Hey all, what's this? Two blogs in two days? "But Jake," you may be wondering, "You haven't done consecutive blog days in so long! Why choose to return to your archaic ways?" Well? Three words:
FUS RO DAH!!!
Let's start simply. If you don't know what Skyrim is, or are just not that interested in it to begin with, or are not interested in RPGs, then stop reading this. It's a small post that is being completely devoted to this. That being said, I beat the vast majority of Skyrim with my first character, Dovahkiin (yeah, I was unoriginal), and, as pretty much intended, I did anything and everything I could possibly do in my first play through. It kept me busy for a time, but eventually, I wanted to create a new character, but I didn't just want to do it all over again... So, recently, I figured out a way to enjoy the game in a new-ish sort of way. Instead of having an incredibly unrealistic adventure (and not by fantasy genre standards) where the single adventurer does literally everything in the entire country that needed doing. Sure, Dragonborn is something of a superhero, but come on. One dude, can't practically single-handedly end a civil war, become thane of major cities, become the leader of multiple guilds, AND save the world from dragons and a prophecy about the end of the world. It just doesn't seem realistic. SO, I've instead decided to play the game in a new way, where I create a bunch of characters that focus solely on one or two quest lines and that will be it. Sure, all the storylines are still in your perspective, but if the stories I'm playing become character-based stories, it forces me to play it in new ways. Essentially, Role-Playing in its most basic form. But what about the game's beginning?
Well, how I'm playing it is that all of the characters I have created were captured by the empire and all brought to Helgen for executions. Sure, you don't see your other characters standing in the background or anything, but there's enough people present for it to be plausible. As the character Dovahkiin bows his head down, Alduin comes down and fucks everything up. Each character gets out in their own ways (even though you go through the same path every time...). Once all the characters escaped Helgen, they began their own journeys through Skyrim. I've also made it so that Dovahkiin is the only one that ever ends up using Dragon Shouts. The other characters never gain them, and if they do, they aren't allowed to use them.
1. Dovahkiin
Race: Probably Nord
Class: No real focus, but considering sword and shield, idk, very basic
Questline: The main questline, saving the world from Alduin the World Eater and fulfilling the prophecy.
2. Volknir
Race: Imperial
Class: Ranger, and then eventually a soldier, focusing on 2-handed swords and minor in archery
Questline: Once, a lost son of an Imperial general, Volknir ran away for most of his life. After learning of his father's death in the land of Skyrim, he tries to cross the border to meet up with his body. After the attack at Helgen, he eventually joined the companions and learned to become a great swordsman. From there, he traveled North, to Solitude, where he would join the Empire and would eventually help defeat Jarl Ulfric and bring Skyrim back into the Empire.
3. Farlik
Race: Nord
Class: Warrior, with focuses on 1-handed axes and light armor
Questline: A Stormcloak soldier who was part of the captured at Helgen. After escaping with Jarl Ulfric, he managed to help the reach of the Stormcloak's cause. Acquiring the Jagged Crown and almost crippling the Empire at the Battle of Whiterun, where we would be killed by Volknir in the city's center.
4. Faeroon
Race: Dark Elf
Class: Assassin, with focuses on dual Daedric daggers
Questline: A Dark Elf refugee, after the attack at Helgen, would meander Skyrim, constantly fighting racism, and in the hopes to redeem himself by helping a child by killing an old caretaker in Riften, would eventually be inducted into the Dark Brotherhood. He would eventually become a master assassin and the leader of the Brotherhood.
5. Taelian
Race: Wood Elf
Class: Archer (with elven daggers)
Questline: After escaping Helgen, Taelian the hunter would travel eastward, before arriving in Riften, where he would join the Thieves Guild and bringing it back to its former glory, as well as becoming a member of the Nightingale.
5. Saelion
Race: High Elf
Class: Mage
Questline: A High Elf with unrivaled magical talent. After nearly escaping Helgen with his life, Saelion traveled to Winterhold where he would eventually quell the Eye of Magnus and become the Archmage of The College of Winterhold. He would continue his studies to become the strongest wizard in Skyrim, and would discover the secret to the Dragon Priest Masks.
6. Throne
Race: Nord
Class: Warrior, with focus on 2-handed axes and heavy armor
Questline: Having ruthlessly fought his way out of the burning Helgen, Throne would wander Skyrim before eventually joining the Companions. Throne would eventually be brought into the inner circle, become a werewolf, and become the Harbinger of the Companions, and would wield the mighty axe, Wuuthrad.
7. Not sure yet... This will probably end up being the first DLC questline character
So keep this sorta thing in mind next time you feel bored of playing the game. You just gotta play it in newer ways.
So, with that, I leave you with my favorite song from Skyrim, "Town 03." You may recognize it from the Skyrim Concept Art Trailer or when you may be meandering through Whiterun. In any case, enjoy!
Oh, it feels like it has been quite a time since I last wrote. I'm not totally sure what subjects I'll venture into, but I feel confident that I can at least manage navigating my towards, what I will feel is a sufficient blog to publish. I think at the very least I should begin with noteworthy bits from the week, and then see what we get into.
On Mondays, I usually wake up at around 8 or 9, and then wait until 2PM to go to my Math 113 class where I draw dragons instead of notes and focus on the gas station girl, hoping to catch her eye or something... I don't know. I'm working on that front. I'm trying to get into a situation to meet her. It's going okay, I suppose. We'll see tomorrow. Part of my worries is that the guy who she's friends with in the class may be her boyfriend. They seem to be relatively close to one another. Only time will tell, followed shortly by me telling on my blog. In the meantime, enjoy my cool picture of a Skyrim Dragon.
Speaking of Skyrim, I came up with a new way to play Skyrim in different ways and keep it interesting. From now on, I will be creating many characters with small storylines, aside from the main one. Think of it this way, When you play the game, you're usually all over the place, doing everything possible in the game to do. All with just ONE guy. One guy can't save the world from destruction, stop a civil war, ride dragons, go to heaven and come back, time travel, be a master swordsman, super-strong wizard, and a ninja thief, and do this, that, and the other thing, and also one time he saved your cat in a tree. One guy can't do all that. So now I have a small stable of characters that only focus on certain quests and questlines. For example, the character that saves the world from Alduin, then the character that reunifies the country locked in civil war, the wizard on a quest to become the wisest and most powerful, the character who quests for the dragon priest masks. I think of them all being separate but in the same world, each doing something specific. They all act in the same skyrim but never meet one another other than their origin, as prisoners about to be executed, when Alduin suddenly attacks. All get out in their own respective ways, although when I actually play through them, they all happen to be the same way because it's a dictated path. My newest character that I'm just about finished with is a character very akin to Aragorn from Lord of the Rings. Volknir is an Imperial warrior (who I decided was secretly rogue royalty) that uses a 2-handed sword, and light, and then eventually heavy armor, the wolf armor from the Companions, and an Elven blade, and his story line is that he is the one that reunifies Skyrim in the civil war. He fought for the Empire, because the Stormcloaks are all super racist and that's not progressive, I have a feeling there may be more for this character when the first DLC comes out.
So now I'm looking for a new character to build and which storyline they'll follow. Perhaps the Dark Brotherhood, because I have yet to even touch their storyline in any playthrough. Faeroon, the Dark Elf. Yep, that sounds good. But, until I get to that point, I feel it's more pertinent to talk about other things.
I really wanted to write this blog on thursday when my mind was racing. It's the day that I have all four of my classes so there was a lot of brain stimulation. It was a good day for connecting stuff from my classes together, primarily between my ethics, modern philosophy, and positive psychology classes. In Ethics, we've been dealing with the Harm principle and creating a system of laws that follow this principle. For a brief moment in that class, I saw myself becoming a lawyer, and then I shook that thought from my head. Then, while in Modern Philosophy, we continued our coverage of Hobbes' "Leviathan." During the lecture we discussed our senses, which I am very interested in already. I thought about about, if we can "recreate" images in our minds and "hear" in our minds using our memory/imagination, is it possible to recreate tastes, smells, and possibly touches that could re-stimulate us? Imagine just creating the taste of ... well whatever you find appealing (in my case: cotton candy), all the time? But this also deals with the branch of Philosophy called Epistemology, which asks, "What can I know?" There are two main ways of thinking about how ideas are formed. There is the side of Rationalism, which thinks that there is some knowledge that is completely original from our minds, without any provocation. Data in our DNA that is just part of us, the main example supporting this being mathematics, primarily geometry and how shapes can only be thought of as they are and in no other way(e.g. it's impossible to think of a square triangle). The other side, which I agree with, is called Empiricism, which states that any and all knowledge, any idea that we form, is based off of mixing and matching things in our memories into new ideas. They're formed from analyzing the impressions left on us via our senses. My personal thought on the Math thing is that Math was learned the same way anything else is, from reanalyzing impressions. They ask why we think of idea of the perfect sphere, but it doesn't actually exist in nature, so why have we thought of this? Because it's a stepping stone to understanding how nature works. We call it a perfect shape, but what we should really be calling it is basic. The more perfect and unnatural it gets, the more basic the idea is, the further from understanding nature we are. We got the idea from seeing things that were circular in nature and we put it together, just like everything else humans have done and learned throughout their entire existence. But I digress on that subject, let's move on.
We also stopped on how dreams are formed and we didn't really dive into it, but I did put together a couple things from this and my knowledge on how the mind works in conjunction with its senses. I've talked briefly in the past about my interest in sensory-deprivation tanks, where people lose all of their senses and begin to hallucinate and do what I've been referring to as 'free thinking' - meditating. What's actually causing it is that, when you lose your senses, your mind has nothing tethering it to the real world, no sense distracting it and keeping it busy. So to compensate, and try to bring some semblance of reality back, it begins to make you hallucinate things. When I was researching this, I also figured out that that's also what happens when you go to sleep, when you close your eyes, your sight receptors turn off and it's effectively the same principle as the sense-deprivation tank. So, that idea, coupled with the chemical DMT, which a gland in your brain secretes when your asleep, causes dreams. Dreams are entirely based on things in your memory mixing and matching in your brain and creating new things. Your own world purely by your design, whether you realize it or not. Anyway, we then went on to the difference between knowing and believing. What it comes down to is not basing something you learn on faith, from someone else's mouth. If you don't learn it for yourself and re-experiment an idea for yourself, how can you truly know? Reasoning and experiencing for yourself, and reliable pattern recognition to help predict the future, but even knowing what we know, we have to maintain a constant observation on everything, because something may end up differently.
In Positive Psychology, we're still on the ever-going subject of what makes us happy and how the good life is different from pleasure because pleasure is very temporary, while the good life is being immersed in everything. In one of the slides, there was a quote from Aristotle that said, "Happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and end of Human existence." I disagree. Life for humans, maybe, but not all life, the aim of life is to survive. The aim of happiness is society. Society is the embodiment to Humanity's unhappiness. Humans are forever unhappy, otherwise we wouldn't be constantly upgrading everything. If we were happy, why would we change anything? If we are unhappy with something, we change it so that we can be happier. This has led us to the creation of cities and society as we know it today and will know of it for a long time to come. I guess, more than anything, I know I'm happy just from that. I don't generally feel as though I need a change in how things are. I'm happy, in an unhappy society. As my Ethics TA reasoned out, from the moment we are born, we are already wanting our most primal want: To be infinitely powerful, forever. Our most primal want is wanting to be that which most consider as, "God." I'd agree, but my next question is whether or not we are capable of letting go of that and becoming truly altruistic and creating a new way of life. We also watched a video on the country of Bhutan who has a Gross National Happiness measurement. In the video they talk about how Bhutan has banned stuff like cigaretts and plastic bags to quell consumerism and keep things happy, because they feel that with consumerism, comes unhappiness. What I eventually saw, which never came up in the post-discussion (so I wonder if no one else noticed it), was that the citizens of Bhutan were not practicing what they preach. Eventually, they talk about how television was quite new to the country and it was creating unhappiness and people being addicted to TV. Ah, but I saw the real problem. Bhutan is tricking itself into being happy. They are trying to quell unhappiness, and yet, the Bhutan monarchy eventually allowed television in. That right there is the true unhappiness. The government and the citizens who bought all those TVs felt some unhappiness, some void that only the TV could fill. So don't kid yourself Bhutan. I did think that perhaps simply implementing a change can create unhappiness because it's exposing it to the public. The public who does not understand is the happier one. For example, if the citizens hadn't been exposed to the idea of television, they wouldn't have realized the lack of it.
I have been seeing a lot of people on my twitter feed and just in general being unhappy, even myself. I wasn't sure what to do with my time on Mondays and Wednesdays because they're so open. I was bored and unhappy too, but the key to getting rid of it all, is just letting go of it. The Other can't beat you if you don't play the game. Stop hearing 'No' and learn everything for yourself, so that you know, instead of just believing what they tell you. Be the best you, that you can be. Let go of what's right or what's wrong, good or bad, and just see things as happening. Embrace logic and explore the universe the way you want to. Let it all happen as it will, and it will. And if it doesn't? Well then who cares? Let it go and work towards the future instead of the past. With that, I leave you with the sounds of Steve Aoki's remix of "Pursuit of Happiness" (Not exactly my first pick, but it did the best job relating to the material), as well as a bonus video that I thought was awesome. It's a live version of Madeon's song, "Pop Culture." Enjoy!
For those of you who really feel like you're looking for some direction and happiness in your life, might I recommend for you an audiobook called "Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao," by Dr. Wayne Dyer. I feel that's a good source of learning mindfulness and meditation.
Let's set a quick scene: You're walking up a flight of white-carpeted stairs, the further up you get, the darker it becomes, the light covering the white-washed walls sinks behind you. A soft, soothing musical rhythm begins to fill your ears:
Time slows with each step as you get closer to the top of the stairs. The lights are gone, left behind on the level below. You turn right, intersecting with a short hallway, each ended by a bedroom. The bedroom on the left, lit up by a lamp next to the gray-sheeted bed. The room is empty. To the right, a closed door, bathed in darkness, the source of the oddly calming music laying in wait. You venture towards it, so spectacularly like, and yet unlike, a moth, both driven by your curiosity. What manner of creature lurks in this darkness, in a place that is more likely to be deserted than the room that is actually empty. The music draws you into the darkness. You twist the door knob and slowly take a step inside. The room is a dark place, but there is no menace to behold. Rather, there are tiny multi-colored christmas lights wrapping around the window straight ahead, extending leftwards behind a clock that tells no time and onward to another window. To the left, a bed with green silk sheets, a khaki comforter twisted and contorted from when I had woken up earlier that morning. Under the clock, my desk sits, with my computer's screen lit up, a white sun in the vast darkness of space, surrounded by the lights of distant stars. The music emanates from this bright white star. And sitting at the desk, is me, typing away, describing on my blog what it's like when you walk into my room.
I gotta say, after writing that, I really appreciate the way I set this up. I subconsciously set up my own private solar system! Perhaps now I have an actual reason to add some more christmas lights. Either way, that was enjoyable to write, I don't do that often enough. Now, we have our scene. Let's catch ourselves up from last week.
My last blog was the final part of my Halo story, which has now caught up to the present, but I left it with a brief announcement about how I was going to be the guest on The Running Riot Podcast about my massive Halo collection. Everything went very nicely. You can go watch/listen to it on http://therunningriot.com/. Warning: there MAY be an echo during it at certain points, but don't quote me on there. Evidently, there were audio problems, but TRRPodcast tweeted that it was being edited.
The next day I packed up the car, picked up Matt, and together we headed for St. Louis. Matt is moving in with Mike and Steph, since Matt has just graduated from college. He convinced me to drive him down and I would spend the night there and drive the remaining two hours the next day. It was a pleasant drive filled with some wonderful new music for my earholes, provided, as always, by Matt and his wonderful music tastes. A list of the bands that we heard were:
-Toro Y Moi, which is disco-funk dance music- very fun to dance to.
-Girls
-St. Vincent
-Real Estate
-Destroyer
-Youth Lagoon
-and a couple other I don't remember the names to...
I already had Toro Y Moi's new album, "Underneath the Pine," so while it is still new to me, I had already heard his stuff. The other two that I got really into are Destroyer and Youth Lagoon. Both artists' music is very relaxing, and hypnotic, but so good. Certain songs have awesome crescendos, while other put you in this state and eventually you space out to the point where it almost feels like you're floating around in outer space. I know that sounds crazy, but you'll know what I'm talking about if you just lose yourself in the music. It just takes you out of where you are and puts you in a calm and focused state. I fell right asleep just the day before yesterday while listening to it. I'll throw up a couple examples, instead of rambling on.
This is "Kaputt," by Destroyer. I know the video begins somewhat oddly, trust me, the feeling is not lost on me, oh but the song is wondiferous. And the song above is "Montana," by Youth Lagoon.
So now Matt is in St. Louis with Mike, just a mere 2 1/2 hours away, just another reason that this semester at school will be pretty stupendous. Except that there is still more story to tell before I get into the next few months of my time, but just a couple smaller items, I promise...
I can honestly say that I have not been following SOPA or PIPA at all really, all I know is that SOPA wants to blacklist certain websites like TheCHIVE and Reddit, and even youtube if I understood it correctly, pretty much any website that somehow has to do with pirating or something...like I said, I haven't been following it. I had never even heard of PIPA until tomorrow and I know people seem to hate it just as much as they hate SOPA. I sort of have to side with the rest of the internet, and by extension, Humanity, because banning websites because of some other people is a bit harsh, don't you think? I'm on the internet, of course you think so. But in either case, it not like that's going to stop people from continuing what we've been doing. I mean, you're dealing with the internet community, there's no stopping them even if you wanted to. I don't think I've ever seen a more intuitive crowd, more fearless and willing than any other group of people I know. But I digress, after all, I may be blacklisted for this hahaha.
I bought a grouping of computer programs recently, all connected to one goal. I bought Parallels for the Mac, after which I bought the Windows 7 OS disc, and finally, a wee little game by the name of Star Wars: The Old Republic. Oh, yes, that's right. In fact, this blog was going to be half-dedicated to my adventures thus far in the game, except that I've run into a bit of a snag that I have yet to figure out...
You see, I installed Parallels, then Windows 7, and then finally SWTOR. When I started the game, I got a warning telling me that the game wouldn't be able to run properly because there were not enough CPUs dedicated to it. "Well, fuck," I said to myself, with just a hint on contempt. I was able to create my account, and even got as far as creating characters, but once I actually got to playing, it lagged so slowly that it actually took minutes to open the menu and quit back to the character screen... I searched through the Parallel settings, looking for some way to change it so that it worked, but to no avail. I tried the bootcamp route, but for some reason, it said that the bootcamp disc wasn't formatted correctly to install Windows 7. So now I'm stuck with like $300 worth of software that I am unable to use at the moment, and with time now-expiring on my SWTOR play-time... For the record, I made two characters, a Jedi Knight, who is the same race as Darth Maul, named Throne; and a Jedi Counselor, who is the human-like race that's blind, named Bornstellar, after the character from Halo Cryptum. When Tassi and Bob get started with this game in the summer, we're going to be playing as Sith.
And last, but not least by any measure, with the winter break over, the school semester has started back up. This semester I am taking:
-Intro to Contemporary Math, which I just hadn't gotten around to yet, so close to being done with my GenEds.
-Ethics, a Philosophy course which is being taught by the same man who taught my Logic class last semester, Dr. Hahn. The course covers the nature of ethics and how we use them in our lives.
-Modern Philosophy, which details the Modern Philosophical period (1500-1699), which really emphasizes on how we came to use the ethics we have today. In short, the history of our ethics. I hadn't known about this bit, so when it came up, I was elated to notice the connection between the two Philosophy courses.
-And finally, Positive Psychology, which ALSO has a major emphasis on Ethics and Philosophy, as it deals with what makes people happy and the strengths of people. Yet again, the connection was not lost on me.
So, besides my Math course, I had unintentionally created a theme for the semester- The nature of ethics and how we use them in society and where it's leading us. It was relatively easy to articulate the theme that I had subconsciously created for myself because, well, it's been the primary focus of my thoughts over the past few months. I always do manage to surprise myself like that, as if this was the movie "Paycheck" (With Ben Affleck), and I'm receiving guidance from a future version of me (which has been happening a lot to me lately). This was not my original plan when I signed up for these, they all just seemed interesting, but I guess that's it, isn't it? Last semester, I began working towards living a more positive life than I ever had done. So far, I think I've been pretty successful in that venture. This semester is going to be a good one. Besides Math, none of my classes are that uninteresting to me. Good things are coming.
UPDATE (1/20/12): I just went to my first Math lecture for the semester. My god, is it boring, I couldn't help but feel like I was stuck in a class full of 4th graders, or at least that's how the professor kept talking... This class is going to be quite awful, but hark! Hope yet remains. When I was sitting waiting for the class to end, I made eye contact with a girl sitting in the middle section of the lecture hall (I always sit on the right side, up against the wall). When the class ended, I began my walk out and she walked up towards the front of the hall, presumably to talk to the professor. That's when it hit me. She was wearing a short brown coat that had a fleece lining, a crimson skirt that reached down to her ankles, a string of some kind, with little coins hanging from it (imagine a gypsy dress), her wavy black hair lightly covering her eye. It was the girl from the gas station, the same girl I wrote about in my blog: http://oneoneseven-jakewhlr117.blogspot.com/2011/12/contact-high.html. There is hope yet. Like I said above, good things are coming.
So that's what's going my way at the moment. I hope everyone is happy with where they are at right now, and if you're not, then change something. Create some new beats for yourself. Speaking of which, I leave you in the very-capable hands of Toro Y Moi's, "New Beat." Enjoy! :)
Halo Reach eventually came out and I had been playing it on and off throughout the year. It started out very strong; I played pretty much every day, just like with any Halo game that comes out, but eventually, my play time began tapering off. It was pretty typical of me to do though; that's what happens to just about every game I play after a while... By no means, however, does my waning interest in multiplayer effect my overall interest in Halo- far from it, in fact; my interest was still growing at an exponential rate.
I was still constantly doing research in my free time and keeping up with any and all news. During the summer, Bungie had been celebrating its 20th birthday and to keep up the festivities, they were auctioning off a bunch of very exclusive items, including, but not limited to original, one of a kind concept art from the days of Halo 2. Unfortunately I was unable to win anything from the first set of auctions. It was saddening, indeed, especially to see the Master Chief Helmet Detail piece get away from me... I couldn't really help it, however, as I was getting surgery done as the auctions were ending. But hope yet remained, as there were another set of concept art auctions.
Luckily, when the next set of auctions rolled around, I was lucky enough to win a huge piece of concept art, including nine separate pictures of the Covenant Ghost. Seen below:
A couple weeks went by and as luck would have it, I got an email telling me that I had a second-chance offer to buy the Master Chief Helmet Detail picture that I thought had gone away. I didn't waste a second jumping on the offer. It too would be mine.You can see it below:
I was also able to nab 1/100 prints of the Master Chief concept art that was famously fucked up by a flood in the Bungie Studio back when it was in Chicago. My collection was becoming something notable, though not to too many
July had finally come and along with it, San Diego Comic Con 2011. This time around, I was there to see 343 Industries talk about their first game, Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition. I was excited, of course, but this also meant a chance to get to talk to those whom I had met the year before. The first thing on the Comic-Con schedule was an action figure signing by Todd McFarlane. While in line to buy the figures to get signed, I happened to see Alison Stroll and David Ellis of 343i come over. I called Alison over and we talked for a bit. They were there to do a quick interview with Mcfarlane for Halo Waypoint. The convention had just began and I had already gotten to see those who I wanted to talk to; I felt this was a great start.
During the 343i panel, I was able to get the very front and center. It was fantastic to be at, I guess I'll just leave it at that, as the game is now out and there's no point in going through what news was said... Although I will say that during the panel, Dan Ayoub, who was the Executive Producer on CEA, was sporting a shirt that I found to be something of a personal holy grail. It was a simple black t-shirt, but down the left side there was a faded '117.' As soon as the panel ended, I, along with a couple other intrigued folks came up to the stage and tried asking where we could buy it, but it was for not, as we were shooed from the stage by security. Before the end of the show, I happened to pass by David Ellis, who I had actually not met before. It was actually somewhat odd, as I only knew it was him from seeing his badge for a fraction of a second. We met and talked for a bit before bidding adieu to one another.
During this con, I had actually began talking to a number of other Halo fans on Twitter. It was the first time I had been really connecting myself to the community past those working at 343i. I was making new friends, and it felt great.
-Greatest Journey (Halo 3 OST):
The school semester had just started, but I was already heading back out. This time, I was heading out to Seattle for the first time to attend PAX, but much more importantly, Halo Fest. Oh, indeed this was my own personal Mecca, and I would not miss it for anything.
Prior to Halo Fest, however, 343i was holding a set of contests, one of which, was a machinima contest. I had just finished a new video that was a tribute to the Halo franchise celebrating the 10 year birthday that was just around the corner.
I entered it, but I ended up needing to change the song due to copyright issues, which meant also needing to recut it a little bit. Unfortunately, I had to use a song that I already had used in the past... but it yielded so much less work for me to do and it was considerably short notice. But it would have to do and I would have to make the best of it. The Halo Fest version can be seen below:
Unfortunately, I did not win the grand prize of getting a voice role on an upcoming episode of Red vs Blue. I did, however, manage to be one of the finalists, which meant that despite the video not actually being the conventional machinima, my video was still seen by those at Rooster Teeth and they thought it was good enough to be a finalist. If nothing else, I'm happy for that.
So I finally made it to Halo Fest 2011. I would've been able to visit Bungie, but my flight arrived too late for me to make it, you can imagine me giving a slight sigh as you read that, but it was okay, as that's not why I was there. I was finally able to meet those that I had met on twitter and while I was relatively shy, it was still awesome to finally meet my friends for the first time, but once bsangel had pointed out how I hadn't introduced myself, it became something of a joke.
I am about to commit a grave crime, in that I don't want to get into much detail about my time at Halo Fest. What I will say though is a short story that actually made its way on camera. The moment I walked into the building and stared at the big 'Halo Fest' projection on the ceiling, I was in absolute awe. I was standing on the escalator to what I could only imagine was the promised land. I walked through, mouth agape, marveling at every single bit of everything within the Halo Fest grounds. I meandered about until I found myself in the gift shop where I began purchasing things that I knew I would not be able to carry back to my hotel room, but I bought nonetheless. As I checked out, the lady politely asked how my day was. I stood silently for moment, thinking for the right words, until I finally said, "I don't say often that I am in heaven, but I am in heaven right now." What I, of course, neglected to mention, was that I am an Atheist, and that what I just said really meant a lot more than it may actually have seemed.
After one of the many panels that I attended, I finally got a chance to talk to Alison. We talked for a bit and I told her that story. She liked it so much that she wanted me to tell that story again, but on camera, for a future video that would be on Halo Waypoint. You can watch it below. Every single time I watch it, I feel super nostalgic and I wish I was back there, and next time it rolls around (which will hopefully be this next PAX and every other PAX thereafter), you can bet your sweet ass that I will be there. You can also check out my photo album from Halo Fest.
I also was able to ask a question during the Halo 4 Panel, but instead of just doing that, I wanted to do something a little more special. I wanted to thank them, personally, and on behalf of the entire two-tiered theatre behind me. I had rehearsed it so many times the night before and when it came time, it went off without a hitch. I even got the entire theatre to applaud, which felt just as good and even better than how I imagined it. My follow-up question, however wasn't so spectacular, as I had to come up with one on the spot, but I was left with my hands shaking and my voice stuttering. In the video below, you can skip to 38:46 to hear me and my thanks.
And finally, I was actually able to obtain the 117 shirt that I craved so. The shirt is reserved exclusively to 343i employees, but, and this is not a lie, since I am One One Seven and my obsession is known by those at 343i, I got one. My endless thanks go out to Alison Stroll and Dan Ayoub for hooking me up when they wouldn't help anyone else on that particular matter.
-The Light at the End (Halo 3: ODST OST):
With Halo Fest 2011 behind me, I didn't have too much on the agenda in terms of Halo-related things. Halo CEA was just around the corner and I had heard of a new contest, bigger than either of the two I had done before. No, this would be my biggest challenge yet. This was the contest that would complete a dream of mine- the dream to become the biggest Halo fan ever, officially. 343i, along with Gametrailers.com and Spike TV, was holding the 'Halo Fan of the Decade' contest, and I knew without a doubt that I would win. I was only able to enter ONE picture to prove myself to the judges. I began putting together a collage of pictures from my collection album on facebook, but I didn't feel it, I could do more for it. As a side note, while I was putting together the collage, I got a facebook post from Kozi linking me to the contest page saying, "Do your thing, sir." Little did he know, I was already working on it. :)
So I drove home for the weekend with all my Halo stuff that I had at my apartment at school. I spent my entire first night, after driving six hours, carrying my entire collection down two floors to my basement where my LAN system was, which would be my backdrop. I had spoken to my dad earlier that week and he got shelves put up in my basement, one of which was above the TVs. I spent the entire next day and morning of the day after putting together my picture, filling it with every piece I could fit. I would have my TV's, each with a different Halo game on it, my framed Halo Legends posters, my original concept art, and my employee-only 117 shirt. I had this.
So, November 7th came, which was the cut-off date and judgement day. The only way I knew if I had won was by getting a phone call, and it didn't come. Now, if you hadn't noticed November 7th is 11/7, so I make the day a personal holiday in which I celebrate a number of things, one of which, obviously, is Halo. By the end of the day, I was slightly disappointed that I had never gotten that call...
The next day came, I went to class like usual, but when I got back, I had a message in my twitter inbox from Halo Waypoint asking if I was the same Jake Wheeler from the Halo Fest machinima contest, I said yeah, and then they asked for my phone number and email address. A sudden skip of my heart. "Why?" I asked. The response? They have been trying to get ahold of me for winning the contest. The temperature in my blood rose sharply, my breath getting heavier by the second; I had done it. I had won. I got a call from an unknown number. I picked it up and spoke to a man from Spike TV discussing the details of everything, now that I had won. I got off the phone and paraded about the house, cheering at my greatest victory. I had made a dream of mine come true, a dream that had been manifesting itself over the past nine years.
So, my picture was featured in the premiere commercial for the Living Monument and Halo CEA. There was kind of a mix-up in times and when the commercial was on in my timezone, but thankfully we recorded the entire movie that was playing in the meantime and we were able to see it nonetheless. I received tons of congratulations from people, including those at 343i, and after Halo Waypoint tweeted about it, I got about 40 new followers, which was really nice because I am something of a whore for followers and views (that includes this blog).
-Heavy Price Paid (Halo 2 OST):
Prior to Christmas, the Child's Play Auction dinner was held, and thanks to a friend of mine who was attending, I was able to get my hands on a one-of-a-kind piece of Halo 4 concept art, signed by Sparth. Now, it was done digitally, which means that it's technically a print, but I was assured that this was as original was it would come in a physical form, and that there was only one of these. There was also a set of online auctions on ebay for Child's Play, which was put together by my friend Laird. I was able to nab some more items, one of which was another one-of-a-kind piece of fan fiction that I fell in love with- "Halo: A Fistful of Arrows."
I won the one-and-only copy of Levi Hoffmeier's Halo fan-fiction book, "A Fistful of Arrows," as well as a copy of "Halo Evolutions I," which is also signed by all the authors. Very cool if you ask me. I did feel bad though, a friend of mine contacted me right after the 'Halo: Evolutions' auction ended asking me if I had won. I told him I had and as it turns out, he had put in a bid for $50, three seconds before it ended. For some reason though, it didn't register or something and I ended up winning it for $46. From what I remember, I had put in a max bid of $60, but even still... And to be perfectly honest, I don't need it. It was something small I felt I could get my hands on while getting more money towards the charity. So Keith, if you're reading, contact me about buying it. I was serious before when I asked if you were looking to get it before xmas or not.
I don't know, I kind of feel as though I'm not living up to the title of Halo Fan of the Decade. Which, to some of you may seem like the dumbest thing that I've ever said, and in a certain respect, I'd agree. It's melodramatic and is a "first-world problem." But I feel like I'm not doing enough, ya know? I could be doing more than just outright buying stuff for my collection. It was briefly mentioned a couple times after I won, and probably even more so without my knowing, but despite going out of my way to do stuff for Halo, like canceling my flight or driving 12 hours and spending two days just for one picture, the only thing I really do is just spend tons of money and collect everything I could. My friends in the Halo community do so much more than I do. They moderate forums, they create community sites, they lead the Halo community. Meanwhile, I sit in the dark corner surrounded by my stuff. I sit and observe those who are such big fans that they take the time to help all of the members of the community. Am I just biding my time for something?
When the Halo Fan of the Decade contest came up, I had next to no doubt in my mind that I would win, and I wasn't the only one. My initial picture that I was going to submit was a collage. When I was putting it together, Kozi wrote on my facebook wall. He linked me to the contest page and said, "Do your thing, sir." I was already ahead of him at that point, but it's the same story. I KNEW I would win, with only the briefest moment of hesitation when I saw my friend Kevin's entry picture. But even after seeing it, there was still no doubt in my mind that the title would be mine.
Even the night before the auctions were ended, I tweeted about how I was sure that the 'Fistful of Arrows' book would be mine. My friend Kevin brought up how I was so secure about winning it even with another 12 hours on the clock. I played it modestly, saying that in all honesty that I wasn't so sure about winning, but in the back of my head, I knew that it would be mine. Am I some sort of psychic? While I like the idea and think that would be sweet, I highly doubt that's the case. I just knew that it would be mine, despite any and all other people that were also reaching for it. My reason for collecting is now in flux. I am not being the halo collector in hopes that one day, I'll be crowned king. Now my collecting is something that's just gluttonous.
I need to find a new goal, something to work towards. The feeling is very reminiscent of when I used to play WoW. My ultimate goal in the game, past getting to level 80, was to gain the title of Ambassador. When I finally got the title, I literally didn't know what to do anymore... so I stopped playing. I would eventually come back for a short time, but now it's as far away as I can make it.
Perhaps I should semi-reveal an idea of mine that I've had since Thanks Giving? My friends, Colin, Kozi, Dan, Chris (Dan's brother), and Eric decided at the end of the summer that we would be going back into the world of machinima. We didn't have a name for our team or anything like that. Everything was very spur-of-the-moment. I had a couple story ideas in mind, but we ended up putting those on hold and we came up with a new story that hadn't really been seen within the Halo Universe. Perhaps I should've started with that- We wanted our story to fit within the boundaries of the Halo timeline, where it wouldn't effect anything in the canon. It would be a stand-alone story that would fit loosely into parts of other stories.
I was tasked with writing the script throughout the semester, but school came up and I got distracted by everything else that I never ended up writing it. There's some material for the characters and a story outline, but that's about it. Since being home we haven't talked about much, but I would very much like to get back into it, and write with them instead of me, by myself. I feel ideas may flow better that way. But the idea I had during Thanks Giving was something very different. I was thinking about The Halo Retrospective that Gametrailers.com did to celebrate the 10th birthday of Halo. I thought, what if we did a documentary of sorts? A series-long version of The Halo Retrospective? I would liken the series as being similar to like Ancient Aliens, or Halopedia done in a weekly show on youtube. We would delve deeply into certain story lines and characters and elaborate on them, theorize and talk about possibilities. We could also go into the community as well. We could go out and get interviews with major members of the community and maybe even those at Bungie and 343 Industries. This is the first I've brought this up to anyone, sans Kevin, who I had been talking to when i came up with it. It was my way of giving back to the community, I suppose, not to mention that it would yield much less work than other projects we had in mind... I'm not sure though.
I have been reorganizing my Halo collection on the shelves in my basement, as well as creating a massive battlefield with my Halo Mega Bloks on the shuffleboard just below the shelves. I've just bought a bunch of materials to help make the flat wooden top of the shuffleboard into a mountainous rough terrain with shrubbery about. I started carving out foam, but it's messy as hell and I don't know if I'll have time to finish it before I head back to school, and most definitely not before my interview with The Running Riot Podcast this Saturday night, which reminds me!
Tune in at 10:00PM ET/ 9:00PM CST to the Running Riot Podcast, where they will be interviewing me on my contest win and my collection! http://therunningriot.com/
-At Any Cost (Halo Reach OST):
I'd like to take this time to really thank those that helped me reach this point- Alison Stroll and everyone else at 343 Industries, everyone at Bungie, Laird Maclean, Levi Hoffmeier, Kevin Hurd, and everyone else whom I consider a friend within the Halo community, but most of all, I'd like to thank my mom and dad. My mom was, and has been, willing to put up with mine and my dad's spending on all of this Halo merchandise, and my dad who, more than pretty much everyone, understood my passion for Halo and helped fuel it, and spent so much money on it all, because my parents are willing to support me and what I strive for, at any cost. Thanks.
----------The End----------
-----...for now, at least.-----
So thank you, any and all who read this, and even more so to those who found it entertaining in any way. And while this is the end of my story, it is only the end for now. Time will bring more, as it naturally does. 2011 brought so many great things for me, and I can easily say that it's been my best year...ever, but now that it's 2012, I do worry, but newer and bigger things will come. So I end this story with one of my favorite songs from the Halo catalogue, "The Light at the End," by Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori from the Halo 3: ODST OST. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
From the ashes, I rise. I am the embodiment of the phoenix metaphor. I feel it's not safe to really go into it, but I feel stronger than ever right now. This week has been crazy, but like I said, "From the ashes, I rise."
Today has been a relatively interesting day. I have really been unable to focus. A good example is this particular blog. From a reader's standpoint, you can't see it, but this is actually the fourth paragraph that I've written. I actually started with the achievement list, then the fortune, and then the phoenix metaphor bit, and now here I am. It's been like that all day though. I began my day very suddenly when I was awoken to my mom needing me to figure out why she couldn't pay bills online through google chrome. It was fixed no problem, but I wonder if it somehow it has kind of started it all. I've been meaning to check out some new music that Matt recommended to me last night, as well as this cool thing called a music tree. If you don't know what it is, and you're looking for new music ever, what it is, is a website where you enter a musical artist that you like, hit expand, and it branches out into like 5 different directions to other artists that are very similar and you can keep doing that for each new artist. It is so cool and innovative. The one we used last night is http://audiomap.tuneglue.net/. Check it out because I think i just found my new favorite tool for finding new stuff, other than constantly asking Matt or Mike, although Matt did agree with the notion of, 'why spend so much time researching when you can just ask someone that is trustworthy with musical taste?'
Anyway, my point is that I meant to start that way earlier today and I only just got to it because I was writing about it. For anyone else that has similar tastes in music as I do, which is mostly electronic stuff, mixes, and dance stuff, you may want to check out Jamie xx, Toro y Moi, Girls, Beach House, and Washed Out. I haven't delved into any of these yet, but they're names I've heard a number of times now and I think it's time to get my hands dirty and find some new tunes. I did check out Washed Out's song, "Feel it All Around," which I've just decided is going to be this blog's title and song choice. It's also the opening song to a new show that Matt showed me last night.
Portlandia is a newer show on IFC, and it just started it's second season yesterday (serendipitous indeed). It's a sketch comedy starring Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein (who I think could be related to Alison Stroll of 343i, but how do you bring that up without sounding creepy? Well, I guess in a blog. Hopefully it worked.), as well as a bunch of other people who appear on SNL. Each episode does have it's own central story, but it breaks up and has other, unrelated sketches in between. The focus of it is the city of Portland, Oregon, which is full of hipsters and conventionally odd characters. The open the show by talking about how when the rest of the world is current, there is still a place in the country that is pretty much still stuck in the 90s- Portland. If that's really how Portland is, then I want to go to there. The type of comedy is very odd too; it's kind of subtle, but things always go haywire in their own way. It's very tailor-made for those people like Matt, Mike, and myself who are generally considered hipsters amongst the masses. I'm not quite so sure that those who consider themselves as the general person who goes with society and the times would really get into it as much, but I may be wrong. Check it out for sure though, because I can't name another show that's anything like this. Another show that is on IFC is called, "The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret," which stars David Cross. So I also plan on getting into that, as Matt told me that it's actually a bit funnier in its own way.
My dad just picked up Panda Express for me, and, as per usual, I opened up my fortune cookie just after starting to eat. And what did it say? "When in doubt, let your instincts guide you." Eh, it's good, but I've read better... I'll at least agree with this in the case of a survival situation, but not necessarily in an every day sense. I think that perhaps our conventional opinions have gotten too in the way of how certain decisions are made. ...But I don't feel like dwelling on this subject. Perhaps next time, when I have a good fortune that I can discuss. and for the record, I got a large orange chicken (which there's now way I can finish anymore) and an order of their potstickers, which are decent, but pale in comparison to Big Bowl's potstickers, which I had for lunch, so hah.
Our family doc said that I should make a list of all of the stuff I've achieved lately. I think he really meant just overall, but so much has happened lately that now seemed like a good opportunity. This is mostly just for me, but I though my blog would be a good place to do it. The real point of it, as he put it, was to realize just how much I feel I've accomplished lately, because certain things have been happening so fast for me. ...One of the lights on my ceiling fan keeps blinking... How distracting. ...Alright, now they're replaced. [Okay, now I'm back where I started, at least I am on some track while writing hahaha]. Anyway, let's go through a some things I feel are personal achievements within the past couple years, shall we? I think we should start with the most prevalent.
-Started my own blog, which I write in frequently and fully, and it has brought back a sense of creativity and just writing creatively again, which hasn't happened much since like two years ago.
-I have proven my fandom Halo a couple different times now
-I won a Halo Reach Xbox Slim at San Diego Comic Con 2010
-I was a finalist in the Halo Fest Machinima contest over this past summer
-I just won probably the biggest contest I've ever won, The Halo Fan of the Decade contest, which got my picture in a commercial, and I won nice home-entertainment system.
-I've also made tons of new friends and connections within the Halo community and 343i, which will hopefully land me a job there in the next few years working on future Halo games or other Halo peripherals.
-I was asked to create an album cover for my friend, Tassi, and his band, Manhattan Chess Club. This has also brought back some art and creativity back into my life and I've been thinking of stuff all day
-I've found a major in college that I really connect with- philosophy, which has helped boost my grades and GPA like none other. I got a 3.6 this past semester, which, for me, is unheard of.
-My dancing skills have been so noticeably increased these past few months, and I get compliments from a lot of people on it now.
-My friend, Alex, just texted me saying, "God dammit," and a picture of his receipt from where ever he's eating dinner and his order is #117, which isn't an achievement necessarily, but it lends itself to how if this phenomenon happens to you on a regular basis, #1, it may be my fault :), but #2, if you go researching it all, you pretty much will come across me on your search, as has been the case this week when I got a random friend request and message asking what it's all about. You can read about it all in my previous blog, "Halo: Part 3: Movement." So I think that I've somewhat started a movement of sorts in that so many people come back to me with how they see 117 everywhere now. I'm a checkpoint of sorts on the ever-going mystery of the number 117.
-hmm... I don't know of any others right off the top of my head, so I think this is a good place to stop the list, for now.
So, as I mentioned above, I've been asked by my friend, Tassi, and his band, Manhattan Chess Club, to help make an album cover for their new album coming out. Nothing is finalized at this point, not even the album name, but it's still very cool and has given me the opportunity to start doing some sketches again and being aesthetically creative, which hasn't happened for a long time. He had some particular things in mind, which I kind of put together, but we're still throwing around ideas. He didn't want anything too hippy-ish, as that's not really the nature of their music. The cover I made up last night on photoshop ended up being just that, but I still found it fun to play around with. You can see the two main ideas I've had below :).
I've also thought of the idea to make a giant battlefield on my shuffleboard in my basement using my Halo Mega Bloks, which there are many of. It's still very much in the planning stages, but I think I'm going to take a day this next week and go buy a bunch of foam, paint, carving knives, and whatever else I feel will make this thing be totally epic. So stay tuned for that soon, hopefully before I head back down to school.
Oh, also, before I forget, I will be the guest on The Running Riot Podcast on Saturday, January 14th at, I believe 9:30PM (I'm not sure which timezone...), and covers my winning the Halo Fan of the Decade contest, so check that out!
Now, I feel as though I must steal something from my friend, Natalie's blog...
tl;dr- Everything was crazy this week, but has gotten so much better since. Today was filled with a bunch of new stuff for me to talk about and you should just go read it you lazy bum. HAH! See what I did there? I'm not giving you the satisfaction of your laziness.
So that's all for now. I leave you in the hands of this awesome song- "Feel it All Around," by Washed Out. Very cool and chill (which I hate using as an adjective...). Now it's time for me to go continue watching Pineapple Express. Enjoy!
After Zach and I broke away and found what I have been considering my 'Everyday' group of friends (seeing as I live with them down at school), I quickly became very alone with my still-growing interest in Halo...
It was at this point, I believe, when I moved back home and started taking classes at my community college, two of which were with Dan, whom I still had, and have, considered one of my three best friends, and whom I am probably closest to amongst any of them. And while Halo wasn't ever really the focus of our friendship, then or now, he still acted as a conduit for me to enjoy Halo with other people. It was during these days when Halo Wars and Halo 3: ODST came out. And like I said, he helped me enjoy them a bit more, but it was never as strong as it had been during the original LAN days.
More than anyone, my dad was really the one who supported my interest in Halo. My mom didn't really seem to understand it and I never got anything but jeers from both of my siblings. After a while though, I stopped trying to get them to understand. My dad always understood that side of me though, and while he hadn't gotten into the Halo's story or anything like that (He has since then), he still understood that I was really into that and he always has done what he could to help.
-One One Seven (Not a song):
Before I move on, however, I feel I should explain my obsession with the number 117. Yes, it is an obvious Halo reference, but I don't know if that's why it started. Before Halo 3 had come out, I had begun noticing the number popping up every so often. I had read the Halo novels at that point, so I least knew that I showed up there as well. More and more, I saw it. It got to the point to where I felt it was some sort of conspiracy or something. It was something no one but myself noticed or understood.
When I tried to explain it to people, I got the conventional response that I was crazy and it was all in my head, or that I was just so excited for Halo 3. That may be so, but at this point, almost 4 & 1/2 years later, I don't think that matters so much anymore. I needed to prove to these people that what I was seeing was real.
I began taking pictures of the number, where ever I saw it. I needed to prove that I wasn't nuts and that I really did see this number everywhere; that it was following me. And when I would show all these pictures to people, while they thought it was still crazy in its own right, it was still happening.
What did it mean though? Yes, I saw this number, 117, everywhere I went, but no one, myself included could figure out why. Was there even a meaning behind it to begin with? We often toyed around with the idea that it was a sign of the end of the world and that I was supposed to do something to save it. In hindsight, it was such a poetic and romanticized idea; a number leading me to the salvation of all on planet Earth, to be remembered for the ages as the hero we needed, even though it would probably mean my certain demise in the face of something no one else could even begin to understand... What I would give for the opportunity... *sigh* I'm holding my breath as I think about it.
I would eventually do some research on whether or not other people saw it to, and much to my surprise, others DO see it as well. People I've never even met. In particular, a Christian website mentioned it and there are SO MANY comments on it from others who see it and attribute it to God's presence or something along those lines. As an atheist, I don't really subscribe to those sorts of theories, but I found it comforting knowing that there are others out there. I'll link all of the 117 stuff right below:
A quick note: The wiki page used to be so much longer than it is now... I don't know why it was shortened so, but man, if you could've seen all the stuff that was on there originally... And the second link is to my facebook album where I upload all the pictures of 117 that show up. I've even showed this 343i and their response was, "That's 117 flavors of awesome!"
Ultimately, we never found any sort of explanation, although Matt would be the voice of reason and tell me that I was simply looking for it and that while I was seeing it, it was still in my head. I've since figured that that's the case, but I have still made something from it, despite not being the tale of how I saved Humanity, just like Master Chief John-117.
All of the original pictures that I took were on my phone and have since been deleted, but I do continue to take pictures where ever and whenever I see it, assuming it's not like a clock or something. But nowadays, I don't see it as much as I used to, or at least not since I tried to embrace it and became One One Seven. When I switched my gamertag from ShellBullet5 to One One Seven, it kinda of slowed down for me, but not for everyone else. I still get pictures and texts from people all the time about how they saw the number and I laugh, knowing that I've pretty much started a small movement. Kozi, Colin, Dan, Chris, Rojek, Tnags, my entire family, all of my 'everyday' friends- they ALL see it now too.
There still isn't much meaning behind it, other than what I myself have made of it. I use it now as a symbol of my philosophies and goals; a numerical embodiment of who I am, not to mention that since I've made it my thing, people in the Halo community generally get a kick out it and like that it's my XBL gamertag.
One last note on the subject, the other day, I got a random friend request on facebook from a guy, Oussama, who is originally from Lebanon (but now lives in Sydney, Australia). I accepted it, thinking it was just another Halo fan that saw my stuff on the Halo Waypoint or something, but then I got a PM, which, despite happening before, doesn't happen often. Much to my surprise, it had absolutely nothing to do with Halo. This was his message:
"hey there how r u? well i dont know how to explain it but since u faced the
same thing so ur the only one that can understand that..well bro i did a search
on fb for 117 since i found that number wherever i go..WHEREVER and i found
that u had the same experience..1117 and 117 r really surprising me, did u got
any explanation for that??? have a good one"
I was so delighted to see this because yet again, I was not alone. And I find it personally awesome that when he went looking for answers like I had, he came across me. It makes me feel almost prophetic in a way. Now it's time to move back into the main story.
- Edge Closer (Halo 3 OST)
I had always wanted to check out San Diego Comic Con at least once in my life. I likened it to the pilgrimage to Mecca, but for those who were considered nerds and the like. But I still had a focus in mind when I went there- Halo.
So, in 2009, my parents and I made our out there and went to SDCC. I feel that it was here that I really began my journey to where I am now. I got to see and play ODST before it had come out and got to be very close up at the 343i panel that announced both Halo Legends and Halo Waypoint. It was here that I first met Frank O'Connor, who is the franchise development director for Halo. He signed a copy of Halo 2 that I had brought with me. I also was able to get all 7 Halo Legends posters while there, 3 of which are signed by the creative minds behind each... episode, if you will. My dad and I would eventually get them all framed.
We also attended 2010, where Halo Reach was being showcased at the Xbox booth. I got to meet Ske7ch, as well as a few others from Bungie. I got my copy of ODST signed this time around. But this year would really mark the moment I put my foot in the door. At the bungie panel, where they showed off Forge 2.0 for the first time (this time in the very front-center), they announced a contest that was only taking place during Comic Con. Those who could prove their fandom to those at Bungie and 343i would win a Halo: Reach-themed Xbox Slim, which would be coming out in conjunction with Halo: Reach. Oh, I knew I could do it, I just needed to show them during conversation, not through a costume or anything showy. There were 6 consoles in total, one for each member of Noble Team. One after another they went. Just after the third one was chosen during the Tor Books signing, I met someone who would change my fortunes in Halo forever, Alison. The 343i panel for this year had been on the last day, after our scheduled flight back home. We cancelled it though, so that I could be there, and I let her know that.
The next and last day of Comic Con, I was waiting in a line that I thought hadn't started yet. I was standing next to the door, talking with Frankie and Kevin Grace, whom I had only just met, but had become friends with, at least for my part. It was then that I discovered that the line was already relatively long and that I wasn't in it. I jumped in and made it inside, near the back, however. I looked up at the stage and met eyes with Kevin. He gave the slightest of smiles, and and even slighter nod. My breath became instantly heavy and my palms began to sweat. 'No way,' I thought to myself, 'I actually did it. I won.' Alison came up to him and asked him something, and he looked back at me and just pointed. It was confirmed. Even as I write this, the feeling is overcoming me and I'm reliving it; oh, the excitement of it. Alison came down from the stage, walked down the isle, never breaking eye-contact with me. I could see the crease of a smile begin to form on her face as she could most likely plainly see the overwhelming excitement on my face already. She stopped in front of me and asked me for my badge. Knowing why already, I complied as fast as my arms would allow. She thanked me and walked back up on stage. The guy next to me was someone I was able to recognize by the end of the convention, as we had been in line to play Reach with one another several times. He asked me what that was about and with a grin on my face, I said, "I think I just won the last Xbox." Finally, the end of the panel came and well... I'll just let the videos show you (Skip to 8:05) :
While she made it seem like I had just lost my badge, I was completely fine with it because in the end, I won, and to top it off, I was Noble 6. I was guy who everyone would be playing as later on that year (That coupled with how I am One One Seven, pretty much makes me two of the main protagonists in the Halo franchise- SUPER WIN! hahahaha). I was also interviewed by Jonathon Goff for Halo Waypoint, which can be seen near the end of the next video:
I thought that this win would pretty much be the mark I left on the Halo community; it was my peak for Halo success, but oh how wrong I would be...
----------End of Part Three----------
Oh! Also, My friend Natalie just put up her review/analysis of Greg Bear's new book, Halo: Primordium up on her blog. Be warned, there are spoilers, but it you're like me and that doesn't bother you, go read! It's very written and reasoned out. She even got 300 views for that thing, which makes me quite jealous. Link below:
So, for now, this is the where I leave you. There is still some more to write, and actually, a lot of it is already done. I just need to write some more and then edit the already-written part and then it's done. So, enjoy "Movement" by Marty O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori from the Halo 3 OST!
