Editing Kid Chameleon Levels

I always loved the game "Kid Chameleon" on the Sega Genesis growing up. It was always very addicting. Kid Chameleon was a unique game in that you could get helmets that transformed you into different beings. It was also unique in that it was an extremely long game -- over 100 levels! Clearly that was a big deal.

Recently I rediscovered this game, and I began wondering what it would be like to modify the game's levels and create my own levels. Since I'm out of school and have some free time, I decided I wanted to hack Kid Chameleon and see about doing this. After several days, I created a huge collection of notes. I also wrote a program that decompresses and extracts tile layout data from the Kid Chameleon ROM itself. I have some screenshots available:

1 - Displaying basic info grabbed straight from the ROM.
2 - Debugging info showing the decompression statistics being displayed.

Now I just have to write code to compressed the data again and put it back into the ROM. Once this is complete, a level editor can be created.

College Work Done

I'm probably the only person in the world who truly cares about this right now, but I don't care. I'm happy to say I'm done with this semester (finally)! I've waited for it to end for a long time. I was keeping up with my work and was actually ahead, but I started procrastinating at the end and got behind. So I spent the past 48 hours doing extreme catch-up. I planned my entire day for it. I figured up about how long it would take me to read a chapter and do the work for it. I left myself some extra time. I'm glad I did because I finished everything at 11:56 (my class work was due at 12:00). Now part of the reason for that is I took a test, but I wanted to retake it to get a higher grade. So that took a little extra time. Still, I was excited about it. I worked hard, and to finish it with barely 4 minutes to spare, I was happy. I didn't have to rush either!

I'm expecting good grades, but next semester I'm going to try and avoid procrastinating at the end like I did this time. 4 minutes is cutting it just a tad bit too close.

Destroying Others & Bias

Why is it that some people are so obsessed with trying to bring down others? The media does it to celebrities all the time. This man says this, this woman says that, and you have a big story created, complete with bias and misleading statements. Politicians do the same thing. What is it about people that they are so obsessed with trying to one up someone else that they will try to destroy their reputation, and even ruin their lives in some cases?

I like to use myself as a prime example here. For anyone who doesn't know, I leave behind a sort of long and controversial history on the internet. If you ask anyone who dislikes me about it, you're bound to dislike me too. Being a little too out-spoken at a young age and having a big audience can be a deadly weapon, and the result is always the same -- people who don't know how to let go of the past and realize that people make mistakes. Sometimes things are much worse than they appear, but not always. Sometimes things aren't nearly as bad as one might believe. Sometimes the stories are just dead wrong.

I personally don't care who holds grudges against me or anyone else, but trying to destroy someone else is where people go fundamentally wrong and is where I see fault in quite a lot of people on the internet and media both. I think it's a negative influence on both children and adults. How many things do we believe to be true that really aren't, and vise-versa, all because of dishonesty and distortions that don't bring out the true character that fills the story? If we were all a little more open-minded about these stories, we'd begin to see how obvious some of the bias is that we are faced with daily. It's something I think about a lot, and I think everyone else should too.

Proper Way to Comfort Someone

Imagine you lose someone close to you. Let's say your aunt died. You are sad about it because she really meant a lot to you. You talk to your friends about it, hoping that will help you feel better. You friends tell you they know how it feels and begin sharing their experiences and stories. This folks is exactly what you are not supposed to do if you're expecting to help someone feel better.

Let me give you another example. Several weeks ago, I spoke to a friend of my about how another "friend" of mine basically snubbed me. It was bothering me at the time because I thought we were sort of close and couldn't make sense of it. The friend I spoke to about it said "yeah, I hate girls like that". The next thing I know, he's yapping about a girl he got in an argument with who didn't want anything else to do with him. I told him that wasn't exactly how my situation was, and I repeated myself hoping to get through to him. After that, he repeated his story.

I bring this up because someone lost a dog recently that meant a lot to them. Most of the people who have spoken about it do nothing except jabber on about their own personal stories. The problem here is when you take the focus off the person who's having the problem in the moment, they tune you out. It makes them feel like they're not being heard. Do you honestly think they care about what happened to you? Of course not. They want someone to care about what happened to them.

I read this in a book for my public speaking class in college several years ago. It emphasized the importance of keeping the focus on them and not talking about yourself. After reading that, I thought about it and realized it was entirely true. So since reading that, I have always tried to keep the focus on the people who have the problems instead of myself. Yet it annoys me to see that so many other people don't practice this. Although they mean well, it is actually quite rude.

So the next time someone comes to you with a problem, show them you're listening by talking directly about their problem; don't give them advice unless they specifically want it, and ask them questions about what they think and feel in relation to their problem. You will come off as being concerned about them rather than yourself.

Right-Time Pictures

I found this blog post at Sawse.com to be quite hilarious. It contains some very funny pictures. I fell in love with the picture of the guy flying in the air like Superman while his motorcycle is floating through the air in front of him. It's worth a look!

Potentially Good News for ProSonic

Someone has offered to take on my four tasks (network code, scripting language, sprite editor, and PZF editor) for pay. I'm in the process of negotiating a price with him. He seems quite interested in taking on the tasks. It may cost me more than $200 in total, but I'm hoping to try and work out a deal that will put less strain on my pockets if at all possible.

My hope is to invest this money to have this guy do these things, and hopefully others in the community will see better reason to invest in my project. This is a big risk I'm taking, because there's the chance that I may spend more money than I actually get back (meaning if I sell packages of the engine for a fee, I might not be able to sell enough to cover my costs).

Networking and scripting are two major milestones that should spark renewed interest in ProSonic, and I will personally take on the task of scripting the player object. Once this is done, a demo will be released to the public. That's right, I will actually release a demo where you can control a character. I'm aiming to have this completed by the end of this year or very beginning of next year. That is a time when I will likely have plenty of free time and won't mind devoting a portion of my time to ProSonic.

Superhero Video

I did a video on YouTube about my disappointment with Captain America and how I would make a great superhero! Check it out:

Captain America?... Is That You??

I am not happy with Captain America's new look. I don't mind change, but they made him look silly in my opinion. He looks like he is wearing two completely different suits that clash together. Something doesn't seem right with him having a gun, but I'm at least willing to give that a chance. The suit is the main thing that makes me disappointed. Who knows, perhaps it will grow on me over time, but right now I am left wondering what Marvel Comics was thinking.



(Source)

Thinking About Writing a Book

I would really like to get some feedback on this. This has been on my mind for a while and it would really mean a lot to me if people told me what their thoughts were on it.

I am thinking about writing a book on the dangers of the internet. I have felt for a long time that too few parents really grasp what goes on on the internet. Internet gangs such as 4chan and 7chan, and to a lesser extent Sonic-CulT, present huge dangers on the internet with people going out their way to destory anyone they dislike. Certainly there are members who only intend to have fun, but there are people who are extremely dangerous that go to these sites as well. I'm certainly not declaring war on anyone here, but I do have the urge to get my thoughts out. I am concerned for young children who find their way on the internet and discover these sites. I think parents need to be better informed on these kinds of things because I really feel they're out of the loop of what goes on for the most part.

I don't know if I'd have the patience to write a book or not to be honest, but I see a need to educate as many parents as possible. Certainly I've seen a lot of internet activity over the years, so I feel I'm more than qualified to do the educating.

Current Strategy for ProSonic

ProSonic legal ties will be severed by outsourcing the the very functions that ties it to copyrighted materials. The engine will use scripting and other external data to control the engine's behavior, thus allowing Sonic games to be replicated without the functionality actually being in the engine code. This way, the engine can be "similar" without actually directly copying anything. This has been my thinking for a long time, but I never really explained it before and felt it was important to explain it now. Obviously, the name has to be changed, and it will down the road.

I lost the one volunteer I had because he didn't have the time, so I'm trying game programming forums to see if anyone is willing to take up my goals and make them their own. This is the best chance I have of finding help. I know I'm not going to get the help I am seeking in the Sonic community -- I've known it for a long time. Some people have a hard time understanding that most people like to work for their own interests, so you either have to give them something they want to do themselves, or something they can get paid to do. In either case, the interest factor isn't high enough in the community, and I know the reasons for that.

As for anyone questioning my marketing approach, the time will come when I put a lot of drive and force behind this project again, but I'm keeping things a low key right now, and I am confident that's the best thing I can do. People want to see something in action besides a camera demo, and that's fine, but it is in my best interest strategically to hold off on putting anything more out there for the time being.

David Letterman and Paris Hilton

I am not the typical person to get excited over celebrities being bashed and such. I think celebrities are just like regular people too and generally deserve slightly better treatment than they get as far as the media is concerned. Sometimes I also feel we treat celebrities too good, and that can be bad as well.

I have to say though that I really do not care for Paris Hilton at all. I sympothize for some celebrities who run into trouble (believe it or not, Britney Spears is one of them, and I don't even like her), but not her. She's a spoiled little brat who is used to getting everything her way. Those kinds of people weren't disciplined the way they should have when they were younger, and so now they prance around like the whole world owes them somehow.

Recently on The Late Show with David Letterman, Paris went on and had to sit as Dave poked fun at the whole situation with her being in jail and such. Some people didn't find it appropriate, but I for one did. As I said she's a spoiled brat, and so I think that what Dave did was completely warrented. He made fun of the situation and made her feel bad, but he did it without being mean and instead made people laugh about it. I think Dave did exactly what he should have. People like her need to be made to think about their actions. It's especially bad because she's a role model for younger girls, so an example needed to be made out of Paris.

You can watch the exchange between David Letterman and Paris Hilton below:

Man Steals 123 Parking Meters

A man from Massachusetts stole 123 parking meters over the course of one year. Police found the meters in 38-year-old Thomas Gannon's apartment. Aparently he wanted the money in the meters. My question is why would anyone want to take something like that?! It's not very efficient beings they collect very little money anyway. I can think of better thinks to steal than a bunch of parking meters!

(Source)

The Critic

By this point in my life, I'm used to jelousy. Sometimes no matter what you do or how hard to try to please people, some of them will still find something to complain about. I usually ignore these things, but apparently I have a hater that continues to visit my blog and check the status of my ProSonic project. Here's what my friendly hater has to say:

This is utterly ridiculous. If you have not produced anything real in over 3 years and you now need to hire a programmer then ... WHAT exactly have you done? Play on youtube like a child and show a video that proves nothing, its a simple scroll system for sonic levels. You have only fooled underage sonic fans and morons.

I do not expect anything from you and you should definitely not expect profits from this failed project. At this rate you should work for Microsoft so you can make failed and delayed software and promises to people you will never keep. Great work! Waiting on this project is a waste of time!

Of course this is hilarious. Let's see, how old is ProSonic again? Programming began on December 15, 2005 (not even 2 years old yet). Apparently he can't do math.

He's also upset that he doesn't have the knowledge or skills to pull off that scrolling system. He can't come up with anything better to say, so he just sits there and criticizes me for doing something he can't do.

Also I've never claimed I wanted profits, only that the posibility is there. The only reason I am looking for donations in the future is so I don't have to work on the engine myself. I'm not about to let my priorities get mixed up again. Money makes the world go around, like it or not. I can't guarentee this engine will make me any kind of profit -- it may prove to be a big waste of my time. It's something I like though. This will be the very last project I ever do in the Sonic community, so for my own personal pride, I'd like to make it a good one.

This person also said I couldn't program and was using someone else's code a little while back. Yet I've written several programs that are still available on the internet today. I even helped out a friend StephenUK by writing him a little quick-and-dirty application to help him progress faster on his own project. On top of that, I've let a select few people see the ProSonic engine code (just ask Cyan Helkaraxe, a well respected individual in the Sonic community and someone I consider a friend).

The point of this is to prove that critics are who they are because they can't build anything. They try, but they always fail at it. So they take their frustration out on others like me who actually can build, and do so far beyond their reach I might add. He's just another hater who can't do anything special except criticize (if you can even call that special). The whole time I'm smiling!

I Have One Volunteer

I won't disclose anything too major yet, but someone might be doing the PZF manager. This is an important step in ProSonic's production because the PZF manager is what will allow gamers to use their own levels and other related data with the engine. This deal isn't set in stone yet, but it looks promising from my perspective.

I will still need someone who can add scripting and networking support in ProSonic. I don't want to fool with it! I just want someone else who is skilled and willing to put those things in the engine. As I said before, I will pay them up front if they can show me they are capable of doing the work.

On another note, I still need to find someone who can write a sprite editor. I have the specifications for the sprite format used by ProSonic typed out for anyone who is willing and ready to write the program.

Clarifications About ProSonic Plans

There's a misconception about what I want to do about ProSonic. When I said I'd negotiate a price with a willing programmer, I meant up front. That means with or without donations, I'm willing to pay a programmer to program the types of things I listed prior to doing anything.

Also, the possibility of making money from ProSonic doesn't mean that you will have to pay to use it. Most likely people will be able to create games with it for free. I simply wanted to ask about the possibility if it ever came down to charging a fee.

I'm not asking for donations now. I would like to focus on finding a programmer who can do all the things I listed. I have talked with a few programmers, but all of them seemed to lack some experience in one area or another. That was my perception at least. In any case, I would love to see any portfolio work willing programmers have that demonstrates what they can do.

As for anyone suggesting I haven't done anything on ProSonic, I will direct them to this video that I've shown dozens of times:



I'd also direct them to the official outline that has been online for over a year which I had done heavy amounts of promotion on. I'm confident these two items will quickly change their opinions. For those who have suggested I'm a fraud and have no programming experience, I would gladly invite you to some Sonic forums to discuss your claims. I will say that those claims aren't true in the slightest way.

Time to Negotiate

I'm willing to negotiate a price. I have four key objectives I want to work towards in the ProSonic engine:

- Scripting
- Networking
- PZF manager/editor
- Sprite editor

I want a programmer with a lot of experience and is capable of handling the items I listed. The important thing to remember is any libraries used must have a licence allowing me the ability to make a profit off of ProSonic is I ever wanted to take that option (leave the copyright issues involving Sonic up to me). If you're a programmer and would like to make a little cash to pocket, this is your opportunity. Anyone who's reading this and wants to help and can't program, spread the word! I want as many people as possible to see this in hopes of finding a well qualified programmer who has the time and abbility to do this. The outline for the project is still available here.

Important ProSonic Survey

I have just a few questions I'd like to ask. It would be a great benefit to me if readers could spread this survey around the internet to attract as many people as possible. It's three questions, and readers may answer them by simply leaving a comment in response to this post.

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1) How likely is it you'd donate money to help support the development of ProSonic?

A. Very likely
B. Somewhat likely
C. Somewhat unlikely
D. Very unlikely

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2) How likely is it you'd be willing to pay a modest fee to use the ProSonic engine to create games?

A. Very likely
B. Somewhat likely
C. Somewhat unlikely
D. Very unlikely

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3) What are some features you'd like to see in ProSonic that would make it most appealing to you?

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That is all for now. I will take serious consideration to all the responses I get. Afterwards, I may put a single individual in charge of getting a team together to work on the project and meet certain goals. I'll discuss this more later.

Future of ProSonic

This semester is the first in a long time that I've actually started doing great in college. I want to continue the success I've been seeing so that I can achieve all A's this semester. I fully believe that turning 23 will prove to have been an important moment in my life. I have a different attitude on life and what I'm doing with it now, and this brings ProSonic into question.

To continue ProSonic, there are two key goals that need to be met. First, it must be taken over by a team of individuals who will have the drive and knowledge to complete it. Of course I would be the director of the project, I want to be much less involved in the actual development. I have stated this in the past, but I have never taken the steps to create a team. I will be considering people eventually, but for now I've got to consider the second goal.

The second goal is to develop a plan that will allow ProSonic to generate some kind of revenue. I wanted to keep it free, and I am not suggesting that I would make people pay to use it. I do need a way to employee people to work on it though, because I feel that would be the most effective way to get the project rolling in a timely manner. The problem is I see no opportunities to make money from this project. I understand some younger people may not understand why money is so important, but time is an important asset to me. I am not willing to pay out a pile of money to get nothing out of the effort. Working on the project for free is an option I see as bringing failure to the project.

I am looking for suggestions and ideas. The project has come very far since it began, and I would prefer to see it meet all the goals I outlined for it in the past and now. It must be profitable though.

Trust

There have been some complications between me and a friend. I'm not going to go into exact details, but basically for a while I felt mistreated. I'm not about to claim that anyone was right or wrong here, because that would be getting personal. I will say however that I strongly felt when I confronted her recently about it that I was entirely right. Things are more complicated than that though because I sort of... I don't like to use the word "spy" (I'm not a creepy person), but perhaps that's what it was. I more or less spied by reading some of her conversations with other people on the internet. It started out as a complete accident, but when I saw some things I really didn't like, I kept reading. I didn't tell her initially when I stumbled on the text because I didn't want to risk looking foolish to her in case I was getting the wrong idea... unfortunately because I kept it to myself, I most likely look a whole lot worse than just foolish.

I discussed it with many of my other friends at the time and they all took my side. Of course their opinions are a little biased in my favor anyway, but I tried to tell the story in a very balanced way. After confronting her, I thought things were probably going to be alright between us. Today however, I started to rethink it all and I realize I did something horrible -- I jeprodized her trust in me. I don't honestly know to what extent she trusted me, but I really feel pretty bad about it now after thinking it all over again. Regardless if I had a right to read those conversations or not, I feel really foolish. She's a good girl, and I really set a bad example and a false impression of what kind of person I am. I've never lost anyone's trust that I am aware of, because I'm a very trusting person. So this really bugs me since I take enormous pride in how trusty of a person I am.

The point of me writing this isn't entirely to complain about my problems. I want to focus on the core of the problem here -- trust. Trust is the abbility to share some of your more personal thoughts and feelings with another person in an open manner. I have earned the trust of lots of people. Sometimes we might not always live up to what we promise others, or sometimes we may hurt them unintentionally, but we had the best of intentions. That's what trust is, and it's something everyone should step back and think about for a second or two. It is something to value and not something to toy with. I regret what I did now, and I only wish I would have talked to her more openly about my initial findings instead of letting it go on and intensify.

The moral of the story is if you trust someone, don't jump to conclusions -- talk about your problem first before deciding to lay blame. Just think about it.

I Sort of Did a Good Deed Today

I got my bicycle out to ride around town for a little bit, and while riding through the street across from my house, a young black boy came running towards me yelling "hey mister, hey mister!" I stopped and turned. He asked if he could ride my bike. I was going to say no, but my heart felt differently. I let him ride. He wanted to keep the bike, but I said he couldn't. He rode around several times, and then I asked to have my bike back. I tried several times to get it back, and he just wanted to keep on riding. I didn't get forceful because I felt sorry for the child. Around my area, a lot of people are poor and don't have very much. So I felt I was probably making his day by letting him ride my bicycle.

Finally he gave it back. I asked what his name was, and he told me it was Tyrike (if I can even spell it correctly). I told him maybe I'd let him ride it again sometime soon. He was a very shy boy much the way I was when I was his age. He wouldn't hardly look at me and he spoke very softly.

I guess it sounds simple and all, but it made me feel pretty good to have let him ride my bicycle. Some of these people around here are crazy and might even steal it and never give it back, but I took my chances. I think my biggest concern was him getting hurt since the bike was bigger than he was, but he did a lot better than I thought.

Virus Issues Solved

Don't you love it when the solution is so simple that you almost never think of it? I thought to myself "in the Windows 9x days, I could boot into DOS and delete that file". Windows XP still has Safe Mode, but programs can still start depending where they're entered in the system registry.

Finally, it dawned on me that I could boot the Windows XP recovery CD and use the recovery console to delete the file. Sure enough, it worked. I was able to delete it and the registry entry for it. Now I can use my computer without any problems!

Viruses Drive Me Nuts

I got a virus on my computer on the 26th, and I've been fighting it ever since. It's slowing my computer down (especially Internet Explorer), and I'm guessing it's reading my key-strokes because sometimes I'll be typing and a letter will be missing even after I pressed the key for it. Thus it's a little annoying for me to even be writing this right now.

I have cleaned out a bunch of stuff that I found hidden on the hard drive and system registry. I scanned my computer using McAfee with July 2006 definitions (I have to buy it to get newer definitions), but it didn't find anything at all which surprised me. I then tried one of those free online virus scanners, and it found several items and deleted them. Yet I still have problems.

I found something in C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 -- a file called "mcinivx.dll". I searched for this on the web and found no results on it. I found an entry for it in the registry and deleted it. Two seconds later, it reappears in the registry. I try to delete the file, and it says it's in use. It created a file called "mcinivx.dns" a couple times, and each time I sent it to the recycle bin. Now however, there's a file called "dn589c4aec.dat" that's in the directory. The moment I delete it, it reappears. Sometimes "explorer.exe" won't even start, so I have to manually start it. Safe Mode hasn't helped any at all.

I'm certain this "mcinivx.dll" file is bad news, but it amazes me that I can't find anything on this file. Usually when you search for a file, you get some results in the search engine. I sent the file to McAfee Avert Labs to have them look into it. The initial test on the file returned no results, so now it's going to be looked at by a professional. I haven't heard back from them yet.

In the meantime, if anyone has any information, it would be appreciated!

My Twins

These are my twins! Can you tell which one is me? Probably not, because they're all as dorky as I am.

Okay, actually that picture is a mockup I did. Doesn't it look realistic though? It could actually be made to be even more realistic than that, but I haven't bothered because it took me long enough to get that much.

Some Funny Advice

I found this to be pretty humorous. Listen to Dorkgirl1's advice on anger management and aggressive driving!

The Truth About Enemies

In response to Daxflame's latest video on YouTube, I decided to send out an important message to haters all over the internet. I normally avoid things like this in my YouTube videos, but putting a twist on the video and talking about something I think is pretty important was something I felt I had to do. The main reason is due to the large numbers of people who want to go out their way to hurt me. I will always come out the better man.

Very Good Band

I was impressed when I heard Mingo Fishtrap! I went out tonight and listened to their show. They're extremely tight, and there is not one bad musician in the band! The horn section was amazing, and the vocalist really had a lot of heart and soul in his singing.

Meanwhile, a cute girl who was out on the floor having a good time was eyeing me and obviously wanted me to get up and dance with her. I was so busy watching the band that I became completely oblivious of the signs she was giving me. It wasn't until the people around me told me about it that I realized it. By that time it was too late! My dad was ready to smack me up side the head!

Raiding Daxflame

I have known about this for a long time, but I didn't actually look at it until now. Some of you may know that Daxflame's parents can be called by simply looking up their numbers on MySpace. Personally, I am against this sort of behavior by his haters. I don't care how much you hate someone, passing around their number without their permission is pretty low. Some people think it's funny, but when you tell someone who's reasonable about it, they won't laugh for even a second. I am going to see if I can have that fake MySpace account taken down. I don't see where it's funny at all. Everyone deserves privacy, no matter who they are.

Contest Winner Announcement

I have announced the winner of my contest in this video.



I thank everyone who participated. Believe me when I say I earned no profit from this contest. I did it because I'm nice, and because I don't mind the viewership. I may hold another contest in the future.

Collection of Outtakes

I have put together a collection of outtakes from my YouTube videos. I have over an hour of outtakes on my computer, but I used 4:14 worth of outtakes for the collection I'm making public. Some outtakes I decided not to make public for various reasons. I think this collection represents the best of the outtakes.

I also included clips from a video that I never uploaded. A lot of people so far have told me they want to see that video in it's full form. I don't think I'll ever release it in it's full form because I feel it doesn't really fit in with the rest of my videos. So consider the 28 seconds I provide from it as a bonus to your viewing pleasure.

Personality Test

I was going through some old files on my laptop. I found a text file where I saved results from a personality test I took online. I decided to go ahead and share my results. If you'd like to take the personality test, go here. I did the long 225 question version rather than the short 45 question version.

Extroversion - 51%
30% - Talkativeness
38% - Gregariousness
50% - Leadership / Group Attachment
58% - Sociability / Provacativeness / Self-Disclosure
62% - Assertiveness / Poise

Emotional Stability - 57%
18% - Cool-headedness
46% - Calmness / Imperturbability
54% - Stability
58% - Tranquility
66% - Moderation
70% - Toughness
74% - Impulse Control
86% - Happiness

Orderliness - 63%
38% - Purposefulness
46% - Rationality
54% - Planning
62% - Conscientiousness
70% - Efficiency / Cautiousness / Perfectionism
78% - Organization
86% - Dutifulness

Friendliness - 75%
46% - Cooperation
50% - Tenderness
70% - Pleasantness
82% - Morality / Nurturance
86% - Understanding / Warmth
90% - Empathy / Sympathy

Openmindedness - 75%
58% - Quickness
70% - Intellect / Creativity
74% - Introspection / Depth
82% - Ingenuity / Reflection / Competence
86% - Imagination

By the way, anyone familliar with the Myers-Briggs personality test? According to that, I'm an ISFJ. The description fits me perfectly!

LAN Party

My friend Michael invited me over to his LAN party Saturday. I got there at 12:30 and left at 8:45. That entire time was spent playing games! My eyes were hurting by the time I got done. It was a lot of fun though. We played "Unreal Tournament 2004" and "Call of Duty". A bunch of those guys were clearly more experienced at these games than I was (it was the first time for me), but I did get some good kills in! They were going to play "Quake II", but by that time I was ready to head for home. I definitely would like to do it again sometime.

AuctionAds & YouTube Updates

I recently signed up for AuctionAds. It's similar to Google AdSense, except I hear from a friend of mine that it's easier to make some money with it. It displays an item from eBay, and if someone clicks the add and buys the item, I get revenue for it! I also get revenue if people sign up for this service. So if you're interested in making some cash from your website or forums, try AuctionAds.

Oh, and I am thinking of ending my contest by or before the end of July. So it could end anytime up to July 31. There's a couple of people who came really close. If you haven't entered my contest to win $20, I would strongly recommend it! See my video for details.

Also, I recently did a new video. This one is about how I got the title "freakin' legend". It wasn't intended to be controversial, but it does have some people wondering what might happen in the days to come. I guess we shall see!

I Upgraded my Computer

I said to myself when I got my computer last year that I wasn't going to do any upgrading to the machine. I guess I lied to myself, because I just did today.

My computer came with 512MB of RAM, and I thought this would be plenty for what I wanted to use my computer for. I finally got tired of programs crashing on me (particularly Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Movie Maker). So several days ago, I ordered a new RAM chip online from Kingston. I replaced one of the 256MB chips with my new 1GB chip. So now I'm at 1.25GB. That should be plenty for what I use my computer for. We'll see I guess.

Transformers Left me Underwhelmed

I saw the new Transformers movie Friday night. I have to say I was a little disappointed. I was with my friend, and I told him that it was going to be awesome. He said "we'll see", and then I jokingly told him that I'd have to hurt him if he dared say it wasn't good. I mean after all, Optimus Prime is in it! He's the man... or "bot" I guess I should say!

Initially I was surprised at how quickly the movie seemed to pick up, but it was only a temporary feeling. After the first hour, I still wasn't at the edge of my seat. I became rather bored watching it. It just wasn't very exciting. One problem was there was too much focus on the humans, and minimal focus on the transformers. There was also very minimal battle in the movie. Even the battle between Megatron and Optimus Prime left me feeling a little empty. Optimus Prime seemed to give up too easily, which is certainly not like him when you look at how he was in the original cartoon.

Finally, there was way too much hype throughout the movie. They tried way to hard to make it look "cool" when there wasn't much backbone there to begin with. I love humor, but they used it a little too often in the movie, and that in my opinion took away from the potentially "cool" feeling of the movie. The humor was more of a distraction than anything.

I won't tell you it's a bad movie -- I modestly liked it, but it wasn't at all what it's been hyped up to be. If you go to see it, lower your expectations slightly and I think you'll tend to like it more.

Oh, and ironically my friend thought it was absolutely great. Maybe I should kill him for saying that... I'll think on it.

Contest for Twenty Dollars

I'm doing a contest where you could win $20! Watch my latest video for details.



Go here if you want to comment on the video (required by the contest rules).

For proof that I will not have cheated by the end of this contest, I will provide an encrypted number -- 1056931425538820521517490. At the end, I'll show how to decrypt the number which will prove I haven't cheated.

Dealing with People

There's a right way and a wrong way to deal with people. When you manage or administer something, you have a set of responsibilities to take hold of.

This was brought to my attention recently, and I was flat out stunned. The person is trying to get approved to join the forums, and the administrator was very rude with him for the simple fact that his e-mail looked odd. There's plenty of reason to be skeptical, but the administrator got an attitude about the whole thing.

I've been very critical and somewhat harsh in my opinion of administrators of forums across the internet. I was never able to put the foundation into place that I felt could make me a role model for administering forums, but I know there's a better way to go about handling these situations. When you yell at someone or get nasty with them, you're going to make the person mad regardless. The reason anyone should care about that is because it reflects on you. That's your image, and negativity will only tarnish it. Being positive encourages other members to join these forums. I know when I see this kind of behavior among staff members, I'm reluctant to join. It's something important to think about.

Brand New Episode

I have created episode 4 of my hit series "OMG Extreme Story Time". This episode features me doing the voice of Optimus Prime.



There's also a poll at the end of the video that I'd be interested in seeing some people take part in. Let me know what you think!

A New Daxflame Response Video

As many people know, I am a frequent viewer of Daxflame's videos. He has done a new one featuring some of his singing skills.



I decided because I haven't responded in a while to any of his videos, I would do a video response.



I hope you enjoy!

My Grandfather

My grandfather is a wonderful man. I have been mowing his grass for several weeks now, and initially he started paying me. I didn't want money because I wanted to do it out of the goodness of my heart. My problem has always been that I'm not good at saying no. I'll try to refuse money, but I usually end up taking it because I'm afraid of upsetting people.

Finally I found a way to refuse it, and my step-mom basically backed me up on that. I was finally out of a sticky situation! So he told me he'd find another way.

Monday I went to mow for him again. When I got there, he told me he had something for me. I looked and it was a brand new keyboard with a keyboard stand included (shown in this video)! I was pretty excited about it. I didn't attempt to refuse because I think in that scenario I really would have hurt his feelings. He went out his way to get that for me, so I decided to take it. That was his way of getting back at me for refusing money!

I really wish I was better at refusing things, but I have to say that this really shows what kind of person my grandfather is. He'd do absolutely anything for me. He's truly a great man, and I hope to live up to his ways as I get older.

Shortest Hair I've Ever Had!

I can't believe how short my hair is! I decided I wanted a hair cut because I was tired of seeing it so long in the front. So I asked for it to be cut short this time. The lady started trimming away. My hair wasn't really that long in the back, but when she was cutting back there, I saw all this hair falling all over the place. I was starting to get a little uncomfortable because of how far up she was cutting. It was the longest time I have ever spent in a chair getting a hair cut.

Everytime I look at my hair now, I am a little shocked at how short it is. I have never had my hair this short before. Don't get me wrong, it's been really short, but I think this holds the record. I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. I am started to grow used to it though, and my family seems to like it.

I'll be posting a new video on my YouTube channel. You'll be able to see the dramatic change when I post the new video. I'd love to hear opinions. I'm not used to my hair being this short and am picky about my looks, so feedback is good.

Very Busy

I'm still alive, I promise! I've just been extremely busy lately. I've been doing a lot of work out in the heat for several days in a row. By the end of the day, I just don't even feel like writing in my blog or doing a video.

Basically what I've been doing is a bunch of mowing at several houses, shoveling dirt at a construction site, and doing random things for people. I am definitely tanning, which isn't a bad thing because I don't like to look pale.

Music for the Contracters

Today I played music for an event for a bunch of contracters in the area. We were supposed to do three sets, but a bad storm came (nobody wants to be under a grounded tent in a storm!) So we played two sets.

There wasn't enough power for the generator to run with, so we had some issues throughout the day. I couldn't hear myself play part of the time. I made the best of it though. I figure I can get mad about it, or I can make the best of the situation and try to enjoy myself. I did the latter. Plus I've had far worse gigs, so it didn't seem like the end of the world to me. I ultimately had a lot of fun!

Go Drug Task Force!

I was taking out the trash today, and suddenly I heard a really loud "bang" sound. At first I thought maybe a car ran into something. I didn't see anything though. Then I thought "well that's a good bit louder than a car running into something". Then I started walking into my back yard and suddenly heard "get on the ground, get on the ground!". I was a little scared because I didn't know what was going on, so I went inside and watched from the porch.

Standing in the back yard of another person's house were several men dressed in green. They had backpacks, helmets, and big guns! It took me a while to realize that it was a task force of some kind. After watching a while, a neighbor of the house told us it was a drug bust. There were ten men taken out the front door of the house, all whom possed guns. Some of the task force guys were walking in and out of the house, while some of the others were standing guard at the corners of the house.

I was waiting for some action, but it didn't happen. The most action there was was the gun shot and the yelling. It died off after that. I still thought it was pretty exciting though.

Touch Me -- You Might Get Lucky!

Today I went to the dump to take some trash. I had a co-worker, Jason, with me to help with the heavy stuff. On my way back to work, we saw a cop who pulled out and drove behind us. I mentioned how I had never gotten a ticket before, and how part of it was probably luck. Right as I said that, I stopped at the end of the road and looked both ways to see if cars were coming. Then I crossed the road. The problem was I forgot about the light -- it was red! The cop behind us followed us down the road, and when I pulled into work, the cop kept going down the road! He never stopped and said anything to me. He's either an extremely nice cop, or blind!

Video About Cheese Nips!

I have done a new video for YouTube. This one is about the great taste of Cheese Nips. I also discuss 'tokenblackchic' and why nobody should give her a gun. Also, don't mess with me because I can destroy you with the blink of an eye!

My Band Class is Done

I played music yesterday and today with the college band. After that, it was over. I will be missing it because I had a lot of fun playing with all those guys. My band director always kept things together, and for that I am grateful. I don't care how good some of those guys may or may not be, we wouldn't have been nearly as good without his leadership.

I'd like to join the class again in the fall. The next time, I'll be ready to make suggestions of songs I'd like to do early in the semester. I already have some songs in mind that I think he wouldn't be opposed to doing, so my only challenge is to remember until the end of August comes!

I Wrote A Song

I don't know what to call it my new song. It's written about me. I have put it up on the internet for download. You can grab it here. It's a good song I think. I have a dance I created for it too.

My Sax Machine Gun

I did a video about my saxophone. In it, I also request some suggestions as to what I should wear in my upcoming surprise video. The run-time is 4:11 total.

ProSonic Deadline Has Been Axed

If I want to sit around and be lifeless, I could finish ProSonic by 2008 without any problems. I haven't been entirely happy for a few months now and feel that I really need to spice up my life. I've taken some small steps to try and do this, but it's not enough. So I decided I needed to put the axe to the ProSonic 2008 deadline I set in my outline. The official deadline now is simply "when it's done". I refuse to be committed to ProSonic when it's adding stress in my life. I'm very excited about the project and want to finish it, but I need to be committed to much more important things.

This doesn't mean I will stop working on ProSonic. I'll work on it when I feel up for it and time permits it. I think ProSonic has sort of forced me to be on the internet more though. I need to be on the internet less, not more. I hope people understand my decision. I have thought about this for a while and figured this was the smartest choice.

The Vibes I Send and Recieve

I don't understand it. It's been a problem for me for years. It happens more with girls I meet than guys. This doesn't happen with every girl I meet, but once in a while I will meet a girl and give her the impression that I like her when I really don't. I don't know what it is I do. One person suggested I come off as way too nice to be genuine. I believe that's probably true to an extent. I have gone out of my way in the past to help people in ways that most normal people wouldn't ever attempt to help. My hope is that I will start a good friendship. Maybe I try too hard?

Tonight I was chatting with a group of people online. I didn't really know any of them, but I was hoping to simply chat and have a little fun as a result. It turned really ugly though, and this girl who seemed really nice to begin with slowly began to send a really negative vibe to me it seems. Her cousin was calling me a child molester for no reason that I can see at all. As his language got nastier, she didn't seem to care at all. When I tried to talk to her privately, she suddenly signed off (or blocked me; not sure which). It became obvious to me that they didn't like me.

I don't want to act like someone who can't make friends -- I've made many. I will admit that I have severe problems with trying to get to know people better though. This isn't just online, this is in real life too. I find it very depressing sometimes. If anything, I believe this issue is directly related to my poor social skills. I know I did nothing wrong to warrent the harshness that I came in contact with tonight, but I'm not even sure why I got it at all. Maybe they're just odd people, I don't know. I just wish more people understood me. I'm a pretty normal person (or at least that's what I believe!)

I might not even bother reading the comments to this post, because I can picture the type of comments I'm going to get from some people -- saying how there isn't a such thing as normal, or how I need to find a new group of people to socialize with. Those comments are exactly the kind of comments I don't want. Those comments are well-intentioned, but they get me a little mad. If I can't socialize with average everyday people, I'm an outcast. I refuse to be an outcast. Also, outcasts are usually very unsuccessful people in life. I'm not a weirdo, I just need better social skills is all.

Some New YouTube Videos

I've been doing a bunch of YouTube videos over the past few days. I enjoy humor, and it's very rewarding when I get the nice compliments from people. As of now, I have 129 subscribers. I'm not bragging or anything, because really that's nothing compared to some of the other YouTube users. For me, it's a nice little reward that keeps me going.

I Will Rule the World


Wikipedia's Out to Get Me!


And of course you can see more of my videos on my channel. It's all in good fun.

Ignorant Use of English

It annoys me when I find most people don't know certain things about the language they speak that they really should know! I see it and hear it all over the place.

The first thing that annoys me is the improper use of "to" and "too". In fact, seeing the word "too" is very rare it seems. The word "to" usually refers to a destination. For example, I could say "I'm going to the store." I could also say "I need to do my taxes." The word "too" refers to a number. I could say "There are too many birds crapping on my car." The word can also be used to substitute the word "also". "I am writing a book too!"

The second thing that annoys me is the improper use of "translucency" and "transparency". So lets get them straight. Something that is transparent is said to be 100% translucent. Transparent is something you can see through completely. Translucency is a degree to which you can see through something. Most glass is transparent, whereas a compact disc is translucent (if you don't believe me, pick up a CD and look closely at the bottom of it). So please don't call something transparent when it's really only translucent!

I'd love to hear what things annoy you about how people use the English language. Leave a comment!

A New Extreme Story!

I barely made it! I said I would try to do a new episode of OMG Extreme Story Time either Friday or Saturday. Then I said it might have to be Sunday. There's about 30 minutes left in this day at the moment that I'm writing this.

The new episode of OMG Extreme Story Time is available here. This episode is dedicated to Daxflame. Tell me what you think!

My Singing

I decided to record myself singing several songs I've been working on lately. I did it simply for the reason that I felt like doing it. I'm always open to opinions, so tell me what you think! You can listen here.

Money, Work, and YouTube.

I put up a new video here. In it, I discuss several things. OMG Extreme Story Time episode 3 is coming very soon. Although I have more e-mails than I can possibly read in the next episode, I'll try to get more than two read.

In the video, I also discuss my living arrangement, the fact that I like girls, and my love for Wild Cherry Pepsi! I recommend my readers take a look at the video.

As for my day today, I spent several hours working at my dad's house. I was getting old dirt out from the cracks in the floor. My hand is a little worn out because of it, but there's much worse things I could have done, so I'm not complaining. I was going to put some money in the bank this morning, but then I realized that since my federal and state tax returns will automatically be put into my account, I would be penalized if I put more money in. So instead, I'm thinking I'll simply open a Certificate of Deposit (which is probably a better idea anyway).

Outside Work and an Interesting Video

I've been moving old Harley-Davidson parts out of my mom's basement for a while, and I'm happy to have finally finished that! But now that the parts have been moved, I have another job to do. I don't know if I'm going to enjoy it at all or not, but I will be painting my grandfather's fence. He has a good bit of land, so there's a lot of fence. It'll keep me busy though, so I'm happy about that. I also like the fact that I'll be working outside, because sometimes I feel I just don't get out as much as I really need to. I'm usually doing work inside somewhere.

Oh, and a guy who goes by the name "Kaceyr1" has posted two videos about me. Here's the latest one he did (I have to warn you, it uses strong language). You can tell this guy loves my videos! I think he should subscribe to them, what do you all think? Maybe he should join the Damian Grove fan club (but I would have to actually start one first)! This is fun stuff.

My Biggest Fan?

I have been getting a lot of e-mail because of my videos on YouTube. It's the OMG Extreme Story Time series that has sparked an interest from people all around YouTube, and I've gotten a boost in subscribers over the past few days.

Christian Lane is probably my biggest fan. She's the coolest kid in the whole world! I'm glad she has taken a strong interest in my series on YouTube, and I ask her to continue to check back for new videos. Much love to you Christian!

Recognition

Today in my band class, we began "Johnny B Good". For a change, I sort of felt like I had control over the music. I'm much more knowledgeable with rock & roll and swing, so I knew exactly what to put into the song when I played it. The other horn players followed me.

I asked my instructor if he'd be willing to have a saxophone solo in the song, and he gave me the okay for it. So I played a solo and people seemed to really like it. It felt good to get that recognition, because I usually stand back and stay pretty quiet. I don't like to step on anyone's feet or anything like that, but I wanted to shine just on one song for a change.

Oh and I think I have a fan of my videos on YouTube! He gave me this video response to a video I did for the YouTube super star Daxflame. He sounds like he really enjoys my videos don't you think?! The way I see it is any publicity is good publicity. If someone took the time to make a video response, I'm doing something right because that means I'm getting stronger reactions out of people.

People Who Don't Get Humor

For anyone who hasn't figured it out yet, my OMG Extreme Story Time videos on YouTube were created not only for a laugh, but to prove people wrong who suggested I couldn't take a joke. The series will continue with many more episodes to come I assure you, but I want to address something I didn't expect to see. There's actually people who take me seriously with these videos! This video is a prime example.

I think it's alright for someone to brag about how awesome they are and how nobody else can be that awesome as long as it's humor. I don't actually believe that! It's humor! I'm not going out my way to attack anyone, I'm just being goofy. I think part of the problem is a lot of people who see these videos don't know me personally. I did this kind of stuff around my friends in high school for a long time. It's just a natural part of my personality. That doesn't mean I'm being serious when I say those things though! If anyone disagrees, that's just going to have to be your problem and weird obsession with seriousness.

My New Bicycle

I decided yesterday I wanted a bicycle. I talked to my dad today and he had one that the previous owners of his new house left behind and never came to pick up. So we went and got it. I put air in the tires and brought it home with me. I have to say that I have never had that much fun in quite a while. I rode all over the place.

The only bad part was the seat. It seriously needs adjusted because it forces my hands against the hand grips. As a result, I got blisters all over my hand. Once I get the seat adjusted, it should be a lot easier on my hands the next time I ride.

A New Video

Continuing off the success of OMG Extreme Story Time - Episode 1, I have uploaded a second episode to YouTube you can download here. In this episode, a girl get captured by aliens. I go on a mission to save her. Let me know what you think!

Who is Mark Erickson?

A while back, I posted some of Mark Erickson's "Infinite Solutions" videos. What some people may not know is Mark (who's real name is Zachary Johnson) can actually be seen in other videos done by Fatal Farm. Below are two hilarious videos:

- (Alternate) Designing Women TV Intro
- (Alternate) Doogie Howser M.D. TV Intro

Long live Mark Erickson! He is a true genius, and I am always looking forward to more of his videos.

New ProSonic Engine Demonstration Video

As I promised, I put up a new ProSonic demonstration video. You can view it here. It focuses mainly on the menu system, interlacing, and zooming. It's a little over 7 minutes in length to assure I cover these areas in good detail.

ProSonic Updates Coming

It's been a while since I last mentioned ProSonic on here. I am still working on it, and I have a few things I'm pretty exciting about. Most people won't be as excited as I am because the truth is, I usually get more excited about the things I do with ProSonic than other people do. Something I didn't plan for at the time that I did my outline was integrating level editing into the engine itself. Recently I have decided to expand on the idea of integrating utilities, and now I'm working on a cellular filter editor. A cellular filter contains data used to deform the background of a level to simulate multiple layers scrolling among other things.

My plan to making this kind of editing possible is to first design a menu system that will allow designers to select the variable associated with the cellular filter data and allow them to change it. So right now I'm designing the menu system, and it's quite complex. It'll be flexible enough to recreate the level select menu in Sonic 2 with no programming required on the designer's part.

I plan to upload a video of the progress I've made on YouTube sooner or later. I'm not entirely sure what the video will and will not show, but it'll be whatever I think will be most informational and interesting to people.

Paul Sanchez & Dyslexia

You have to appreciate what Mr. Paul Sanchez is doing. He's sending an important message out there for millions of people. For anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about, it's this. I did a response available here. Basically I told him that he is a role model for a lot of children and he should keep the incredible will power that he has close to his heart. He probably won't get all 8 wishes by his deadline, but he's certainly accomplished a lot more than most of us could. I think the 10,000 miles was worth the trip!

Minor Raids

It's nothing real big, but there have been some very minor raids. There's been a small fluxuation in blog visitors, as well as viewers of my videos on YouTube. I believe this is temporary and won't last. Apparently the wrong people found a video I did recently and decided they needed to throw their comments out there. If you do happen to see spam on the blogs, I appologize for it. Some people love me, and others hate me. What else can I say?

The video that I have referred to is this video. I plan to do an entire series on it. Mind you, I think it's sort of funny (certainly not the funniest thing out on the internet, but I like it). Other people have given me some good feedback on it too, so perhaps I'm doing something right. I didn't plan on announcing the video or the series on here until I had a couple of them completed, but the recent spam has led me to change those plans. It's already being talked about, so I might as well take the cover off of it (not that I was trying to hide it though).

A Bunch of Things to Mention

Alright, for those new to my blog and have never heard of "ProSonic", it's a game engine I've been programming for over a year now. It essentially is an enhanced replica of the original Sonic the Hedgehog game engine. This means you can make Sonic games that play like the originals. This also means it can share data used in the original games if desired.

Now as far as updates on the engine, I have worked on it a little bit as of late, but I'm waiting for a response from StephenUK to an e-mail I sent him. I'm not sure if he got it or not, but basically I'm looking for his opinion or guess on a bug in the engine. I have fixed a couple minor bugs in the past few days, but something is terribly wrong with the stage swapping functionality. For anyone who doesn't understand, stage swapping is a feature that will be available in the ProSonic engine for such things as time travel.

Also, I'd like to mention something kind of funny that happened today. Someone out of the blue just decided to message me. I think they saw a picture of me or something. Below is our conversation (I'm 'niftyguy101').

xodancefevaxo: hey there goodlooking
niftyguy101: Howdy do
xodancefevaxo: whats shakin bacon
niftyguy101: Well my butt's in the chair, so not much
right now ^_^
xodancefevaxo: mine too
niftyguy101: So who's this I'm speaking to?
xodancefevaxo: shavonda
xodancefevaxo: who is this
niftyguy101: This is Damian, son of satan (lol, okay
minus the latter part)
xodancefevaxo: okay PECAE
*** xodancefevaxo's IC window is closed

I tried to speak to her again, but she refused any contact. I guess I offended her! I thought it was kind of funny though.

Oh, and I must say I'm amazed over the responses I have gotten at YouTube over a video I posted. I've always known the YouTube audience was full of jerks, but I'm being called names simply because I'm a nice guy who wanted to make someone feel better! These guys don't know what they're talking about. I've been called ugly, told that my dressing style is horrible, gay, and everything else. There have been a few people who have actually told me that they wish there were more people in the world like me (that made me feel special!) I have to say though that I'm playing this by the "any publicity is good publicity" mindset. I've tried to make YouTube a more interesting way to put my creativity out there to the world. The one time that I use it to do something for someone else instead of myself, I get a spike in the number of viewers and responses. So I'm holding my head up above all the criticism, because deep down I know that they're really just giving me exactly what I wanted in the first place (ironically at a time when I wasn't even trying for it). If you want to see the video I'm talking about, it's available here.

Introducing 'Crazo' to the World

When I was in 3rd or 4th grade, I created a cartoon character I named "Crazo" because of how crazy I pictured him acting. Of the dozens of characters I invented, he's one of only a few I never forgot about. He's my favorite character creation, so I decided to draw him again and upload a video on YouTube. I have put it up here for people to see.

Also, the music in the video is "Tequila". The song was originally done by The Champs. The video version is done by me.

First Time Doner

I'm now officially a first time doner. I gave blood today at around 4:00 today. They pinched my finger to test my blood I guess (which hurt). Then I laid on the bed and they stuck that needle in me. That hurt for about 5 seconds, and then the pain started dying off. It looks scarey to me to see how much blood they actually take. I had no idea it took that long either. Some friends had to get a picture of my facial expression when I was lying down because I looked pretty nervous. It was my first time after all, so I had good reason to feel nervous.

I'm glad I gave blood, but I can't say I liked it. My finger still hurts, and I don't feel like I have quite as much energy as I normally would. The best part about it is I possibly saved three lives today by donating my blood. It makes me feel a little less selfish and a little more giving like the "giver" I always claim I am to people.

Kindergarten for Men

Women know what some of us guys want, so how about treating us to it? In this video, you will see a wonderful opportunity for men to be happy and live their dreams. It's definitely a place I would love to go!

I've Had Much Better Days

Today I'm sick. I felt symptoms last night when my head out of the blue just started hurting. I thought perhaps it was just my body's way of telling me it wanted some sleep. So, I went to bed thinking it would be better by morning.

I work up around 4:00 in the morning, and I wasn't able to fall back to sleep. I felt like I was burning up, so I kicked the covers off me. Then my body started shivering even though I still felt kind of warm. I felt my forehead and realized I was burning up.

At 7:00, I threw up a bunch of food all over my floor. I also threw up at 8:00 and 9:00. By 10:00, I felt like I was ready to do it again, only my body wasn't making me. My head hurt really badly, and I couldn't see straight (literally). I was completely dizzy for a good half hour.

Finally, I went into my grandmothers room and rested on her bed (it's more comfortable than mine) and took some pills. I eventually fell asleep and didn't get out of bed until around 2:00 PM. So now here I am writing this out. I don't feel 100% yet, but I'm doing better than I was.

A Serious Video... Seriously!

I made a video and put it up on YouTube today. You can see the video here. In it, I discuss ProSonic and some different things I've been doing lately. What you see is what you get -- no insanity like some of my others! I figured I'd do this one because I realize I haven't talked about ProSonic in a while. Plus I like to talk a little about my life once in a while.

Also let me know if you have problems with me doing videos. I realize that sizeable portion of my visitors are from other countries where English isn't the standardized language. If enough people have a problem understanding me, perhaps I will make transcripts in the future when I do more videos.

Infinite Solutions

I have to hand it to Mark Erickson, he's a pretty smart fellow. Just who is he you ask? He hosts the "Infinite Solutions" online tutorials. This guy can teach you all sorts of brilliant tricks. He shares how to increase your Wi-Fi signal, a hidden mode in Minesweeper, how to access GoogleTV, and some other very interesting tricks.

You can view Mark's profile to see all his videos, or you can go to them directly using the links provided below:

- How to YouTube Podcast
- How to Clean Up Your iTunes Library
- How to Increase Your Wi-Fi Signal
- How to Unlock a Hidden Minesweeper Mode
- How to Sign Up for GoogleTV Beta
- UPDATE: GoogleTV Beta

Some people have suggested some of his videos provide completely false information, but I'm not saying anything -- you be the judge!

My Music

For my next video, I decided to do some commentary on a couple song recordings I have done within the past few years. So here it is.



I thought this would be a good idea because some people have asked me where they could download some of my reecordings, and I end up telling them the songs aren't on the internet anymore. Plus I know there's many people who have never heard any of my recordings, so I picked three that I felt would grab some attention. I picked "The Heart of Rock & Roll", "Live It Up", and "So In Love" to be in the video. The video is 10 minutes long (I had to do extensive editing to make it 10 minutes).

It's Bass Ackwards

I wanted to know what it would be like to speak backwards. This is the result. I wanted to say something longer, but I didn't feel like spending all day on it. I sound so stupid when my voice is reversed!

Taking the Internet Too Seriously

One thing I have gotten a lot of over the past two or three years is people telling me I take the internet too seriously. A majority of these people who say that to me think it's perfectly okay to express any opinion they have about someone any time of the day, even if the person they're talking about is going to see what they write.

They're the folks I like to categorize as "logic thinkers" because they are too strict with standards. They have the freedom to say what they wish, so they take that too the extreme without any regard to a person's feelings. Those are exactly the kind of people I've often had a problem with. They're not like the nice folks who neighbor me where I live and areas close by.

Young people get bullied everyday on the internet because of a lack of parental supervision and an environment where basically anything goes. Moral and traditional values are poor on the internet. If older folks on some of these websites would try to raise the bar and set a good example, the younger folks would most likely behave better. As long as there's an "anything goes" attitude, the internet will always be a cruel place to be.

I was stunned when some people asked me why in the world I would release those videos of me basically making a fool of myself. I said they were just for fun. Everyone has been that way at least once. They insisted that they still didn't understand, and they basically over-reacted and thought it was silly for me to have fun with my webcam like that and show people.

Now recently an individual named Austin Sims from Michigan City, Indiana decided to spam some of my blog posts. I have left the comments he made so others could see the poor behaviour by this kid. On YouTube, he portrays himself as an 18 year old when he's actually only 15 and has a lot of maturing to do yet. I am expecting an appology from him for this. One thing I'm very good at doing is digging up a lot of dirt on people that they don't want anyone else to see. I have plenty of it on him, so he'll appologize and never do this again if he's smart.

Where did this kid come from? 7chan.org is the place. Someone who knows me online found one of my videos and told a bunch of people on 7chan.org about it. As a result, they tried to dig up my phone number (unsuccessfully by the way) to harass me by phone, and then Austin spammed my blog posts.

Had there been higher standards, leadership, and good number of positive examples set, these kids would never have seen any of that as funny. But the internet is a standard of it's own. I could act like them to try and survive and avoid the heavy load of criticism and hate aimed at me over the years, but I choose to instead set good examples for people who look up to me and not them.

I hope when I'm older, I can look back to these days and say that I made a positive difference in some people. When I set good examples, they will spread. Otherwise, bad things happen. So am I really taking the internet too seriously? Absolutely not, but there are things that are right and wrong, and I'm going to follow my morals regardless what typical internet users tell me.

The Legend Continues

I did another 1 minute movie at YouTube. You can view it here.

Again, some might view this as weird while others may view it as hilarious. I got mixed responses on my first "Legendary Movie", so I'm expecting much the same this time too. I don't care how silly I look, just as long as I have some viewers.

Alfie Carrington's UFO

A man named Alfie Carrington is building his own UFO. Apparently he's been working on it for the past 30 years, and he hopes to finish it in the next 8 months. He claims his design is simple and has two patents on the design.

I'm reminded that many of the most looney creators have gone down in history as brilliant people. I usually try not to get too carried away with stories like these, but this one really caught my eye. I think it's possible that Alfie might be onto something here. Only time will tell I guess.

You can read the article here.

The Most Legendary Movie Ever

Bored out of my mind, I decided to have fun with my webcam recently. I made this movie to break out and have some fun. It's about 1 minute long, but it's filled with craziness. It features "Hip to be Square" by Huey Lewis & The News. Some people might think it's funny, and others might think it's a little weird. I don't care, I just had to post it and show it to people. I hope you enjoy!

Learning Some Funky Music

My dad and I have been talking for a couple days about getting a band together to play some songs people will actually dance to and enjoy. He wants to create some melody transitions so we don't have to keep stopping every time a song is over.

He has some songs in mind he wants to do. He asked me if I knew any songs off the top of my head I might like to do, and I immediately said "Thriller". He kind of teased me with the idea a little, but then said that it would be fine. So I burned a copy of the song for him, and he learned the guitar parts.

He said the only real issue with the song is the fact that Michael Jackson has had so much bad publicity. He also said however that not everyone likes "Celebration" and all the other songs we're going to be doing. Everyone has different tastes. He said as long as we keep the music going and don't stop between songs, it'll seem like it was just a song thrown in there and not a big deal. So I was happy to hear that.

My job now is to find some other songs I'd like to do. I will have to go through my music to see what all I can sing. He said I'll most likely sing a majority of the songs because I have the right voice for it. In addition, I'll either play saxophone or keyboards for each song.

I'd like to record some of the practices and upload some of the material to the internet so people can listen. I know this is my blog, but I do hope the recordings aren't projected as being all about me. It is a band after all, and each individual contributes something important. I shun any suggestions that one guy makes a band, because truthfully that's just ridiculous. Anyway, keep a lookout for the recordings if you're interested.

Just One of Those Days

Yesterday, I had to take my grandfather's truck down to my dad's new house to load up some junk to be taken to the dump. As I was going through the pile, I picked a long thin strip of wood and tossed it in the back of the truck. For whatever reason, I thought it was shorter than it actually was, so I tossed it further than I obviously should have. It crashed right through the rear window of the truck. I felt really stupid.

A couple minutes later, I stepped up on the truck and was trying to walk across a board. The foot I was going to bring up onto the board moved just slightly to the left, and that was enough for a nail to poke right through my shoe and into my foot. I was in a lot of pain. I pulled the nail out, but I didn't see any blood.

Later that day, I looked at it and saw a little bit of blood on my sock. I haven't had a tetanus shot in a long time, so I think it's time for me to get one. On top of that, new glass for the truck will cost me over $400! It's quite depressing, but I suppose it could have been a lot worse.

Too Quick to Judge Paula Abdul

If you haven't heard, Paula Abdul was recently on a Fox-affiliated morning show in Seattle where she appeared to be drunk or drugged up. I normally don't care a whole lot about celebrity gossip, but I happen to like some of Paula Abdul's songs, so it caught my attention.

I watched the video several times very carefully. She's obviously very hyper, and it sounds like she slurs some of her words. Her publicist says there was a sound problem. If you pay attention to the beginning of the video, one of the hosts calls out to her loudly, and then Paula calls out loudly back to her. Then the host says "she can hear us". I find that to be proof that they really did have audio drop-outs prior to what was actually broadcasted.

What about Paula Abdul's hyperness? Well considering it's early in the morning, coffee comes to my mind. Some people are a little off the wall when they have enough coffee in the morning. Coffee also causes many people to move around a good bit.

What about her speech? Well, I don't know for sure. It sounds to me like she has a cold though. That's perfectly possible, because it's that time of year. So that might be the reason her speech is a little funny.

What if I'm wrong and she actually is high on something? Well who says she's on cocaine or drunk? What if she's a little drugged up from her medication? If you do research, you will find she had Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy and takes medication for that. Perhaps the side-effects are showing.

I'm not saying it's impossible for her to be drunk or on some kind of illegal drugs, but I'm saying people are took quick to make judgments without doing their homework. In fact, some are so quick to assume she's doing drugs that they will post comments to denigrate her. In this video, someone posted "wow... she's definitely not right there..." in the comments. I watched it and saw nothing wrong with her at all. She paused for a moment, and she mangled one of her words. A lot of perfectly normal people do that though, especially when they get a little nervous.

People are too quick to make judgments. I can't honestly tell you if she is on drugs or not, but I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. You are free to think what you want on the recent interview with her, but for those who say she's drunk when they too often make judgments with a lack of information need to do some more thinking. I can understand the recent event, but when people start claiming she's drunk in every other video, its gone way overboard.

My Band Class

I signed up for a band class this semester in college. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I have to say I had a blast today. I came in with my saxophone and sat down. I listened to the instructor for a little, and then we got right into playing. There was no sheet music. It was like getting together for a big gig. We played "Play That Funky Music White Boy", "Pick Up The Pieces", and several other funk songs. I'm one of four saxophones, so we have what it takes to put some great parts together.

There's no improvisation, we learn the actual parts in the original recordings. That's a good thing I suppose. I've always hated it when people just half way learned a song and made the rest fit. I feel you become a better musician when you not only do a little improvisation, but learn how to play the song exactly like the original as well. What I would really love is if later on we get to make suggestions of songs to play. The instructor is even planning to get us some gigs to play different places for money.

The funniest thing about it is I am one of three Damian's. Damian Wilson plays keyboards, and then another Damian I only met today plays saxophone like I do. I always thought Damian was such a rare name, and only once had I ever had a class with another (Damian Wilson), until today. It'll take time getting used to. Hopefully my instructor won't start calling me Brandon (inside joke -- the teacher I had for the class I was in with Damian Wilson kept calling me Brandon throughout the entire year).

Integrated Editing in ProSonic

In continuing my efforts to make the source code to the editing tools and the actual ProSonic engine tied together, I decided to try making an integrated level editor. This means that while playing the game, you can also modify it all in the same program. This would be useful for developers, but a stripped version of the engine may be the preference for people who just want to play games without actually making them.

I recorded a video and uploaded it to YouTube. You can go here to see it. The level shown in the demo is from StephenUK's excellent "Sonic: Project Chaos" ROM hack.

Thriller Sessions

As a little kid, I was a huge Michael Jackson fan. It had been a long time since I listened to anything from him, but a little while back I put a CD of Thriller in the CD player and listened to it and fell in love with those songs all over again. Afterwards, I tried to learn some of the words to a couple songs on the album.

So back in October, I did some recording sessions of Michael Jackson's "Thriller". I had the files on my computer and didn't really know what I wanted to do with them. Finally I decided it might be kind of neat to put them up on YouTube. So here are the four sessions I did:

- Session take 1 (vocals only)
- Session take 2
- Session take 3
- Session take 4

I remember years ago someone said it would be kind of interesting to hear out-takes of some of my songs with areas I messed up and such. So you could more or less view these in the same light, especially sessions takes 2 and 3.

The whole idea was to eventually do a full-scale recording of Thriller just like I have done with different songs in the past. I never got around to it, but I still might do one. I just have to find the time.

People Filled With Hate

Take a look at this. I've been watching him closely for a couple weeks. A while back, I was searching for some information at s2beta.com. I can't resist reading some of the topics there every now and then. I hate what I read often because of the rude comments that are constantly posted there.

Eventually though, I came across some of the usual trouble there with a user named Oerg866. I've seen a number of very rude comments aimed at him. Not only are the completely rude, but they're unfair. The kid claims he's 13. Even if he were to be a little younger than that, the point is he's still young! I watched his YouTube videos and realized that he was very enthusiastic about what he did in those videos. However some people have called him dumb and a liar. I don't see this at all, and those people need to be confronted.

My dad has told me several times in the past that a bully is someone who's afraid of a bully. Donald Trump has been saying something along those lines recently as well. My feeling is just because people were hard on you doesn't mean you should be hard on others. People who are treating Oerg866 badly are bullies. Those people learn to shut up when other people jump on them though. If you have something hurtful to say, keep it to yourself. If they're mean to you, then you got every reason in the world to fire back. As long as they haven't bothered you though, you need to keep to yourself.

I've been heavily criticized online for nearly a decade because of the way I am. I try to put out a strong message that I feel is important, or I try to motivate others to do good things. What did I ever get in return most of the time? I was called egotistical, up-tight, a moron, and a bunch of other things I'd rather not write here. I saw recently where comments were made about me again. Those people are foolish though, because the only thing I ever tried to do for years was be a good role model, never to say "I'm God, worship me". I had a lot of popularity on the internet at one time. At the age of 14, all that popularity made me really excited, but I never let it get too far to my head. I've always maintained that when you're looked up to by a lot of people, you should assume responsibility of being a good role model.

What does that have to do with the people pushing this little kid around? Well I may not have the backing I used to on the internet, but I will always continue to try and put forward what I think is the honest and right thing to do. I often found myself taking up for the younger kids who were pushed around and made fun of by the older kids. You should treat others with respect, and you've especially got serious issues if you're in your late teens or adult-hood harassing a 13 (or younger) year old kid for no good reason. That's sick. I created my blog to talk about what I think on some things, so I'm expressing my thoughts. I don't wish to upset anyone, and I don't want to make enemies. However I think if more people would speak up about this kind of stuff, it wouldn't happen as much as it does. So, allow me to be the first -- stop it.