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.

Music is Life

I listen to probably 2-3 hours of music a day, minimum. My tastes vary pretty greatly, ranging from Nordic music to electronic music to Grunge to Progressive Metal. I grew up in a household that was constantly filled with music. We had VHS upon VHS of 80's rock and metal band concert videos that I used to watch all of the time. The one I remember the most was Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon. Add to that the huge multitude of CD's we had and it was a constant jam fest. My dad had a pair of speakers set up in the living room that were huge and he was proud of. Very proud of, and rightfully so. I probably loved those things just as much as he did, at least when I was home alone with my little brothers and I was picking the music.

I never really thought much about how much I listen to music or how much different music I listen to until my girlfriend and I were talking about it one day. Maybe she just doesn't listen to that much music. Probably not the case, though.

Alice In Chains, Metallica, Tesla, Queensryche, Megadeth; So many bands are embedded in my memory and will forever be a part of my life because they are tied to so many memories. Music helps me get into a desired state of mind, whether it was preparing for a football game or I was needing to feel some creativity. No matter what it is, music is a vital part of my life. So many different feelings and ideas can be expressed or created with and because of music.

Here is some of my recommendations for those that read this (band names):

TesseracT
TOOL
A Perfect Circle
Rage Against the Machine
Deadmau5
Nero
Chimp Spanner
Opeth
Scar Symmetry
Monuments

Apple Butter Makin' Days Year Dos

If you have read the previous posts about Cerberus Crafts then you have a little knowledge regarding our history with Apple Butter Makin' Days. A lot has changed since this time last year. Most of all "us" is now "I". One of my partners left for the Navy and the other now works for a utility company that involves lots of travels. This will prove to be quite interesting for me this year without the added hands.

I was uncertain that I was going to be able to have a booth at Apple Butter Makin' Days this year due to school, work, and the finances leading up to it. After much consideration and looking at what stock I had left, I determined it would be financially wise to go ahead and do it. Remember the award we won? That cut my booth cost in half this year! BOOM!

My product list this year still consists of wood burnings and Perler pieces, but I have some added Perler items that I think will get good receptions. I started making coaster sets (see picture) that are freaking awesome. Best of all, they actually work! I'm pretty excited to see what people think of them. I'm hoping that I will get some orders from people there to make and send after Apple Butter Makin' Days, something I failed at doing last go around. Not this year. I will have my handy dandy order book!

I know that I have a pretty decent stock, bigger than last year for sure, but to me it will never be enough. The uncertainty of want people will want and ask for is stressing, but its also very intriguing to see what people look at and how they react. I love the psychology of it all. Hopefully this year is as much and more of a success than last year.

The Weight of Being a Chiefs Fan

Tonight the chiefs played on Monday Night Football against the Green Bay Packers. The meet up itself held some nostalgia with it being the 50th year of the Super Bowl and these two teams were the contenders of Super Bowl I. However, the feeling of excited leading into this game was quickly extinguished as the Chiefs showed everyone just how hard it is to be a Chiefs fan.

We (I use the term "we" when talking about the Chiefs, because you know, weird things sports fans do.) have a ton of talent on both sides of the ball. We returned the exact same defense as last year while also gaining our 3 injured starters. The defense was one of the best in the league last year. They didn't allow a single 300 yard passer or a pass that went over 50 yards. That's pretty damn impressive. But just like everything else when it comes to the Chiefs and being a fan, we were swiftly torn down. Week 3 and we already give up BOTH of those categories in the same game.

It is unbelievable how frustrating it is to be a Chiefs fan. I'm no football genius by any means, but when I can observe the Chiefs offense and the design of the plays and see how simple they are, someone needs to not have a job there. The play calling is horrendous, the offensive line may be one of the worst if not the worst in Chiefs history, everything is just crap.

This is supposed to be our year, like every year, and just like every year we show everyone how seriously you don't have to take the Chiefs. This was one of the worst displays I've seen, and not necessarily because it was THAT bad, because we SHOULD be THAT good and we are nowhere close. Hey, we finally ended our NFL history long streak of having no wide receiver touchdowns though! Oh the joys of being a Chiefs fan!

Relaxation Station

My girlfriend and I bought a house together this past May. It’s a little three bedroom house in Monett. It was my grandmother’s house at one point in time. We painted before we moved all of our stuff in and let me tell you, that was an experience. We painted pretty much every room in the house over a three day period. We certainly learned a lot about how to paint. My brother got red paint on our kitchen ceiling. It’s still there. I haven’t painted over it yet. I need to. I look at it every time I’m in the living room. I just tilt my head up and chuckle a little bit to myself. How could he have done that? We also installed a water heater on our own and cabinets. The water heater was a bit of a challenge. We bought the house and it has a gas water heater, but neither of us really like gas. It makes her nervous, so we decided to go ahead a put in an electric one. We had internet at our house before we had hot water, but that was okay. Installing the cabinets was a lot easier than I expected it to be. I cut the counter tops myself. We still have to install our dish washer and the counter top over that, but I don’t think that’s going to be too hard. I want to finish the garage. I’ve purchased all of the insulation that I’ll need. Next step is dry walling, but I’m going to have to get help for that. My uncle has done a lot of construction so I’m going to see if he can give me some tips and pointer. I love that we bought a house that we can do a little bit of work on, but not too much. We didn’t want to overwhelm ourselves.