Lots of stuff.

[silveradept]

Jumping to the forefront, so that I'm sure he sees it - uncle_pervy, your statue has progressed to stage two. The artist would like a colour guide so that things turn out in the proper Pervy color. I'm sure you've got the drawing, and can probably find it faster on your machine than I can on mine, so. Get it to me. We also need to hash out the details of the dollar signs. That can be done in private communication, if you want.

Thursday done, Friday to arrive, and then it's the glorious, glorious weekend. Frontloading as very much as I can to feel good about taking the weekend off. Although I did just do some reading for the course tomorrow, and I now know that one of two things is true: I shall never want to learn how to program in C, or the person that I was reading who was describing the data structures of C doesn't do it in a way that I can readily grasp. I get it, I just can't visualize it sometimes. Thus, have made it to page four, have finished in one sense the draft that I was working on, although that may be revisited before Tuesday, when it's due, and have polished up some part of my resume in anticipation of job faire stuff going on Monday. Gyah. Just trying to fit in job search stuff can be bad enough - adding the papers isn't helping any. And both of them have presentations of sorts to go with them. That's just additional headache. Oh, well. Have survived this before, will continue to do so. Readings may slip just a tad in the meantime through sheer forgetfulness, but that's a price we're willing to pay.

If/when I get settled into summer work, then, anyone who I've asked to remind me about reading choices, do so, please. I may not get the chance while at work (ironic in a library, the time to read may be very little), but while at home, it's much more likely that I'll have time since I'm not floundering about with seventy-bajillion assignments.

The realities of cause and effect. Just remember that "Equal and opposite" can take some very interesting forms. Instead of invoking Nature's wrath, why not do random acts of kindness to each other, instead? Utilize your knowledge and utilize the media for breaking out of your media self. If that is accomplished, well, it's probably one of the higher orders of magical. Does make one wonder about how, if at all, V for Vendetta made it through in the form it did. Perhaps because most people will take it as entertainment, as media culture, and not really think too hard about what it advocates and what it asks the people to do. I do wonder how many people might show up with their Guy Fawkes masks on 5 November, assuming they do, indeed, remember. And then how many of them will be serious about it.

I'm feeling less panicked now, mostly due to some nice tricks on the draft that broke it up and showed me exactly what I have done, when it all goes out to the final product. That really helped to alleviate a lot of the panic. If I can make it another page or do some other work tomorrow, I think I'll be in good standing for letting the weekend fritter away in the company of friends. Other work might end up qualifying out to "did the assignment assigned on Friday." Things are better now, we promise. It's just that sometimes we get a little anxious about all the stuff that needs to happen.

Goddess help us all if I should ever behave like these guys. Seriously. That's more than a frying pan offense, that's a Ginsu knife set offense. Don't let me get there, please.

Good news for drug companies - the FDA may not decide to give ADHD drugs "black-box" warnings, which might actually indicate that there is something seriously wrong with giving these drugs to anyone that even so much as blinks in a classroom.

Last thing for tonight - an obscenely long video game meme.

1. What was the first video game you have ever played? I think that honor goes to Hunt the Wumpus, on an old K/Pro.
2. What was your first console? An Atari 2600 that my parents own.
3. Have you ever visited a video game arcade? Got one down the street that I look in on occasionally, and play there every once in a great while.
4. What was your first handheld? Gameboy Color/Pocket I think, is the one that actually got owned by "me". Little brother's had more of the handhelds than I.
5. What was the first game you've beaten/cleared completely? (Got to the last level/got 100%/beat high score, etc.) Good question. I do know that I rolled the score over on Space Invaders for the Atari 2600 at a very young age, so we'll say that.
6. Games based off of real sports: Yay or Nay? Mindless entertainment with nothing better to do, yay. Otherwise (and that includes almost any other game), Nay. Although we will play sport games with friends.
7. Online games: Yay or Nay? If they can make one that doesn't suck and interests me, and doesn't have an exorbitant monthly fee, yay. So, as things are, nay.
8. Do you play any Massively Multiplayer Online RPG games? (MMORPGs?) Nope. Need one to meet my criteria, which right now would probably mean no monthly fee at all.
9. Do you play any virtual pet games? (Neopets, Teripets, Aftermathzone, etc.) Nope.
10. Puzzle games and Strategy games: Yay or Nay? Yay. Much fun to be had in things like Super Bust-A-Move and their like. Although my strategy gaming self kinda sucks.
11. Do you play any RPGs? Most definitely.
12. Do you play any Platformer games? A few. Not as many as RPGs, though.
13. What was the first game/console/handheld of yours that stopped working? A Nintendo that just finally gave up the ghost.
14. Do you actually care if a game has a plot or do you just play games for the gameplay? With RPGs, yes. For other games, I'm a little more lenient.
15. Name a few video game characters that are your favorites. Far too many to list all of them, but I've always liked Luigi, Link, chaos, and Vivi. Laharl, Etna, Flonne, and the Prinny Squad are also favorites. And there's a whole lot of other ones.
16. Name a few series that are your favorites: Final Fantasy has played well for me over the years, many of the Versus series of fighting games, Soul Calibur, .hack... there are a few.
17. Has a video game ever made you cry? Cry? Quite possibly. There have been quite a few moving segments in the games I've played, so quite possibly, I've cried.
18. Has a video game character annoyed you so much that you wanted him removed from the game? If so, name the character Hrm. Those that aren't mid-bosses? Maybe there's been one or two, probably from the Pokemon world.
19. Do you "pair" or "ship" characters up with one another? (make/create/write romance involving them) Nah. Although I will be annoyed at decisions to pair up or not pair up certain peoples in games.
20. Do you write video game fanfiction? Nope. I haven't had a video game character intrude on Subreality in any serious way yet.
21. Do you draw video game fanart? That would require talent, wouldn't it?
22. Do you come up with theories on how a character came to be/what he or she would do in a situation/why he or she is moody/etc. Since most of the games I play have a backplot to them, not really.
23. Are you a "fanboy" or "fangirl" of any character? Don't think so. Although I may have a soft spot for many video game females' personalities.
24. Hardest Boss Battle. Ruby and Emerald Weapon. They made "cheap" into an art-form. Then again, I do tend to accuse bosses of cheapness when they give me trouble. Maybe it's part of their design.
25. Most Frustrating Boss Battle Gyargggggg... Mid-Boss, I mean, Seymour. Although he ranks right up there with the bosses of the Temples in Ocarina of Time, Shadow Link from Zelda II, and several of the Ninja Gaiden end-stage opponents.
26. Most Rewarding Boss Battle: Kicking the absolute crap out of Omega Weapon in Final Fantasy VIII. Thumping Lavos for the first time. Although the time that I waxed Calbrena as Cal and Brena in Final Fantasy IV ranks up there. I do enjoy finally giving the bosses their well-deserved rewards.
27. Funnest Most Entertaining Boss Battle ULTROS. Hands-down. Although Mid-Boss has his moments, too.
28. Most Boring Boss Battle Ultemecia. Sephiroth. The Time Devourer (second time around)
29. Boss Battle that dragged out for a long, long time Sin, in all its myriad forms, and then the aeons bit afterward. Took forever.
30. Boss Battle with the coolest music Hrm. Lavos inside the shell, but not to Lavos Core. World Revolution is one of the most underappreciated tracks on that whole thing. Although Dragon God does run a close second.
31. Most Surprising Boss Battle The GolemBoss, I believe... just in how it turned out.
32. What's your all time favorite villain? Best villain of the bunch? Lynx.
33. What's your all time least favorite villain? Gotta be Sephiroth.
34. Do you ever feel sorry for the villains? In some cases, yes. I feel more sorry for villain minions than I do the actual boss himself.
35. Are there any villains that seem like they should be playing for the good guys, but aren't? General Leo, definitely. Golbez and Kain, too.
36. Most malicious villain Kefka. .
37. Most surprising villain I'd say Hojo, actually.
39. What's your favorite 3D game? (PS1/N64/Saturn generation) Oh, man. Can't decide, can't decide.
40. What's your favorite arcade game? Maybe not the favorite, but TMNT: Hyperstone Heist and TMNT: Turtles in Time were both fun to play repeatedly.
41. What's your favorite next-gen game? (Gamecube/PS2/Dreamcast/X-Box) Also can't decide there, either.
42. Sequels/long series: Yay or nay? Yay. So long as the sequels are done well.
43. What's your favorite Online Game? None.
44. What's your favorite console? I play the PS2 most, but I like Gamecube quite a bit... can't say. Too many good memories with lots of consoles.
45. What's your favorite handheld? The DS looks like a winner so far.
46. Have you ever got yourself involved in a "console war"? (arguing that a console is better than another console) Not seriously.
47. Have you ever defended a character/game/console you liked in an argument? Which one? Also, not seriously.
48. Name a game that you like but everyone else seems to hate. Xenosaga, most likely.
49. Name a character that you like but everyone else seems to hate. Dunno. Most of the characters I like are likeable.
50. Name a game that you hate but everyone else seems to like. Grah. Goldeneye.
51. Name a character that you hate but everyone else seems to love. Sephiroth.
52. Have you ever stopped before you finished a game because it was too frustrating to go on? Yeah. But after I cool down a bit, I can usually pick it up again and keep trying.
53. Will you stop at NOTHING to get 100% in a video game? Ah-hah-hah! If you've beaten the game once, then you can see what you've missed.
54. Have you ever injured yourself at a video game? Not that I can think of, not yet.
55. Has a horror/survival genre video game scared you to the point that you refused to finish the game? Did you get nightmares from said game? Don't play 'em.
56. Have you ever thrown a controller/disc/cartridge in a fit of frustration? Controllers, yeah. Discs and cartridges, never. Those are important things.
57. Do you need to blow/clean certain games to get them to play? Yeah, some.
58. Have you ever played a game for so long that you missed sleep over it? All the time.
59. Were you ever involved in the Pokemon craze? Peripherally. I understood it, I played some games, I enjoyed them, but I never really got hardcore into it.
60. Last but not least: Do you picture yourself playing video games 10, 20, or 30 years from now? Hell yes! I fully expect my kids and grandkids to whip me at the video games of choice.

Comments

[silveradept]

If one follows the logic that what one believes to be real (and belief, in this case, I think, carries conviction enough to create self-fulfilling prophecies) becomes real, then the way to alter reality is by altering belief. That necessitates laying one costume and mask down and using another, or laying down the masks entirely and living with one's "real face", whatever it may be, to the world.

There is some merit to the idea - what you expect to happen, what you look for to happen, often does. It's the Law of Fives.

[sharpsight.livejournal.com]

N) Heh... is that actually the true Law of Fives itself, or do we need another term for the law behind (the existence of) Law of Fives?

(Note that personally, I've always liked the 'sudden jump in number of possible permutations to hold in one's mind at the same time' angle.)

M) Ignorance is bliss. If you start by assuming that there's only one individual, that can change or not--to put it another way, if you assume that a continuous chain of memories is enough to define someone as a continuous individual during all that time--then such sacrifices, such changes, go down a lot easier. Basic mental structure ripped away, put through a grinder, and spat out completely different? Bring on the revolations! All for the destruction of Maya! Praise enlightenment, at all costs!

...each mindform, at every point, assumes that it shares an identity with every other mindform. Does it? Does it matter whether or not it does? To them, it doesn't seem to.

But. In a case when a mindform perceives other mindforms, each with its own separate identity... such procedures become drastically more dangerous. No unity of identity. None. Future self-identity is not guaranteed. When you're alone in s brain, any further mindform has to be rooted back through you, excluding largely theoretical hypotheses.

I think you can see where this is going. Whatever the causes, whatever the reason, with the uncertainty there--

[sardonic] Death is undesirable. [/sardonic]

*rescans comment; nods slightly*

N) *considers* If I may put it another way... knowing almost nothing of such phenomena, in attempting to remove or change one's costume/mask, there is great perceived danger of destroying oneself entirely, instead of destroying oneself and rebuilding oneself from the pieces--the 'pieces', if such things actually exist, either being supressed or being absorbed by the remainders. And there the matter of if all were destroyed/changed, and the result identified with none of them.

*ponders for a few seconds* ...when one's identity, separate from all the rest is crucial to oneself, the changing of one's essential psyche is that much more concerning in that it may alter basic identity, which cannot be assumed as a constant. *smiles; nods to himself* That probably sums it up better.

M) ...

N) Er, sorry.

[silveradept]

Precisely - to risk that one's previous self has been nothing more than an illusion and the try and rebuild oneself in meaningful and fundamentally altering ways is, well, scary. At least, if one assumes that one's own identity is somehow a set object, somehow immutable.

That may have to be some part of the Grand Unifying Philosophy - a definition of self that does not believe it to be an unchangeable object, but a more fluid marker, encompassing much of the experience and less of the dogma.

[sharpsight.livejournal.com]

M) If you're nothing but identity, nothing but psyche, then to remove [N) 'change', rather] what one was is to remove all that one is. One's memories may remain, but what other definition of death is there?

And N, the interference isn't appreciated.

N) Ehh... it's just that I suspect you're garbling your message somewhat. (Also, maybe 'erase' for the second 'remove'?)

M) ...

[sharpsight.livejournal.com]

N) (Or, another way to (re)put it: radical identity change is not likened to death when the identity is assumed to remain constant be the only one possible. Radical identity change can be likened to death when one's identity is assumed to be only one of several.)