Reflection

Creating and writing in a blog was in interesting experience. It was a little different than I expected mainly in part because I didn't really know what to expect. I really didn't expect it to feel as much like a journal or a diary as it did. The biggest challenge for me was figuring out what to write about until I realized that there are very limited boundaries for the writing.

I found it very nice that I was able to break away from the norm of the "classroom feel" and really put my ideas down how I wanted rather than cater to the guidelines typical of a school writing. I wasn't a big fan of having to write so many posts, but as I went on I realized that it really helped the organization of my thoughts. I tend to have an issue of having so much going on in my head that its hard to be on a specific task with out wondering about the next or which of the other five to do next. Its like a constant scramble of thoughts. Writing these helped me choose a thought and stay with that one thought. In terms of writing, it helped me figure out more ways to put my emotion into my words and maintain a decent flow while doing so.

The process of this undertaking from point A to point B was different in comparison to one another. At first, just like every school assignment, I was focused on what I had to do rather than what I could do. I think I went from point A to point B fairly quickly, possibly before I started in real writing. There are a couple of posts that I would say are unfortunately obvious that I was overwhelmed with so many other things outside of this particular assignment that they just didn't quite have the feel or flow of the others. All in all, I would definitely say that I now have a better understanding of the importance of writing often, something I truly hope I will continue to do, albeit probably not every day.

Halo 5

Halo 5 is less than a month away. I wish I could explain how excited I am. If I am a fanboy of anything, it is most definitely the Halo Universe. A lot of people that know what Halo is and don't like it think its just some robot shooting aliens. That could not be further from the reality of it. First of all, its not a robot. It's genetically modified and augmented super soldier that the UNSC (United Nations Space Command) created to combat human rebels in the outer colonies. Secondly, if Star Wars wasn't still a thing, Halo would be the new Star Wars. The universe is huge and has so much story to it, but because its hasn't made its way entirely into the game, people don't realize it. It is a fascinating story. The last three books to come out, which were all together a trilogy, were written by Nebula Award winner Greg Bear who is exceptionally good at "hard sci-fi". If you haven't read any of his novels, check them out. I recommend The Forge of God. 

Anyways, back to Halo 5. This is the first Halo game in the series for the Xbox One and the graphics look amazing. They say this is by far the biggest Halo game to date, as it should be. 343i's take over of the franchise has had the super-fans like me extremely excited about the future of the universe. 343i has taken it upon themselves to introduce the grand story from the novels to game and I couldn't be happier. I plan on doing my ritual for every Halo release and immediately playing through the campaign. The story is the most important part. I'm not going to jump into playing online like most others. Not when there's story to be witnessed.

Doodles for Days

I used to draw all the time. What ever happened? When I was little I had an obsession with drawing rocket cars and spaceships, so much so that I'm sure one of those drawings held the secret to perfect aerodynamics. That's how much I drew them. My grandpa eventually gave me a book that was all about the different aircraft in the Air Force and I loved it. I could draw a mean F-22! Then I moved on to video game and comic book characters. I vividly remember drawing a character from Final Fantasy 9, one of my favorite games of all time. It was the first picture that I can remember that I looked at when it was done and just thought, "holy crap, that looks really good!". Ironically, if memory serves me right, it was shortly after that that I went on a drawing drought, and for a while too. I'm going to just blame it on using all of my drawing juice on the Final Fantasy picture.

One night, many years later, when I was a Junior in high school, I decided I was going to draw the Master Chief from the Halo game. Halo 3 to be specific. I've never been very good at drawing from memory and thought alone, but have always been able to look at something and draw it with ease. I had a Halo 3 shirt that I pulled out and laid on the table, plopped down with my mechanical pencil and drawing book and off I went. I couldn't believe I was doing as well as I was with so much time passed since I last truly drew. I finished the drawing fairly quick and it led to me doing a couple other really good pictures. Yet again though, it seems I've reached another drought. Hopefully I'm close to the end of it.

This is the Halo 3 drawing from my Junior year.