New Beat

     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! :)

Until next time...

Feel It All Around

     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!

Until next time...