More TF2

Last night I was playing Team Fortress 2. I found a community-made capture the flag map that had a Minecraft cave theme. I really enjoyed this map, it's a very good map for practice as sniper. The reason it is a good map for sniping is because there is a clear line of sight between both the Red and the Blu respawn points. I made some good improvements on that map.

Minecraft themed TF2 maps are always large with numerous alternate paths, this map was no exeption. It had large midsection with paths up high and down low. There are high places that can be reached with both rocket jumping and stickyjumping. These shortcuts make it easy to get around.

Something I don't like about this map is that, unlike other TF2 CTF maps, it is not symmetrical. Red team has stairs that lead to highest route that Blu team can only reach by rocket/sticky jumping. Red's side of the map seems to have more paths than Blu team's side, witch makes it easier to get into the Blu base. This also means Blu team has more ways to get into the Red base, so it really isn't too big of an advantage for Red. The lack of symmetry in this map is the one thing that makes this map feel uncomfortable.

Masters of The Universe

Yesterday, I watched this 80's movie called Masters of the Universe, based of the He-Man TV show.
It was bad, but in a good way. You see, sometimes cheesy movies can be fun to watch. I enjoy seeing something I can laugh at.

In order to rescue Castle Greyskull, He-Man and his friends escape to earth to avoid the Evil Skeletor who is pursuing them so he can become the master of the universe. Once they arrive, Skeletor tracks them down to find the cosmic key, witch is the device they used to get there. A couple of earth inhabitants find it and get caught up in the trouble. That's the general idea of the plot.

What makes this movie cheesy the most is the costumes. Skeletor clearly has a nose under his mask. Skeletor's main henchmen look ridiculous, and the one henchman that looked decent was the first to die. The less important troops just couldn't possibly look more like Darth Vader. The outrageous costumes make this cheese complete.

egg hunt

Last Sunday, we had our Easter egg hunt. The reason it wasn't on Easter was because my Nona would be in Europe this Easter and we always do the egg hunt at her place. Me, my sister, and my cousins were the ones hunting the eggs, but we also hid them ourselves. That didn't make any sense at all, but I went along with it. It went really fast.

Easter dinner went as it usually did. My aunt Mary called while we were having dinner to make sure we saved some for her. If she wanted it that badly, she should have come over to eat it. It was a great lasagna dinner. Nona is a great cook.

My only regret about early Easter is not getting the long weekend early too. When it is really Easter, my family will watch "The Passion of Christ". It would be a nice alternative to what we usually watch, The Ten Commandments.

3D TV

So we got a 3D TV yesterday, very exiting. Setting it up was a bit of a problem when it came to getting it to work, but otherwise it was a piece of cake. The biggest difficulty was getting the TV channels to work.  Now that it's working, it is really pretty cool. I can't wait to watch some of my favourite movies on it.

This 3D TV has many impressive features. The 3D works not only on made for 3D shows, but the TV also detects basic layers on normal TV to make it 3D as well. If the TV has a USB with a .avi file in it, the TV can play that file as well as make it 3D. If you get tired of 3D, simply turn it off.

I love my new TV so much. Regular TV looks great in 3D, but the made for 3D movies look even better. The 3D is so breathtaking that it can't be described, unless of course you use "3D". This new 3D TV is a true upgrade.

a nice weekend

Last weekend was great for me. I didn't have a lot of work to do, and I just relaxed. We watched Star Wars episode 5 as a family, and my sister slept through the "I am your father" speech. I still can't believe she slept through the most iconic part of the movie. It was good to see Empire Strikes Back a second time.

I also watched a old horror classic, Day of the Dead. It is my Dad's favourite zombie movie because it shows even when few members of the human race are left, they still can't get past their differences. The zombies are scarier in this movie because they are an actual threat. I really like this movie because of that.

Well that's all over now. It was a nice weekend, but now the week is over and I got other things to do. Goodnight

the plane

The missing Malaysian plane is causing a lot of commotion with the news. I don't understand why it's so important, it probably just crashed. I don't think it is necessary for the news to give it so much attention, because it feels like this story is being dragged out. It's just a plane, nobody important was on it. It doesn't seem like something that should be getting as much attention as it is.

How many idiots does it take to find a plane? That is the question I want answered, but I know it takes a lot more than are looking for one now. They're using the Navy and Satellites but still no luck. I find it hard to believe that it takes such a long time just to locate a plane. It can't be as hard as it may seem.

Well that's all for tonight, tomorrow is a new day. I won't do much, it will be a day of relaxation. Rest is just what I need right now. If I can relax, I can concentrate better in school. Goodnight.

Tf2 Mvm

In one of my older posts, I talked about a game called Team Fortress 2. In TF2, there is a game mode called mann vs. machine. In mvm, a team of 3-6 players defends against waves of robots trying to deploy a bomb. If the bomb is deployed, the defending team loses the round and has to start over. That's basically how mvm works.

Recently, I've been trying to beat mvm alone. Since playing mvm  alone means having to do it on a private server, I can use the developer console to my advantage. The developer console will allow me to use commands to help me win. These commands can give me money for upgrades, spawn computer controlled allies, and move these allies to where I am. Things like this will be very helpful.

Using the right class is also important, because the abilities and weapons of each class is different. The best class to use on your own is the demoman. Demoman has the highest damage output and great at defending with his remotely detonatable bombs. Since mvm is all about defending your base, a defensive class like demoman is the obvious choice. Maybe I'll finally beat mvm solo if I use these techniques.

march break

March Break ended recently, but I miss it already. It was a great week and I especially enjoyed going to LEGO LAND. It was a lot of fun building and gift shopping, but it also had a 4-D theatre, a ride with a long line, a shooting game, and some kid stuff I was too old for. I enjoyed it a lot though, and I am also glad I went before I was too old. March Break was very relaxing and enjoyable, I'm kind of sorry it's over.

Well now it's back to regular school weeks, with the Literacy test next week. Work just comes and goes so fast now, that Literacy test will be here before I know it, so I really got to start practising. Luckily my Dad's friend is a highschool teacher and he told me the secret, never overlook the diagrams. If I make good use of the resources I have I can't lose. It will be a breeze If I put my mind to it.

The day is almost over and it'll be another day of school. What will I do tomorrow? I don't have any special plans so I'll probably just relax. I like to savour calm moments, because I can get lost in thought and I won't miss anything. That's all for tonight, I'm really tired.

just another day before another week

Well it's the end of another day, and I'll go back to school tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to next week, now that the Olympics are over everything will be back to normal. Yes just another normal week, I plan on taking it easy of course. That's what I normally do, just relax. It isn't good to make life more complicated than it needs to be.

Turns out it won't be that simple though, because I have to register for my grade 11 courses. This will be hard for me because I need to decide who I want to be. It's not wrong for me to be unsure of myself, and it's early in second semester so I'm not too certain what I think about the courses I have. It always takes me time to make big decisions, and my registration form is due this Thursday. This kind of thing can easily overwhelm me and make it hard to relax.

I don't see why registration needs to be dumped on students so suddenly, wouldn't it be better to let them know before the due date and give them some time. Is more time to decide too much to ask for? It would be nice if I had a weekend to think this over, but instead of that they inform me of this on Monday. I'm not ready for the decision between college and university, so I should at least have some time to choose. I guess I have little choice but to spend the afternoon doing it.

the Olympics

Well, recently I've been watching the Olympics. I haven't seen that much of it, but it seems that this is a good year for Canada. We have a total of 24 medals so far; nine gold, ten silver, and five bronze. Canada stands in third place overall, one place above the United States. All is well for Canada.

The big highlights were the men's and women's hockey games. First was the women's final against the US, which I only got to see a little of because I had to leave for a dentist appointment. My dentist told me that Canada scored in overtime. The men's semi-final I only got to see a little of too, but I watched the only goal in the game, Canada won the game 1-0. The final for men's hockey is Canada against Sweden and it will get a lot of commotion just like the other games.

Today I watched the bobsleigh event, and it seemed as though we weren't doing well. The Americans were winning but our second team beat their time, but this didn't mean victory. Britain easily beat the time of our second team and our third team went after. They got off at a great start, but they made a turn too early and had a devastating crash. We can't always win, but it was bad to lose that way.

today

Today I went to my Grandmother's house for dinner. I was not happy when I found this out earlier today because I really don't like it when plans change on such short notice. Grandma's cooking was good as usual, but I just wish there was more to do at her house. Now that I'm home, I'm just relaxing before I go to sleep.

Today, I played Team Fortress 2 with one of my friends online. TF2 is my favorite first person shooter, and is very enjoyable. There are nine classes of troops you can play as: scout, soldier, pyro, demoman, heavy weapons guy, engineer, medic, sniper, and the spy. My favourite class is the heavy weapons guy because he has the most health and has a powerful primary weapon, the minigun, but this comes at the cost of poor mobility. Every class in TF2 serves a different purpose, giving lots of variety in gameplay making it more entertaining.

Recently, I've been having trouble getting up in the morning. My parents don't like how I take so long to get up and I think I'll start going to bed earlier. This will help me get up on time in the morning so I won't be bothered by them as much. Well soon it will be time to sleep and this long weekend will be over, and then I'll back at school.

Goodnight.

long weekend

Well, it's Family Day weekend and not much has been happening. I recently got into playing Garry's Mod, and have been enjoying myself as I do so. It's really fun posing rag dolls and making faces to create scenes. Garry's Mod can also be used to play trough other games you have on steam, with community made weapons. Playing Garry's Mod can take up a lot of time.


Making faces in Gmod is very amusing, the distorted faces you can make are hilarious. You can alter faces and the flex scale that the face will be distorted at. Setting the flex scale too high will distort the face so much that it isn't even recognizable as a face. The humor value of these faces can be pretty high because they are so ridiculous.

the face poser in action

the result of setting the flex scale too high


Adjusting faces is one thing, but creating scenes is taking Gmod to the next level. Using the physics gun you can pose and freeze ragdolls and props to create scenes. It is even possible to use Garry's Mod to create stop motion films, a very time consuming process that involves posing ragdolls and taking screenshots as you do so. A Gmod scene can be very fun to create and adjust and I enjoy doing so.


Sunday

Sunday

Today is a very simple day, my mom and my younger sister, Sabrina are out at church because Sabrina alter serves there. What am I doing? I'm at home relaxing in silence, enjoying my free time. Later on today, I'll be trying to download a mod for Super Smash Brothers Brawl called "Project M" that my friend Allan showed me yesterday. Project M is a fan-made mod that alters the gameplay of super smash brothers brawl, and is done very well if I do say so myself.

I tried to hack ssbb once myself, using a method known as the stage builder glitch. In order to understand how this works, you need to know that Brawl has a custom stage creator in-game that can save stages to SD cards and upload them from SD cards. If you have your hack files on the root of your SD card and there are no custom stages saved on  the console, the hack is uploaded and becomes usable in the game. I tried this myself once, (using files that someone else made) but it didn't work and the game always froze. Maybe when I'm done with my programming course this semester, I'll understand what I did wrong.

Other than trying to get Project M to work, not much else is going on today. My cat Jinxer is in my room with me, the only thing this cat likes more than sitting on my English homework is sitting on my bed. I'll probably be in my room for a bit with Jinxer and rest because I was up really late last night. Here's to a simple day of peace and quiet, and Project M. Better treasure it before Monday comes.

first blog

This is my first blog

 

 

well, here I am writing my first blog. I began this blog because it was something I needed to do for my ISC course in school. I am enjoying this course and look forward to learn programming techniques. Unfortunately, I am struggling to grasp the new means of teaching I have been introduced to in this course but I'm certain after time I will get the hang of it. It looks like the beginning of a good semester.

 

 

Speaking of this semester, things are looking good for my other classes too, or they were at least until I was sick for two days and missed important stuff in all my classes. I hate having to catch up before I was even up to speed on everything that was going on. I'm a little better now and I think I'm back on track. Even though I don't know what I've missed for religion, my fifth period class it isn't something that worries me because of how slowly things are being taught.  It won't be too hard.

 

Usually after school on a Friday I would walk home without a worry but because of my absences, I'll have some work to do but getting that done shouldn't take long. Every Friday night some Friends of mine get together at my place and we watch movies together. Most of the time we only have enough time to watch one full movie and half of another. It's always a good way to end the week. I'm looking forward to this weekend.