So I've been spending a large amount of time on Minecraft.
What is minecraft? Well Minecraft is one of those wonderfully addicting “indie” games. Basically, the entire world is made of cheap-looking blocks (cubes, more like it) and you dig/mine/smelt stuff into blocks and build stuff. I've been playing single-player on easy mode, where you regen health and monsters don't spawn. I prefer it cuz minecraft should be about building awesome stuff, and not fighting zombies. If I want to kill zombie with a sword, I'll play a proper action/rpg game. Not a building game.
So what can you build? Awesome stuff. I'll try and post some screenshots if I can figure how how to. But right now I have a mine (where I've found Redstone, iron, gold, coal and lava. I've avoided the lava. Lava is dangerous), and a smelter above that where I've been smelting iron and reworking my stone to make it nice and shiny. See, when you mine stone, it comes out as cobblestone. Which, after a fashion, is awesome. I made my road and bridge out of cobblestone, but I don't want to make a house out of cobblestone, no, don't really want to do that. Sadly, my house is HUGE, and that means I need to use a lot of coal, and a lot of stone to make my house.
Anyways, I starting mining, and then I realized I wanted a house. But the place where I was mining was NOT a good place for a house, so I found one over a nearby mountain. Not wanting to start a NEW mine, I decided... to build a bridge. That took a while, it was harder than I thought. And it still need some revisions, I mean... yea... it works but it doesn't look as good as it could.
And yea... basically I've been building a road to my house... which has required a lot of time That, and continuing to perfect my mine.
Anyways, this is probably really confusing if you don't know what minecraft is, so I'll try and post some screenshots.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Where are You From?
So today I was talking to my grandparents about some stuff, and one of the funny thing my granfather mentioned is how the first question he'll always ask someone is “So where are you from?” Now, that probably sounds like a good question, but see, my response to that is, “Who cares where he's from. He's here now, and that's what matters.” And it hit me again, how much of a TCK I am.
For a quick reference, a TCK is a Third Culture Kid, a person who grew up in a culture that was not the culture of their parents. Grew up is really a nebelous term, a person can live in a mansion in the richest area of Dhaka, Bangladesh all their life and never been a TCK, or a person can spend six months when they're sixteen in an African Village is be a complete TCK. These are extremes, but they do exist, I'd think. TCKs are, for all purposes, a unique cultural group. Mostly we're from the West, but there is a growing number of non-western TCKs, and that number will expand and the world becomes more globalized.
Anyways... so see... TCKs don't like the question “Where are you from?” Now, allow me to give some context: I know how to avoid this question, and I know how it works after a fashion. In Bangladesh, where I grew up, everyone viewed me as a foreigner, and I didn't mind that, for the most part. I wasn't a complete foreigner, I understood the culture and the more I think about it, the more I realize how much of it I have incorporated into my life (no, I don't ever give people money with my left hand. Ever.), but at the same time, I didn't feel weird saying “I'm from America.” I obviously didn't belong and saying that my parents were Americans and thus I had a US passport didn't make me feel weird. However, in America, where everyone is from America, its a bit different. See, in maybe two years I can honestly say “I'm from Austin.” But obviously I just moved here and I wouldn't feel right saying that now. So where am I from? Well... haha... that's complicated. See, first of all, I was born in India, on Indian soil, but yes, I'm a US Citizen, my parents were citizens, you see. Secondly, I grew up in Bangladesh. No I never lived in America, yes, I know that's weird. Okay, now can we talk about something else?
In fact, thinking about it, I don't think I asked anyone where they are from when I met them. I don't do that. I don't care where you are from, its unimportant. Its who you are, what you do, and the fact that we are, for however long, together, that is important. Sure, if I guy from England starts talking I'll probably pick up his accent, but I won't ask where he's from, that's... unimportant.
So yea, I was thinking, when I start talking to a person, I go straight for the important stuff: Do you listen to Heavy Metal? Do you play League of Legends? Role-play? Are you an awesome person in general? Then... maybe then I'll start to care where you are from, but likely I'll have an idea already. I know certain people are from Dallas just because they have mentioned it...
Its one of those weird quirks of the TCK culture, honestly. We're so global, we move around so much, we don't really have this neat and nice picture of “home” like most people do. I lived in the same house for years, unlike a lot of TCKs, but I'm not “From” Bangladesh. I grew up there. My parents are from the US, and so am I, in the sense that I have an American Passport and am well... patriotic enough... I guess, but I'm not really American... I'm just from the US... do you know what I mean?
Honestly, I find it more humorous than anything, it can be frustrating when I introduce myself to other people, but its not something that makes me despise monoculturals (thats you non-TCKs :P) its just... frustrating... when you interact with me.
For a quick reference, a TCK is a Third Culture Kid, a person who grew up in a culture that was not the culture of their parents. Grew up is really a nebelous term, a person can live in a mansion in the richest area of Dhaka, Bangladesh all their life and never been a TCK, or a person can spend six months when they're sixteen in an African Village is be a complete TCK. These are extremes, but they do exist, I'd think. TCKs are, for all purposes, a unique cultural group. Mostly we're from the West, but there is a growing number of non-western TCKs, and that number will expand and the world becomes more globalized.
Anyways... so see... TCKs don't like the question “Where are you from?” Now, allow me to give some context: I know how to avoid this question, and I know how it works after a fashion. In Bangladesh, where I grew up, everyone viewed me as a foreigner, and I didn't mind that, for the most part. I wasn't a complete foreigner, I understood the culture and the more I think about it, the more I realize how much of it I have incorporated into my life (no, I don't ever give people money with my left hand. Ever.), but at the same time, I didn't feel weird saying “I'm from America.” I obviously didn't belong and saying that my parents were Americans and thus I had a US passport didn't make me feel weird. However, in America, where everyone is from America, its a bit different. See, in maybe two years I can honestly say “I'm from Austin.” But obviously I just moved here and I wouldn't feel right saying that now. So where am I from? Well... haha... that's complicated. See, first of all, I was born in India, on Indian soil, but yes, I'm a US Citizen, my parents were citizens, you see. Secondly, I grew up in Bangladesh. No I never lived in America, yes, I know that's weird. Okay, now can we talk about something else?
In fact, thinking about it, I don't think I asked anyone where they are from when I met them. I don't do that. I don't care where you are from, its unimportant. Its who you are, what you do, and the fact that we are, for however long, together, that is important. Sure, if I guy from England starts talking I'll probably pick up his accent, but I won't ask where he's from, that's... unimportant.
So yea, I was thinking, when I start talking to a person, I go straight for the important stuff: Do you listen to Heavy Metal? Do you play League of Legends? Role-play? Are you an awesome person in general? Then... maybe then I'll start to care where you are from, but likely I'll have an idea already. I know certain people are from Dallas just because they have mentioned it...
Its one of those weird quirks of the TCK culture, honestly. We're so global, we move around so much, we don't really have this neat and nice picture of “home” like most people do. I lived in the same house for years, unlike a lot of TCKs, but I'm not “From” Bangladesh. I grew up there. My parents are from the US, and so am I, in the sense that I have an American Passport and am well... patriotic enough... I guess, but I'm not really American... I'm just from the US... do you know what I mean?
Honestly, I find it more humorous than anything, it can be frustrating when I introduce myself to other people, but its not something that makes me despise monoculturals (thats you non-TCKs :P) its just... frustrating... when you interact with me.
Friday, October 8, 2010
DnD Silliness
You know, Dungeon and Dragons is one of those... interesting things.
See, on one hand, it tries to be that classic, standard fantasy roleplaying game. Basic races are elves, dwarfs, halfings and humans Basic classes are Wizard, Cleric, Rogue and Fighter. Its typical and stereotyped and awesome because of that.
But then, it also has this really strange bent to it. See the thing is though, DnD has tried to do more than that as well. DnD became popular enough to demand “splat” books, where they publish a crapton of books by every Tom, Dick and Harry that thinks they can design a campaign, class, dungeon or monster. Some of the splat books are awesome, some aren't. But then you get some really... weird stuff..
I didn't play much DnD 3.5 beyond Nevewinter Nights I and II, but I got the gist of the setting. The Forgotten Realms is a cool setting with enough typical Fantasy that it worked. But the problem was that when you go beyond the Forgotten Realms and hit some of the Higher Level stuff you get... weird crap like the Astral Plane and alternate dimensions and far out creatures (sure, Minotaurs aren't so bad, but Wilden? Githerzai? Instectiod races... yea that's weird). And then there are also some weird non-standard Campaign Settings (Ravenloft comes to mind).
My point is, one of the things that humors me about DnD is how it attempts to do much but often ends up with some really weird stuff that just doesn't really make a lot of sense. For instance: Psionics. Really, I'm sorry, I just don't see how this stuff works in a fantasy setting. You want Psionics, play a modern/sci-fi game. You want magic, play a fantasy game, the two do not mix!
I have no problem with lots of strange variations on the Cleric or religious classes: Avenger, Cleric, Runepriest, they are all the same thing to me, honestly. But Psions... haha no. Not even in settings where there is “no magic” do Psions really make sense to me. When I picture a Psion, I picture Sci-fi, DnD isn't sci-fi. End of story.
Some of the weird races also kinda strike me as odd. Wilden, for instance... these basically appear to be walking, talking, human-sized trees. There are a few other races that don't make a lot of sense in Player's Handbook III as well. In fact, its interesting to note how Player's Handbook I had a lot of standard fantasy races: Humans, Dwarves, (two kinds of) Elves, and Halfings, then some stranger stuff like Tieflings (Demon/human hybrids). I still have to say that Tieflings are a lot less weird than... insectiods.
Player's Handbook II added a few more “off” things, but generally stuff that still works in a typical fantasy setting. Sure, not a lot of people don't know what a “Deva” or a “Shifter” is, but these races don't exactly feel out of place in a fantasy setting with some context. Shifter's are basically just werewolf-human hybrids, Deva are former divine beings, it works. And yes, the some of the classes are more obscure in terms of title, but they are essentially Fighters, Mages, Rogues, etc respeced to fit a bit of a different background. Avengers are essentially rogues with a Divine Influence. Invokers are mages that use divine power. Some of the classes are simply “classic” archetypes like the Bard or the Druid that aren't as stereotypical as the Wizard or Fighter. Bard's appear everywhere in Fantasy and Folklore (Alan-A-Dale of Robin Hood for instance), but they certainly don't fight exactly into the Fighter/Rogue/Wizard/Cleric archetypes. You could make one work as say, a Rogue or a Fighter, but that doesn't necessarily mean it fits perfectly.
But the Player' Handbook III takes it one step further and adds some races that really require specific settings and/or themes to work properly. I've never heard of a Shardmind and it doesn't really make sense in a typical fantasy setting. A Deva kinda does: An Angelic being demoted to mortality because of past failings. A Half-orc certainly does. A Shardmind, no.
And I think that's one of the weaknesses of DnD. In trying to do everything, it comes off as kinda silly. A Shardmind, some sort of intelligent crystalline creatures, obviously work in a specific setting. The problem is, there are few “standard” fantasy games that will allow you to play a Shardmind over a Dwarf or Elf. Sharmind's are cool, but they don't work as a standard fantasy race. The same with Psions, only more so because Psionic powers are stupid in fantasy.
Settings like Warhammer fantasy roleplay have done their best to make themselves unique and cool. The demons of Warhammer Fantasy are different than the demons of any other setting. The demons of DnD are exactly like your standard demon, except there are a LOT of them, and then you have the really strange enemies like “Purple Worms.” Yes, there are giant, man-eating purple worms in Dungeons and Dragons. Older versions also had man-eating walls and man-eating clothes, for the truly sadistic Dungeon Masters.
How do I say this... DnD is awesome Shardminds are awesome, in the proper context. A shardmind is awesome if you have it in a really specific instance and give it proper background and goals. But when you throw out this really fancy race with little context, it comes off as strange, silly, and a way to create a new combination of power-gamey bonuses. Everyone knows what your typical elf is—there is no need for context. No one knows what a shardmind is—there is every need for context.
A world with elves and dwarves and snowy mountains and magical forests and evil dungeons is really cool. Its a standard, stereotyped world anyone can imagine and play in. That's what I like about DnD: it is a base that provides for some awesome, typical fantasy that everyone knows about already. But when they throw out fancy races or strange realms without a lot of context I get frustrated and annoyed. Sure there is an Astral Sea and an Underdark, but WHAT are these things? Oh, I have to buy a book you haven't published. And, furthermore, they come off as silly and unbelievable often times.
Oh well, that's DnD I suppose: awesome base that expands to silliness.
See, on one hand, it tries to be that classic, standard fantasy roleplaying game. Basic races are elves, dwarfs, halfings and humans Basic classes are Wizard, Cleric, Rogue and Fighter. Its typical and stereotyped and awesome because of that.
But then, it also has this really strange bent to it. See the thing is though, DnD has tried to do more than that as well. DnD became popular enough to demand “splat” books, where they publish a crapton of books by every Tom, Dick and Harry that thinks they can design a campaign, class, dungeon or monster. Some of the splat books are awesome, some aren't. But then you get some really... weird stuff..
I didn't play much DnD 3.5 beyond Nevewinter Nights I and II, but I got the gist of the setting. The Forgotten Realms is a cool setting with enough typical Fantasy that it worked. But the problem was that when you go beyond the Forgotten Realms and hit some of the Higher Level stuff you get... weird crap like the Astral Plane and alternate dimensions and far out creatures (sure, Minotaurs aren't so bad, but Wilden? Githerzai? Instectiod races... yea that's weird). And then there are also some weird non-standard Campaign Settings (Ravenloft comes to mind).
My point is, one of the things that humors me about DnD is how it attempts to do much but often ends up with some really weird stuff that just doesn't really make a lot of sense. For instance: Psionics. Really, I'm sorry, I just don't see how this stuff works in a fantasy setting. You want Psionics, play a modern/sci-fi game. You want magic, play a fantasy game, the two do not mix!
I have no problem with lots of strange variations on the Cleric or religious classes: Avenger, Cleric, Runepriest, they are all the same thing to me, honestly. But Psions... haha no. Not even in settings where there is “no magic” do Psions really make sense to me. When I picture a Psion, I picture Sci-fi, DnD isn't sci-fi. End of story.
Some of the weird races also kinda strike me as odd. Wilden, for instance... these basically appear to be walking, talking, human-sized trees. There are a few other races that don't make a lot of sense in Player's Handbook III as well. In fact, its interesting to note how Player's Handbook I had a lot of standard fantasy races: Humans, Dwarves, (two kinds of) Elves, and Halfings, then some stranger stuff like Tieflings (Demon/human hybrids). I still have to say that Tieflings are a lot less weird than... insectiods.
Player's Handbook II added a few more “off” things, but generally stuff that still works in a typical fantasy setting. Sure, not a lot of people don't know what a “Deva” or a “Shifter” is, but these races don't exactly feel out of place in a fantasy setting with some context. Shifter's are basically just werewolf-human hybrids, Deva are former divine beings, it works. And yes, the some of the classes are more obscure in terms of title, but they are essentially Fighters, Mages, Rogues, etc respeced to fit a bit of a different background. Avengers are essentially rogues with a Divine Influence. Invokers are mages that use divine power. Some of the classes are simply “classic” archetypes like the Bard or the Druid that aren't as stereotypical as the Wizard or Fighter. Bard's appear everywhere in Fantasy and Folklore (Alan-A-Dale of Robin Hood for instance), but they certainly don't fight exactly into the Fighter/Rogue/Wizard/Cleric archetypes. You could make one work as say, a Rogue or a Fighter, but that doesn't necessarily mean it fits perfectly.
But the Player' Handbook III takes it one step further and adds some races that really require specific settings and/or themes to work properly. I've never heard of a Shardmind and it doesn't really make sense in a typical fantasy setting. A Deva kinda does: An Angelic being demoted to mortality because of past failings. A Half-orc certainly does. A Shardmind, no.
And I think that's one of the weaknesses of DnD. In trying to do everything, it comes off as kinda silly. A Shardmind, some sort of intelligent crystalline creatures, obviously work in a specific setting. The problem is, there are few “standard” fantasy games that will allow you to play a Shardmind over a Dwarf or Elf. Sharmind's are cool, but they don't work as a standard fantasy race. The same with Psions, only more so because Psionic powers are stupid in fantasy.
Settings like Warhammer fantasy roleplay have done their best to make themselves unique and cool. The demons of Warhammer Fantasy are different than the demons of any other setting. The demons of DnD are exactly like your standard demon, except there are a LOT of them, and then you have the really strange enemies like “Purple Worms.” Yes, there are giant, man-eating purple worms in Dungeons and Dragons. Older versions also had man-eating walls and man-eating clothes, for the truly sadistic Dungeon Masters.
How do I say this... DnD is awesome Shardminds are awesome, in the proper context. A shardmind is awesome if you have it in a really specific instance and give it proper background and goals. But when you throw out this really fancy race with little context, it comes off as strange, silly, and a way to create a new combination of power-gamey bonuses. Everyone knows what your typical elf is—there is no need for context. No one knows what a shardmind is—there is every need for context.
A world with elves and dwarves and snowy mountains and magical forests and evil dungeons is really cool. Its a standard, stereotyped world anyone can imagine and play in. That's what I like about DnD: it is a base that provides for some awesome, typical fantasy that everyone knows about already. But when they throw out fancy races or strange realms without a lot of context I get frustrated and annoyed. Sure there is an Astral Sea and an Underdark, but WHAT are these things? Oh, I have to buy a book you haven't published. And, furthermore, they come off as silly and unbelievable often times.
Oh well, that's DnD I suppose: awesome base that expands to silliness.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Elementz's new tier list update was hilarious. Twisted Fate went up to T1/T2 (depending on team comp) and he was like "yea, yea, I know, he owns... get over it!" And then he raised Nunu up, which was just hilarious. :p Yes, this is LoL I'm talking about here, just fyi.
Also, yesterday I played a gangplank who managed to get like... 4 Phantom Dancers. It was HILARIOUS. 100% crit chance, super movement speed, I was a God. We lost cuz we had an idiot Trym on our team who refused to back door cuz "he lagged" but whatever. Still a good game.
Also, I ordered an awesome "map of the internet" from XKCD cuz I want it, and I'm gonna see Givers on Friday, which is cool.
Soo... Quiz in Political Controversies tomorrow, turning in my 1st submission for paper #1 for Rhet and Comp 1, which I don't really like but I decided to talk to Jacob for two hours instead of do homework... so I'll do my American Grammar, Math and Rhet and Comp I tomorrow instead of today. The first submission doesn't matter so long as I finish get the minium turned in, which I have so yea... whatever.
Also, I really wish I had more time so I could play more video games. But then again, I'd probably just end up playing LoL more and more, cuz LoL is awesome. I finally found a good group of people I can play with online... none of them are really interested in Ranked games, but I'm getting the courage to go into ranked solo que again. I had a bad streak and my ELO went way, way down, but I think I can raise it up to at least 1300 if I get a bit lucky. Really, with hard work and practice I get the feeling I could hit 1400, 1500 ELO if I got a team. If I was exceptional and had no life yea, maybe 1700, I dunno. Basically you need to be 1700 to have a chance at tourneys... so yea.
Also, yesterday I played a gangplank who managed to get like... 4 Phantom Dancers. It was HILARIOUS. 100% crit chance, super movement speed, I was a God. We lost cuz we had an idiot Trym on our team who refused to back door cuz "he lagged" but whatever. Still a good game.
Also, I ordered an awesome "map of the internet" from XKCD cuz I want it, and I'm gonna see Givers on Friday, which is cool.
Soo... Quiz in Political Controversies tomorrow, turning in my 1st submission for paper #1 for Rhet and Comp 1, which I don't really like but I decided to talk to Jacob for two hours instead of do homework... so I'll do my American Grammar, Math and Rhet and Comp I tomorrow instead of today. The first submission doesn't matter so long as I finish get the minium turned in, which I have so yea... whatever.
Also, I really wish I had more time so I could play more video games. But then again, I'd probably just end up playing LoL more and more, cuz LoL is awesome. I finally found a good group of people I can play with online... none of them are really interested in Ranked games, but I'm getting the courage to go into ranked solo que again. I had a bad streak and my ELO went way, way down, but I think I can raise it up to at least 1300 if I get a bit lucky. Really, with hard work and practice I get the feeling I could hit 1400, 1500 ELO if I got a team. If I was exceptional and had no life yea, maybe 1700, I dunno. Basically you need to be 1700 to have a chance at tourneys... so yea.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
New Blog, New Post
So yea, this is still Isaac talking. Old blog was masterofweirdness.blogspot.com. I have about 4 years of basically regular posts there.
What is this blog? This is, and will be a random assortment of my life. That is to say, rants about school, politics, religion, video games and the like. Mostly rants, because I rant. And yes, politics and religion will feature here, if you don't like those don't read this blog. I try to keep my thoughts as uncensored as I can, random thoughts pop into my mind and end up here, and often times, that gonna be political or religious stuff. You have been warned.
Who am I? I'm Isaac. No you don't get my last name, besides you probably already know it. :D I'm a Freshman in University, I'm a English Writing and Rhetoric Major. I'm in the Honor's Program. I'm nearly 19. I enjoy video games, metal music, discussing stuff that requires thinking (I had an hour+ long conversation about AI this weekend. Greatest moment of the Semester so far, besides WCG and American Beauty... haha). I'm American by citizenship, TCK by Culture. I was born in India and raised in Bangladesh. I love India, and I love Dhaka, my hometown, even if it is a horrible city. I'm enjoying college: its surprisingly similar to school before, I don't care what people say. I was homeschooled, so that might effect stuff, but yea... not to big of a difference.
So yea... I'll try and get a real post up soon.
What is this blog? This is, and will be a random assortment of my life. That is to say, rants about school, politics, religion, video games and the like. Mostly rants, because I rant. And yes, politics and religion will feature here, if you don't like those don't read this blog. I try to keep my thoughts as uncensored as I can, random thoughts pop into my mind and end up here, and often times, that gonna be political or religious stuff. You have been warned.
Who am I? I'm Isaac. No you don't get my last name, besides you probably already know it. :D I'm a Freshman in University, I'm a English Writing and Rhetoric Major. I'm in the Honor's Program. I'm nearly 19. I enjoy video games, metal music, discussing stuff that requires thinking (I had an hour+ long conversation about AI this weekend. Greatest moment of the Semester so far, besides WCG and American Beauty... haha). I'm American by citizenship, TCK by Culture. I was born in India and raised in Bangladesh. I love India, and I love Dhaka, my hometown, even if it is a horrible city. I'm enjoying college: its surprisingly similar to school before, I don't care what people say. I was homeschooled, so that might effect stuff, but yea... not to big of a difference.
So yea... I'll try and get a real post up soon.
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