Help! I need somebody. Help! Not just anybody.

Ok. To start at the start (press 1)...

I got sent a list to me by a friend, and it was of video game clichés (things that kept reoccurring in a certain genre of video games called RPGs (Role Playing Games (these are characterized primarily by a leveling system in which you kill monsters, gain experience, and then level up (Quadruple brackets, ftw!)))). On said list, there were a total of 192 items. (The list can be found here: The Grand List of Console Role Playing Game Clichés)

Anyway... I looked them over and laughed a lot since I had seen many of them, as well as others. Being the person that I am, I decided that this list would have to be celebrated. So I thought of the idea to make a movie which would be RPG cliché filled. It would basically be and RPG made into a movie in which the characters would point out the clichés as they arose.

I've started to write a script, but I'll need some time to finish it, seeing as how I have a lot of ground to cover, and I also need to make it relatively long. But this is what I need from you fine people reading this: actors. Specifically, female actors. However, both genders are welcome, and I'm sure I could use you all!

In any case, I hope to have the majority of the script done by the 22nd of July, although that may just be a pipe dream. I also wish to get it tweaked by a friend and then go from there. So filming should start by the start of August, at the latest, and continue for the rest of the summer.

If you're interesting in being in the film, have any comments on the idea, have clichés not mentioned in the list that you'd like me to incorporate, or would like to participate in any other way (editing the script, providing audio, creating music, offering special effects knowledge, etc.) then either e-mail me, or just comment back here. Thanks for your help and support!

Lucky, or just strange?

I was thinking today while watching the morning news, an indulgence that I rarely take part in. There were two little, cute dogs, running back and forth between two trainers. While the dogs were interesting and all, and no doubt there were the focus of the piece, I could not help but absent-mindedly let my focus drift instead to the field upon which the dogs ran.

It was very plain; just grass with some clover interspersed amongst it, along with a few flowers. Yet it was the clover that caught my eye, although I can now not be completely certain whether it was actually clover. The field in it's entirety drifted me softly back to another field upon which I had lay just a few weeks prior, watching ants crawl on my body. The sky was blue, a light breeze in the air, and the temperature was just slightly above ideal, but in the shade it was beautiful.

On that day, my heart had been heavy with things that I needed to say. It turned out that saying the things was beneficial for myself, as it helped to get a burden off me, and also solved a few problems. Ultimately, it lead to my randomly diving into the clover present on the field and rapidly searching for a four-leaf clover.

That action, rash and strange as it were, spawned from another memory, one in which I was watching two younger children scouring the field before them for a four-leaf clover also. This was quite a few years back at a local which I had not been to for at least three years, so the random recollection of the memory was both unexpected and pleasing. But it lead to another idea while I watched the dogs.

I began to reflect on the idea of a four-leaf clover as something special, because it was a mutation. However, this raised the question in my mind: is there a five-leaf clover? I had never heard of any such discovery, but it was interesting to contemplate. I'd like to discover it.

Another idea that came to me was one of cloning. We prize four-leaf clovers for their rarity, but would it not be possible, relatively easily too, to clone one? If so, then they wouldn't be so rare. That idea ties in with that of supply and demand: If the demand is high and the supply is low, then the cost is high. If the supply suddenly increases, then the cost decreases.

Given this, a five-leaf clover would not only be highly prized, but also could be sold for quite a good amount. Ultimately, you could also start to clone them.

So, if anyone finds out about a five-leaf clover or finds one, you may have just stumbled onto a gold mine. Good luck. (And they're after me lucky charms!)

Perhaps a Return is in Order?

Dear My Peeps (In the Hood),

I am deeply sorry to those who have been feeling lost without my semi-frequent updates. I could blame it on many things: the weather, studying for exams, or the alignment of the planets. But if I did so, I would be lying.

No, the real reason I have not been updating is simple: I am not motivated. Well, towards this anyway. In my life, this is how many things work: Do something because it's fun/challenging, then the item becomes boring by losing its fun, its challenge, or its now too difficult. Then I abandon it. This is probably why: a) I haven't updated my blog, b) I left Amber's forums, c) I stop playing video games, d) I have four or so stories with only the first few pages written, e) I have numerous video ideas that I haven't begun, or only slightly, and f) this summer will most likely amount to very little (although I hope not!)

So, here's the idea: Tell me if you want me to do something! Currently I have a friend who is bugging me to write a movie with them (which I want to do, but will, at one point, become unmotivated). This has kept me more driven to finish it. And then I also get to the fun points, like planning out the CGI for it (CGI rocks!), which makes me wish to continue.

In conclusion, I'm sorry for not posting more often, but your reminders (Robyn and Amber) have made me realize that I should post more, and will now. Thank you.

Sincerely,
That Guy

Spiderman, Spiderman...

I recently pulled off a great prank. It was cheap to do, but time consuming. Luckily, I had accounted for both (well, I didn't need to account for the lack of cost; a little financial humour for all you accountants).

I like to make puzzles for people, and I also enjoy pranking people. That's why I set up a puzzle quest for a friend, thus giving me ample time to prank their bedroom. And what did I do?

"Spiderman, Spiderman,
Does whatever a spider can
Spins a web, any size,..."

I made a web in their bedroom out of string. It took me about one and half hours (it becomes a pain to move in a room where there is string tied all over the place) to actually make the web. At this point in time, I went to check up on my prankee. Apparently, many people like to solve puzzles in private. So I returned to my work, passing a washroom on the way.

*maniacal laughter*

I decided that a good teepeeing was in order. After a half an hour, my prankee finally returned. Did I get hurt for spinning a web and then teepeeing it? Not at all. Just laughter and a comment on how it was the best prank they had pulled on them or that they had pulled. Another successfully completed prank for me!

"ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN"

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.
These are the things I learned:

• Share everything.
• Play fair.
• Don't hit people.
• Put things back where you found them.
• Clean up your own mess.
• Don't take things that aren't yours.
• Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
• Wash your hands before you eat.
• Flush.
• Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
• Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work
every day some.
• Take a nap every afternoon.
• When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
• Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up
and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
• Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
• And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living. Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess. And it is still true, no matter how old you are, when you go out in the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.
[Source: "ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN" by Robert Fulghum.]

Gasp!

Do you know what's fun?! *bounces* I mean really fun?! Super-dee duper-dee fun?!

Being hyper! *dances* Yes! Skipping places, Smiling faces, No more traces, Since I erases?

Anyway, it's awesome to be hyper! Here's some fun ways to show your hyperosity!

1. Skip places. If you're going with someone and they won't skip, then just wait for them, yelling back "Hurry up ya slowpoke!"
2. Wave to people you know. Really fast and excited.
3. Wave to people you don't know. And smile really large.
4. Smile a lot. No matter what you do, laugh about it and smile.
5. Jump up and down. Especially when someone else is talking to you.
6. Dance. To any music you can thinks of, as if no one else was there.
7. Overreact to the littlest things. If you see a butterfly, say "Oh! A butterfly!" and then begin to follow it.
8. Gasp for no reason. Did someone drop their pencil, have their shoelace come untied, or sneeze? Then gasp!
9. Be overdramatic. Be like a mime who talks.
10. Hug people who you know. Not romantically, but just hug them quickly and then run off to have more fun.
11. Be random. Jump from idea to idea, activity to activity.
12. Talk like the stereotypical teenage girl. Like, say like, and totally, like never, and then, but when, oh my!
13. Say words three or four times in a row for emphasis. "I saw a really, really, really, really cute dog yesterday!"
14. Say everything you can as fast as you can. And then fall over from not breathing.
15. Don't make sense. Just ramble on and on about stuff that doesn't make sense.
16. Add -ly, -s, -ous, -ish, etc. to the ending of words. Its make my word uckyish overously!
17. Say how boring others are. Especially if they're boring.
18. Do things that you wouldn't normally do, and others think is weird. (Just look at stuff I do: wear dandelions behind my ears, wear a cape, sing camp songs, etc.)
19. Most importantly: Always be active when you're hyper. Never sit down, unless it's to get someone else to join you in what you're doing.
20. Actually, this may be the most important: Don't do illegal stuff! Even if you're hyper, contain yourself somewhat.

If you have other things that I've missed, just comment!

Hobbit In A Hole

Wearing a blanket is fun. While getting kneed in the mouth hurts. It really does. Don't try it at home.

Anyway, I brought a blanket to school today. Why? Because Warren, a friend of mine, wanted to hide underneath his desk in Math. My teacher said that she liked our desks because we couldn't hide anything. So Warren wants to hide. We'll see what happens.

On the way up to school, I wore the blanket around me, like Frodo did in The Lord of The Rings! I was so hip. People kept looking at me strangely too. Bonuses, bonuses.

So Math class will be fun today. And no school for the next two days, plus a coding contest on Saturday (free pizza)! Oh, I co-discovered 200 pounds of paper. Life is good.

Something Random!

Writing e-mails is but. Below is a response I wrote to a friend when they said that they were sorry that they hadn't replied to my e-mail for a month, and were doing so now.

"Not to worry. I've been able to keep my cool as I slow waited in agonizing anticipation for your momentous reply. It was hardest for the first few days when I realized that I may be idly sitting by while my good friend is drowning somewhere. Or even worse, becoming normal. However, lacking a laser (because everyone needs a laser) I decided that the best option would be to patiently wait. But this didn't work due to one simple fact that I carelessly overlooked:

I don't wait well.

So, I was forced to quest for something which still eludes me (in both name and in actually acquiring the aforementioned "thing"). But that is immaterial to our discussion, and should most likely not have been mentioned. Yet, lest we forget it, for then we would have forgotten, and then be given the task to remember in the future. And since it is wise to not put off to tomorrow what you can do today, then it is best to remember all that I have said, as I'm sure it will help you in the future.

But! The future of the past (which was only seconds ago) is now here! Hence, use your knowledge now, or the time may never come again.

And thus ends my random speech. Good day."

Damn it Jim! I'm a Doctor, Not a Bricklayer!

Bless me father, for I have sinned. It has been 12 days since my last blog post.

Yes, for those few people who read my blogs, I apologize. I have committed a sin most high, and as such I have made this blog my paramount priority! As such, you may criticize, ridicule, and tear up this piece of art as if it was nothing but the sidewalk drawing of a girl of 7.

“Swounds, show me what thoult do!” (Hamlet, Act 5, Scene 1, Line something)

Now that I have taken care of the situation, posthaste, I need to ensure that this tragedy is never repeated (and I'm not talking about Hamlet). "How to do this monumentous task?" you ask as I paid you five dollars to do so not a minute earlier. Simple! My Savior is Google Calendar (the true Jesus, not myself as some people like to believe).

Yes, Google has done it again! You can set up your life using multiple calendars (such as one for school, one for family events, one for birthdays, etc.) and then share specific ones with specific people if you wish! It's convenient, and allows people to know where you are as needed.

For example, I was up at my aunt's this weekend, and few people knew this. Thus, I had to explain to each person where I was, what I was doing, how long I would be up there, etc. Why can't you people just leave me in peace?!

No matter, because soon I should have a calendar which explains what I'm doing, so I no longer have people calling me at 10 PM on Saturday asking for a cup of sugar for your stupid brownies that I can't have since I didn't give you sugar in cubes last time because you wanted to make an idiotic life-size replica of the pyramids of Egypt! Well I'm sorry! I wanted to make a model of the CN Tower though! And I have the 3rd sword of the Queen of the Elves which is enchanted until the full moon of Honorificabilitudinitatibus!

Now I best be off before someone figures out that this whole blog was useless, and was made to see who actually reads what I write. Be looking for something of substance soon. And by soon, I mean before I stop writing these blogs.

Fee, Fi, Fo, Felony!

Confidence and courage are two things that are not easily gained.

This morning, I wanted to help a friend out by forcing him into a situation where he did something that he had to do in order to move on in his life. So we waited for half an hour in front of his locker, trying to make him gain up the courage to bite the bullet. Then the moment of truth comes and... he does nothing.

I kick him. As any good friend would when the guy they waste half an hour on blows their chance. Then I ditch him, and go do lighting for the play until lunch.

Upon leaving the tech booth 15 minutes into lunch, I see him again, and force him down the hallway of his fear. Thus, he tries to jerk away, and I grab his backpack. Our two forces cancel out, and we are stuck in a state of equilibrium. In slow motion, the seconds tick off, until he makes his move and removes his backpack.

Now I'm up blackmail potential, and a backpack. Life is good! I walk down to my usual spot for lunch (the computer room) and work there until the end of third period, with my friend not coming and claiming his bag. Luckily, I know where his fourth period class is, so I give him his bag back.

Oh no, here he comes with a deranged look on his face, wielding a... BIC pen?! My days are obviously numbered. It turns out that he had an assignment due in third. I leave the math room hastily, only to be informed that his English teacher had paged me in both my third and fourth classes, and that my "friend" had been severely torn. Not to mention the fact that my math teacher had been paging me as well.

Did I steal my friend's bag? And if so, how far gone is this whole thing? Will I be suspended?

All I know is that my math teacher is mad/confused, my Chemistry is confused, his English teacher is mad at me, and there is the potential for other people to question me soon enough.

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition? Well, I do. And if I get skewered, then I may be lucky.

The moral? If you are going to make someone do the right thing, be wary of how you do it. I made my friend do the right thing, but now I have some explaining to do.