Jun 17

When It All Goes Slightly Downhill

Not to be all super-mopey-depressed or anything, but between our newly installed digital cable not working (It’s a very bizarre problem..everything seems to work okay except for the channels themselves. Like, I can clearly see that I’m changing the channels, and I can even access information about the program I’m supposedly watching..just no audio or visual), my Cobalt Flux randomly deciding to stop working completely (I suspect the grounding wire), plus the previously documented apartment issues, it hasn’t really been a good day.

On the plus side, Puzzle Quest is really fun, as is Gemsweeper, now that I don’t have to worry about my computer shutting itself off in the middle of the thing. I also have my own Internet service, finally, and even managed to secure the network so no one can hop on it the way I hopped on someone else’s for a week-plus.

Jun 15

Emptyeye.com Week 34(?)- Not Really An Update

This week, I’ve been mainly busy settling into the new apartment. The main issue thus far is a broken toilet and an unresponsive son-of-landlord (If you’re curious, it’s one sort of family-owned business that my landlord is a part of, and the son actually lives in the same complex. It’s not like I randomly called the landlord’s son with my problems for no reason). The surface-level problem is that the flushing mechanism is a bit loose, so when water gets that high, it leaks out. Those plumbers among you are naturally wondering “But why is the water level getting that high in the first place?”, which is really the deeper problem, I guess. Anyway, tomorrow will come a call to the landlord proper if I don’t hear anything by the end of work.

Other than that, though, it’s actually been pretty interesting living without cable. The lack of programming means I’ve been catching up on Seinfeld DVDs that I got for Christmas years ago and never actually watched (You’ll also note that as of this writing, Amazon is advertising for people who need a last-minute Father’s Day gift. Wow, that really IS last-minute), plus one of the 87 bazillion editions of the original Star Wars Trilogy (By the way, while I’ve never seen it, to paraphrase Wrestlecrap‘s R.D.Reynolds, “The fact that George Lucas, he of the Super-Ultra-Deluxe-Special-Editions of the Star Wars movies, refuses to officially release the Christmas Special, should be enough to convince you how bad it really is.”) and a documentary on their making. For some reason, George Lucas really likes shooting in Tunisia.

And that’s really it for now. Until next week…

-EE

Jun 12

What’s a Ray Mac?

One of the more interesting things I’ve seen in my trek to work from my apartment (Which I’m probably only going to walk a couple days a week, at least at first–apparently my ankles didn’t really like going from almost no walking to suddenly walking two miles a day two days in a row) is actually a piece of graffiti. If indeed it can be called that. The reason it’s interesting is mainly because I’m trying to visualize in my head the sort of conversation that took place for the object of the graffiti to actually see it. The piece reads “I LUV RAY MAC”, but what’s truly fascinating about it is its location–it’s on the ground, by a place where a u-turn can be made (But only by authorized vehicles–this is Connecticut, after all) on I-691 West, right by Exit 2. Really, it’s only visible from the overpass that I walk on on my way to work. So in order for this proclamation of love (Or “luv” more accurately) to be seen, the perpetrator first had to actually spray paint the ground with the letters, then somehow lure Ray Mac to the overpass where it could be seen, and finally essentially admit to committing..I don’t know what the technical name is. Vandalism of an Interstate maybe? I dunno.

I just found it sort of amusing, and tried (And failed, thanks to the sun plus the fence constructed to prevent people like me from falling off the overpass to severe injury or worse) to get a picture of the street art in question. I wonder if whoever took the time to craft it still luvs Ray Mac or not…

Jun 10

I’m Not Dead! Nor Is the Site!

Just a quick post to say that I’m alive and moved in. We won’t have official Internet until next Tuesday, but I’m currently, um, borrowing someone’s wireless connection, and I’ll try to sporadically update between now and then when said connection is available.

Also, check out Rich Wilson’s comment on my review of Lifting Shadows. I apologize for not acknowledging it sooner, but I’ve been a bit busy with this whole moving in thing.

Jun 05

Packing is Hard.

Yeah. Just wanted to say that I haven’t completely disappeared, although this will likely be the last post until at least Monday as I finally move into the apartment this weekend, and Jess and I will be without Internet access until Monday at the earliest. This may not be the worst thing that can happen; I have several games I haven’t even started playing yet, including one or two going back to Christmas of 2006.

Also, packing is hard. Right now I’m putting off packing up some of my clothes and the like, which I’ll move during lunch tomorrow. Then over the weekend, the real fun starts, as we get to move things like our bed and living room set and the like without the aid of a UHaul thanks to my being an idiot a communication breakdown between multiple parties.

Jun 03

Random Tuesday Thoughts++

A short edition this week, as I’ve been busy packing up for the big move.

  • Speaking of said move, I’ve really got to get on renting a truck to transport our living room set. This is due to a miscommunication between Jess and my dad. Basically, Dad claims he said approximately “If you can’t find anything else, as a last resort, Marc’s uncle has a pickup truck”, whereas Jess claimed it was simply “Marc’s uncle has a pickup truck, so don’t worry about it.” As it happens, regardless or who misheard or misspoke, said uncle is away until Sunday anyway, and we’re going to try and move everything in Saturday. Perhaps you see the problem here (The set, while not technically an essential item [Really, I’d say the only true “essentials” are a bed and some shower stuff], would definitely be nice to move in Saturday).
  • Also, packing is hard. I’m at the stage now where I don’t have that much of any one type of item (Example: PC games), so I’m throwing two and three types into a box to make the box’s storage space worth it (Example: This latest box is “PC/PS1/Game Boy Games”). Woo.
  • I should really update my DDRecall page with my stats from Sunday. Eh.
  • Thus far, Wizardry III hasn’t found any fun new ways of wiping out my entire party (Also, upon further investigation thanks to the Magic of Save States, the rock trap isn’t a teleporter, but rather simply a square that contains rocks that the game allows you to walk into…but of course, not out of. Note that while functionally it’s the same as teleporting into rock, I find the semantic difference fascinating). Indeed, I think I’ve found an unlimited healing item (Providing the character isn’t deceased or worse, that is). Wizardry…showing mercy? It’s not quite a totally foreign concept–Wizardry II had a similar item–but I’m at once grateful and a bit disappointed for the help.
  • Finally, before I head to bed, here’s Chris “Not Brian Drummond ” Sabat doing his Vegeta voice. What makes it funny is what he’s saying (Which is “Momma Said Knock You Out” by L.L. Cool J). The best part: “Listen to the bass…go BOOOOOM!! Explosion!….unh.”

Jun 02

Customer Satisfaction is Low Priority

That’s not exactly the point of this post, by which I mean it’s really not the point of the post at all. But anyway, one of my job functions is taking various bank forms and loading them into the program of use at my workplace so that loan officers and such can print them out as necessary. One form in particular was interesting, as it discussed various forms that needed to be included with a package so that a loan can be transfered to someone else. The reason this particular form caught my eye was because practically every word on it was capitalized, except for one–“borrower”.

The full phrase was approximately “Good-Bye Form For borrower” or something like that. I don’t know if it was just a typo on the original form or what, but the subtext I took away from it was essentially “The customer is nothing, the forms are law.”

Just an observation. And with that, I’m off to find out what delightful ways Wizardry III to find to kill my entire party that I haven’t seen before (Though it’s gonna be tough to top the teleporter-into-rock, I must say.).

Jun 01

Emptyeye.com Week 33

This past week, my main activity was signing the lease for my new apartment. Hooray for that. I’m pretty excited about it, and I’m slowly packing up non-essential smaller stuff to move little by little throughout the week since it’s right by my workplace. I have to admit that I’m also nervous about it. Not that I won’t be able to adjust to independence, mind you–I should be okay there, and I have enough saved up money-wise that we’ll be okay short-term even in the worst of scenarios. Rather, I’m a bit scared that Jess and I will move in together and discover we can’t actually stand being around each other every day. But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, I guess.

Other than that, I haven’t done much this week. Once I get all settled in with the apartment and such, work on the album will finally continue. That will be a good thing for sure; I must admit to being lazy on that front of late.

And I’m still playing through Wizardry III. Just earlier today I found a particularly nasty trap that insta-kills your entire party. I was pretty sure it was a trap, but stupidly walked into it anyway out of curiosity, wondering what would rhyme with “clock” that would hurt. I wasn’t expecting “rock” (As in “You teleported into…”) to be the rhyme completer, though. Still, at least it only killed my party (In case I haven’t beaten it over all your heads enough, the fact that I am thanking the game for not doing something worse than killing my entire party–and yes, worse fates exist–should really hammer home how brutally sadistic the game is), and it was kind enough to ship their dead bodies back to the castle for me too!

Until next week…

-EE

May 31

One Wedding and No Funerals

That second part is always a good thing.

So today was my cousin Danny’s wedding. He’s one of the cousins I don’t see all that often, being that he lives in the New London/Niantic area, so I see him at Christmas and…that’s usually it, really. So it was nice to see him and the rest of my mom’s side of the family.

I also learned something important today: I have approximately the alcohol tolerance of my aunt Kim. This was something I was pretty sure of beforehand, but suffice to say I confirmed it today. I didn’t do anything stupid that I’ll regret for the rest of my life (Other than apparently surpassing my limit in itself, that is), thankfully, but I went from “Ooh this is a fun happy place” to “What the Christ this is awful how can anyone purposely do this to themselves” with my last drink. This makes me sound like a hardcore alcoholic or something, but I’m pretty sure my brother (Who is under 21, by the way) could drink me under the table if for some reason we ever decided to hold a contest about it.

Jess and I also inspected the apartment a bit more closely on our way home today. Suffice to say that we just realized now the bedrooms have no ceiling lights (On all the other walkthroughs, either all the electricity was off, or it was bright enough out that we didn’t think to check this). Whoops. There are some other concerns we have upon a closer look at everything, primarily that we couldn’t lock some of the windows. I don’t know if this is the windows or if we were just too weak/short to close them all the way (Because we’re in essentially the basement, the windows are a bit higher up relatively speaking, making their tops in particular difficult to close completely), but either way, I’ll talk to the landlord tomorrow and see what’s up.

May 29

I have an APARTMEEEEEEEENT!!

Imagine the title exclaimed in my best Brian Drummond impersonation.

So yesterday I officially signed the lease on the apartment. It’s a pretty nice place, more than reasonable for the price. For $800 a month, I (Well, Jess and I, but since technically it’s only my name on the lease, it’s “Me and any one other person I want” in the strictest legal sense) get a 2-bedroom, 1.5 bathroom apartment with an alley kitchen and a living room. It’s in the downstairs area of the place (I suppose “basement” is the technical term), so it’s a bit cheaper, and should theoretically stay a bit cooler in the summer. The best part is that it’s a practically-across-the-country 1.1 miles from my workplace. In other words, as everyone around me complains about rising gas prices, I can shrug and say “Don’t blame me, I walk to work….” (Yes, this is actually my plan).

The downsides? Well, I’ll have to get a PO Box, because the address is undeliverable by the Post Office. That’s no big deal, as there are a couple within a short distance of the place, and I was actually considering doing that anyway to have a safe mailing address for The Six Day Exile orders. The only other real one is that, being within walking distance from work, inclement weather will no longer be a convenient excuse to miss the occasional day of work in the winter.

Overall, I think the good outweighs the bad.