Is there cake?

I'd never understood the "cake" reference on the Official City of * Forums before. When I was on Liberty, my old SG leader would always say he wanted "tacos." He'd sign in and broadcast in chat, "Tacos?" and people would answer, "I like Tacos!" or "I want Tacos!" I guess I just assumed "cake" was similar.

But it's not. "Cake" and "Is there cake?" is actually a reference to another game. A single-player, first person action/puzzle game called "Portal."

Portal is a very odd game that places you in the body of Chell, an android of sorts who must complete nearly impossible puzzles in a fully 3D world using a "Portal Gun." Your incentive for completing these task is "cake" and a party in your name. Your only companion through the 19 tests is an increasing psychotic computer AI. The experimental Portal Gun device allows the user to place an Entrance and an Exit portal on nearly any surface. These portals give you access to the x, y and z axis. Need to jump a large pit (full of acid)? Place an Entrance portal beside you and one on the opposite wall and walk through. No jumping. No running. And no searing, skin-peeling acid bath.

The premise may seem simple, but the game progressively becomes much harder. There is no experience akin to leaping through a portal, falling twenty feet and then jumping a 30 foot chasm on the same leap. Not to mention the physics involved in switching directions twice! Brian and I picked up our copy yesterday afternoon and by 7:30 we were hooting and hollering after figuring out a particularly gravity-defying puzzle. At one point, Bri asked me, "How'd you do that?" I was so dizzy I said, "I...Don't...Know! But, wasn't that cool?"

The game is pretty awesome. Unfortunately, there is no cake. The cake is a lie.

****

Brian and I spend the weekend just hanging out. Saturday, we took a flying trip to the cottage to get Bri one the bikes that aren't being used in storage there; his old bike was dying a slow, painful death - three years ago! The bike we picked up wasn't the one I had in mind, but it will do, I think. He seems happy with it - And when Brian is happy, I'm happy.

When we got back to Kingston, we stopped off at my parents' house to pick up my laundry. Now that Brian (my little brother) has all his housemates, I can't be doing my laundry down there anymore. I've been giving it to Mom to do for about a month. The good news is: Once Mom and Dad move into their new apartment I'll get Mom's (really cool) front load washer and dryer. And a tan leather couch. As we were leaving, Dad came back from work (he works on Saturday mornings, sometimes). Dad helped Brian and I adjust the handle bars. I'm extremely happy that Dad and Mom, Dad especially, are so accepting of Brian. It means a lot that they acknowledge our relationship and shows how far they've come in the two years since I came out.

As I was explaining to Brian last night while doing the dishes (he cooks, I clean): Even though my job pretty much sucks, my weekends spent with him more than make up for the crappy weekdays. Although, by Wednesday I won't think that. Hey! We can't all enjoy our jobs!

All things considered, despite the persistent rain, I had a great weekend.

Burned Out

I've been feeling really burned out in the MMO I play lately. City of Heroes/Villains has been a big part of my life for the last three years: It's a hobby, an escape from the rigors of Real Life, a pastime, a way to connect to people of like-minded interests that I can't find locally. However, in throwing myself headlong into the community - Forums, online socializing, offline messaging - I've begun to realize that many of the same racist, right-wing fascist, gun-toting, anti-homosexual, Yay! Patriotism and boo everyone else people are just as prevalent here as they were in the Counter-Strike Community. Those selfsame people turned me off to Counter-Strike for similar reasons. Now, when I turn on CS for a little gameplay in the name of memory...I rarely last more than one round. All those asshats and their sh*t come flooding back at me.

Even before Bri got me that new sweetness of a monitor, I was losing interest. Getting that new monitor helped reinvigorate me to play and I enjoyed it. For awhile.

Recently, I've been repeatedly Mod-Smacked on the Official Forums for things I've said and should know better than to say in an online community with a PG-13 Rating. Brian reminded me that these Moderators are paid to monitor the forums 9-5 daily for posts or threads that may violate the Rules of Conduct. Me being mod-smacked is just them doing their jobs. But, sometimes, I can't help but feel that certain Mods are out to get me. Or, perhaps I feel as if they could be a little more...Human in their Moderating capacity and a little less "Here I am, doing my job."

Like, yesterday, I posted in a 9/11 Memorial thread. Now, previously, I had posted my own 9/11 Memorial thread in my home server Section and posted a simple, three line memorial. I spent 10 minutes trying to figure out the best, most diplomatic way of saying how I felt. And, 10 minutes spent thinking about how to word a simple post on an online forum is about eight minutes too long, in my opinion. But, I wanted to show that, even though I'm Canadian, I can appreciate something as important as 9/11 to the Americans. Anyways, then I jumped over to the CoHGuru forums and posted in their 9/11 Memorial thread. I didn't repost what I'd already said on the Official forums, but a I posted a "where I was when it happened" response.

Fast forward to the afternoon and a Moderator posts an "Official" post about 9/11 for any members of the community who wish to respond. Since I'd already posted twice on the subject I tried to be original. I talked about how many people post-9/11 believed that perhaps the WTC Tragedy wasn't a tragedy at all; Perhaps it was a conspiracy, or a not-so coincidence related to Bush's election. I went on to talk about how it went over so well, according to some veteran's I had talked to, as a military coop. I concluded by pointing out that, although it went over well, it didn't cause the disparity that the terrorists had hoped. Instead, it unified not only the Americans, but the world. It's too bad all those people had to die, but the final result has been most favourable.

I thought I was being tasteful and very objective.

I guess people didn't see it that way. A few members of the community responded harshly to my post. While I was writing a response, after I had changed my post because the intent was lost on most people apparently, a Moderator PM-ed me and thanked me for changing my post. So, instead of starting sh*t in the thread, I posted my response to the Moderator. I never got a response. I would have settled for a simple, "Well, I can see your view but it may have been to controversial for a memorial thread" or something to that affect.

Instead, silence. If the Mod can take time to thank me for my edit, you would think they could take time to acknowledge my original intent! Things like this frustrate me to no end. And depress me beyond how it should affect me. I was utterly depressed last night; Thank god Bri was there!

Perhaps a week break, or a month...or a permanent break is necessary? Or maybe I should stop posting in forums and just play the game? At this point, I'm so frustrated and pissed off to decide what to do. For now, I cancelled my account which expires September 29th.

9/11

I was getting ready for class, in my Second Year at Guelph.

I came out of the (communal) shower and my RA (Resident Assistant) said, "Did you here the Twin Towers were bombed?"

Steve was a real joker so I scoffed and assumed he was pulling my leg. It wasn't until I turned on my PC and was catching up on news that I realized it was for true. The rest of the week, students and Profs alike spent most classes and in-between classes crowded around TV screens.

It was seriously scary stuff. Most of the time I felt like I was dreaming and in some weird disaster movie. Some of my friends' parents or relatives worked in NY.

I distinctly remember being afraid that they'd bomb Pickering (Nuclear Power Plant) and remove the lower half of Southern Ontario.

I remember.

I commend those that help with the recovery.

My thoughts are with those who lost...and are lost.

AdBlock This!

Modern civilization is bombarded daily and even hourly by advertising. It's on our radios and televisions, our buses and buildings; it's in our magazines, newspapers and books; we listen to them while on hold or watch them zip by while standing on the subway. It's so pervasive on the internet that it almost chokes our visual spectrum. Ads have so permeated our online gaming experiences as to demand categorization: advergaming.

Studies have shown that the average American sees anywhere between 247 to 3000 advertisements per day and the industry spends $620 billion to get those advertisements to us.

What does this mean to our society? The full implications of daily and hourly advertising hasn't yet been determined.

But, for me it's become my obsession to avoid them as much as possible. Driving to work today I purposefully ignored the blue Vote Conservative! signs that our local representative had his interns place every fifty feet on Sir John A. Macdonald Blvd. I spend minutes of my time surfing the internet using Firefox's AdBlock Add-on so that I can read my blogs or look at my porn or post on my forums ad-free. Recently, my parents started using a service on the Whig-Standard website that would randomly insert and advertisement for their business everytime the main page loads. Thing is, I never see them. I have all ads and iFrames blocked on that site so I can read my local news without being visually distracted. Unfortunately, in blocking all these ads, I'm not supporting the services I use...

And my answer to that? Too-freaking-bad.