo armor helmet today. Granted, it still needs resin, casting plastic, bondo, paint, and a visor... but it's a huge milestone. The cutting and folding process of my actual armor (not including weapons) is now complete. WOOHOO! Here are some pictures:

I'm going to try to keep the majority of my political-type complaints short and potent. This one bothers me a lot.

How is it at all constitutional to mandate that people purchase health insurance? This is not the same as the mandate for the purchase of car insurance - not by any means. Driving is a privilege - a wonderful little something that we can participate in if we so choose, preferably without cell phones. Life is a completely separate thing. Life is a right, and something we participate in whether we want to or not. There is absolutely nothing in the Constitution that bestows upon the government such authority to mandate health insurance. NOTHING.
[This is what happens if you refuse to comply.]

So for politicians to somehow skullfuck the Constitution into some mangled verbal casserole that gives them the power to force us to buy health insurance and put us in jail if we don't - simply because we are alive - is a perversion of epic proportions.

When global warming and anthropogenic (man-made) climate change are eventually accepted to be a farce, I want everyone to remember that it wasn't a situation of the administration thinking that everyone accepted it to be factual and therefore acted in that interest when they passed billions/trillions of dollars of sweeping legislation; they have already come out and said they are intentionally marginalizing the naysayers. I just want to put this on the record.

THIS

Remember how we were all told that the "stimulus package" would create all kinds of jobs? Enjoy the direct comparison of jobs created versus jobs promised. Granted, it's projected through 2010, and it's 2009, but it still paints a very bleak picture for the fulfillment of the promises that were made.

It's an absolute joke. I said this back when they gave it to that Al Gore for his Manbearpig hysteria. I'll say it again now that they've just given it to President Obama. It had already lost any actual significance to me but nonetheless, the attempt to give it to him and the obvious injustice it represents to those who have devoted their lives to bringing peace to this world is both insulting and sickening. As somebody who isn't swayed by stupid political gestures (because I have a functioning brain), I find it so pathetic when they're so hamhandedly performed. This just makes me want to slap somebody.

This is how you shit on everyone in the world who actually did real work toward peace.

Kira and Ashe:

In other news:
- I somehow pulled the ligamentendonthingies between two of my fingers from punching one of the kicking bags at the fitness center. Combine the vertical-fist punching style of Jeet Kune Do, a power punch to knock over one of the bags, and the simple fact that as the 7' bag gets knocked over, the hand drags over the surface at an angle, and you have a recipe for my strange injury. It doesn't hurt, but it's swollen and discolored. Hooray. It's okay. The bag lost the fight.

- Level 5 is going to be significantly harder to get to than level 4 in Jeet Kune Do. However, I'm going to start some private sparring with another student who's a level 7. That should hopefully make things move along more quickly. I still stand by the belief that sparring is absolutely critical in the learning of any martial art. I'm a geek, so I can make this analogy: Ignoring sparring is like only playing in Soul Calibur's Practice Mode and still expecting to win against a real opponent. Yeah. I went there.
  It should be good, too. And hopefully, when I end up sparring my friend in Albuquerque who's done Muy Thai for 8-9 years (and competitively), I'll have more success. I'm already twice as good now as I was then, so the itch is there.

- I went ahead and made a torso tester model for my Halo armor. Actually, I made two. Not because I'm retarded, but because the first one was met with criticism both here and online. The conclusion was that the first one was a little bit too small. So I made another slightly bigger. And blue. At any rate, here it is. The armor is really just thrown together, but I figure I'd share the progress.

Your character has a cat and got her spayed yesterday. Hoping to save costs, you decide to opt for a recommended veterinary center with lower costs than your usual. You checked it out, and it seemed like a good little place and that they would take care of your cat. After they accidentally screw up your appointment by putting it a week later than you asked, you manage to get them to perform the operation on the day you originally requested. It's no big deal, and you tell yourself, "Hey, you're saving lots of money and it's just an administrative error." Later that same evening, you pick her up. Or at least you think it's her. It looks like the exact same cat, except its mind has apparently left the building as the drugs are either not working or working too well. The cat is very, very mad. Clearly, she either can't recognize anything because she is drugged, or is simply in so much pain that just existing hurts.
After taking her home, seeing her stagger about like a drunk sorority girl, meowing and hissing at every step - at nothing. It's clear that she's just miserably in pain. You do what they said, try to take care for your cat, and generally try to avoid turning her into a furious tornado of claws and teeth. All is well and good until you remove her blanket from the carrier and subsequently step on something sharp. You look down to find the needle of a syringe, slightly bent from the pressure of having just stepped on it. Taken aback, you don't know what to do. Clearly, it is an incredibly dangerous level of negligence on the part of the veterinary center - this is no ordinary misstep, and there are strict regulations governing the care taken with all used medical equipment and biohazardous material. Just throwing it away would be a bad idea. Do you put it in a bag, take it to the vet and politely inform them of their mistake, or do you take it to the vet and demand some form of compensation in light of reportable negligence? Or do you angrily walk in, tell them off for their mistake, and leave the syringe sitting on the counter with your word that you will never come back.? Unless you do something, they will never know what a serious problem they have.

Politely inform. Go to page 81.

Demand compensation. Go to page 56

Angry tell-off. Go to page 68.

I just finished constructing the left boot for my armor project. In the process though, and perhaps to mark the occasion, I managed to cut off the part of my fingertip with an x-acto knife. I died.

Okay, I didn't die, but it was a pretty unpleasant experience.

At any rate, the completion of this particular piece means that both legs are constructed, both arms are constructed, the codpiece is constructed, and I now have only two pieces left. Granted, half of the pieces I have still need to be fiberglassed, all of them need to be bondo'd and sanded smooth, and eventually painted, but I'm feeling very, very close. I saved the two most crucial parts for last - the ones that will be the most difficult and require the most skill to complete - the chest/back and helmet. Once they are done, I will likely put it all on and see how it fits, and pictures will ensue.

I've also found the right paint to use. It's not the paint I would have initially chosen, but it matches the in-game model of Master Chief pretty much perfectly.

In other armor news, Patrick and I scrapped virtually all the progress we had made on his WETA-style ODST armor in favor of new, more game-accurate models. After a day of hard work, multiple movies, and some pizza, we knocked out the entire chest setup and it looks badass.

Aaaaanyway. I'm going to stop rambling.

"No world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will succeed."

Whether you agree with this statement, principle, or sentiment, I believe it's safe to say that it represents a goal of diminishing America's greatness. For greatness is a relative term, and how can you have greatness when no one nation is elevated above another?

Perhaps this is why America seems to be losing its place at the front of the line, why our President has apologized to the world for our "arrogance", and why America's image as a world leader is quickly evaporating into thin air. I said this well before our President was elected - when he was still just a candidate making promises: He does not view America's rightful place as that of a leader in the world. While he recognizes that this has been our history, he does not see it as our future. He sees the world developing as a giant community, and America as a mere citizen like all the rest. It's socialism on the global scale. We rise and fall together. We are all to be treated equal. And none is to be considered greater than the rest. A socialistic world order.

With this sort of mindset, I know many people will find agreement. But I don't. It's the kind of talk that makes me less proud to be an American. I want us to be greatest nation in the world. Even if our President doesn't.