My favorite time of the year is from October 1st to December 31st. It's a beautiful 3 months. The weather is great for the first six weeks, and for the last six weeks it's cold but not painfully so. I get to drive around with the windows down, the sun goes down early so there's more night time, and there's all the fun of the anticipation of the holidays: I personally think the "season" is more fun than the holiday itself. There's my birthday, and that's always fun. The end of the semester generally isn't fun, but it's part of the season I guess. The stress of the end of it all makes it that much sweeter when you actually finish the pair of death finals on the same day, get the giant paper turned in, and you get to just cruise on your way home to see the old amigos once more. And the season ends on two or three weeks of vacation, and the promise of more vacation to come.

Bring on the leaves falling, the end of Daylight Savings Time, and my birthday celebration in a campus Chinese restaurant with Christmas lights strung up all over the inside. I can't wait to go home and live in what feels like luxury compared to the day-to-day here.

And I'm so throwing a 2-night LAN for CS2.

Now I'm switching Emilys once again and mentioning Emily Gordon - my dear friend linked on the sidebar. First things first, congratulations to her are in order for graduating from AID and promptly getting started seeking a career in the web biz. She's already telling me how I can improve s.o the day after she graduated, despite the fact that she and I have been friends since the site started. Goofball.

Secondly, thanks to her for resurrecting my profile picture! She has graciously hosted my little picture on the right in the absence of the pureimaginary server while Aroon's off herding his residents.

Well, not Half-Life2. But Counter-Strike: Source is just about done, and it's being released online next week, in Valve's latest announcement. Pre-order HL2 through Steam next week (I think you have to drop full price for the game, and it'll come in various flavors depending on whether you want DoD:Source or the HL1 redo) and it instantly grants you access to CS2.

My online addiction for the next several years has just been set in stone. Bring it on, bitches.

The INDUCE Act is a bill being pushed through the Senate by Orrin Hatch at the beckoning of the RIAA and MPAA. The bill (S.2560) gives those two trade groups veto power over new technologies on the grounds that they could conceivably be used to work around current copyright law, and that these groups should be trusted to judge what is and what isn't potentially a copyright violation.

If you are a Texas resident, click NOW (that's immediately) to contact John Cornyn via email here. Let him know that you're a constituent and you want the passage of S.2560 blocked. If you're a musician, let him know also that not all musicians agree with the copyright practices of the RIAA. The same goes for amateur filmmakers.

Cornyn sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will decide on Thursday morning whether the bill will hit the floor. Hence the email Cornyn NOW part: you can't send him an email Thursday morning and expect it to be read by anyone in his office. According to the EFF, the committee is currently sitting around 50/50. If this bill dies in committee, it will be a major (more like necessary) victory for those of us who own CD/DVD burners, iPods, TiVos, and any other entertainment technology which uses digital copying.

but I think this interior looks pretty damn good.

the bmw 1 series.

The new 7's and 5's have awful interiors; they're impersonal and almost attempting to be abstract art. The Z4 is tolerable. The next-gen 3 series also promises to be terrible. But this one looks just right; like the proper evolution of an overpriced German car. If this comes out in the US in the next 3 years, I think I might have to jump down to the 1-series (but a coupe version, not a hatch).

Empirical proof that viewers of Comedy Central are smarter than those of Fox News: The AP report.

So last time I went home, I spent some time updating my mom on campus life. There was a lot to tell her about people: how some people had drifted off, others had come along, and things were good in general. After spending some time talking about one friend, my mom just dropped in passing, "That's what I think it's going to take for you. Someone who's smart, pretty, talented, different.."

I couldn't help but agree. That was my list in a nutshell. Granted, things like "pretty" carry several more adjectives along with them, but as far as nutshell evaluations go, I think that's great. And that little nutshell pulled me out of the stupidity that's been my first year and change of college. Up to recently it was just randomly wandering around, talking to everyone, occasionally getting something that would last longer than a few days and a pair of unanswered phone calls.

Now I sort of have this reminder that it's much easier and rewarding to go after girls that there's a sort of "click" with. Not chemistry, that's something else entirely. But a "click" comes from the same sort of thing that makes you say "I KNOW!" like 50 times on a date with someone you have just everything in common with. Problem: girls I click with are rare. Really rare. I'm just that twisted. But my mom's little nutshell evaluation of what I'm looking for prescribes a really rare chick: when's the last time you've met a smart/pretty/talented/different person of the opposite sex who's single and not completely off their rocker?

This, I think, might be the guiding principle for my love life in my early 20s. (They're coming up, ya know. December 3rd.) Just wait for a click to happen, and then enjoy it instead of wasting time and effort and acting like some kind of playa, saying all these premeditated lines that you have to drop just to pass muster with Ashley the Average Girl. I'll definitely wind up single more often than not, but it's better than broke from lame dates and exhausted from forced conversations. At the very least, I have a little direction for myself, and that makes me happy.

I keep telling myself that, because freshmen are idiots, they can't even find basic things on campus without asking 36 people, they've all got the maturity of cranky four year olds, and the ones that didn't go Greek are lousy in bed. But I find myself talking to the occasional frosh anyway in the hopes that one or two might actually be interesting people. So since she's already whining and bitching about it (see previous comment thread), I think it's about time I linked my new friend Juliette.

Juli's certainly an interesting chick. I found her on *drumroll please* thefacebook.com (teehee) when I was surfing through the user group known as "Buck Fush." We got to talking over IM and she's certainly gotten a lot of cool points very quickly: she speaks Spanish, she's highly familiar with gaming, and she's quite the looker even though her LJ avatar is really just Shirley Manson. She's got some high-quality posts, so go give her a shout.

I've done it! I have navigated the great maze that is FreeiPods.com, and I have completed it all and I'm currently going through the approval phases where they make sure I didn't cheat. I'd like to thank the many people whose email addresses I don't know who added themselves under me, as well as my good and dear roommate Tim Allen *cue manly laughing sound* who had the charity to be my 5th referral.

If I actually get this damned toy, there will be pictures a plenty.

Next project: Use FreeFlatScreens.com to get a TV for this basement of ours.

It took me forever to realize that I've been missing the "currently reading" link from my sidebar ever since I went to the new style. I'm not sure I want to put it back - it could go in my profile or I could just update every time I start a new book.

So for the time being, here's what I'm reading: The Art of Deception

Changed two links: alex now goes to his new Blogspot address, and aroon's been temporarily removed.

Speaking of: Where the hell did that crazy brown man go? He hasn't answered an IM or a phone call.

The demo came out this week for the PC port of Full Spectrum Warrior, the very good Xbox tactical simulator commissioned by the US Army and developed by Pandemic. I played the training mission and the first level all the way through, and I think you all should grab it.

Gameplay: Freakin' cool. It's a very simple interface but the game is far from a walk in the park. The game's very challenging but all of the difficulty comes in the tactical situations you're put into. You end up spending more time planning your attacks than you do running and gunning, and it's extreeeeemely rewarding when you finally manage to sneak around behind a machine gun nest and double-tap the gunner in the back of the head while he doesn't suspect a thing.

Graphics: Not bad. It's definitely still an Xbox game. Shadows are hard and blocky, textures are low-res and polygonal detail isn't really astonishing. But the visuals are still a solid 4 out of 5 and the game is still smooth in high resolutions, so there's nothing to complain about.

Sound: It's very good, also a solid 4 out of 5. The effects won't rattle your speakers but the hilarious dialogue by your soldiers more than makes up for it. Curse words get dropped as often as grenades do. All in all, you get the effect that you're in control of some crazy soldiers who are anxious to see some action and are confident in their skills and training.

Production value: Fantastic. Army-commissioned games tend to have that quality. Attention to detail has been paid here. The game is very scripted in terms of events and missions but how you solve them is entirely up to you, leaving you with the perfect kind of structure of a free-roaming game that gently prods you along. Truly, no corners were cut in the making of this game. Everything's on purpose, and it's a great thing.

Verdict: Grab the demo. The rest of the game is in much the same vein (I've played the Xbox version with my roommate), so if you like this level, you'll like the rest.

On thefacebook.com: I have 58 friends. I am connected to 663 people through friends.

On freeipods.com: I have 12 people signed up through me. 4 have completed offers.

Ugh. Another weekend when I'm busy in school, another funeral in Oklahoma. My mom's aunt passed at a fairly ripe age, and my mom asked me to come up and go with her to Oklahoma for the funeral. She just about never asks me for anything, so I oblige since it must be a pretty big deal to her. My mom got clingy at moments, which was odd, but she's a very strong person and took the loss pretty well around her family. Like virtually any family event, everyone knew who I was, since I was the baby, but I had no clue who anyone was. Here was a typical dialogue between me and a relative:

(relative): Hey Blake! It's so good to see you again! [It's been so long / You look terrific / How's college?]
me: Hey! [No idea who this is, but give a reassuring smile anyway.] [I know! It's good to see you too. / Thank you so much! / It's great, UT is totally the right place, and Vince is going to pull it out this year.]

Regardless, I'm really tired of this funeral thing. Dear family: stay alive. Love, me.

I wound up driving home to A-town on Sunday night, eating with Mom, then spending the night there chilling and studying. It just felt really weird to have this little voice reminding me I have class in the morning, and I'm in the wrong town. Once I finished working, I ended up having the first conversation in a long time with my dear old friend Monica. She's headed off to NYC, permanently this time, and so we ended up having this long conversation about how great it's been hanging out with one another and something about a crush and blah blah blah. All in all, it made me wish I had told her all this stuff a long time ago. There's a slight chance I'll get to see her one more time before she moves away and if that happens, I'll be overjoyed, but only until she leaves, at which point it'll be like a sad movie. Either way, there's a definite lesson to be learned:

Tell people how much you appreciate them.

Dear friends: I love you guys. Really, I do. Love, me.

And now, since my post has had much sadness and much happiness, it's time for some deep thought.

On the drive home, my mom spotted a pair of abandoned black labs on the road. She felt tempted to stop and pick them up, but didn't (probably mostly for my sake; animals and I don't get along). And it's like that for a lot of people. Whether it's a cute puppy, or a harmless and helpless turtle, or a guy who's down on his luck, we tend to avoid these situations thanks to high speed. Imagine transportation in the 1850s. If you were crossing a given state in the span of several weeks, and randomly came upon a lone dog or person, you'd just about have to include them in your trip. Nowadays, you can shrug it off. The creature you just saw will disappear as quickly as it appeared, and somewhere in the back of your head you dismiss it as "Well, I'm past it now, no use in turning back." Had you crawled up to the dog or person at an amazing 6 miles per hour, you'd have to interact with it. You can't simply stroll by a lone guy in the middle of nowhere without talking to him. The dog would probably follow you. Cars are great, they really are. But with every great innovation comes a cost that drains away a tiny part of your soul. Think about that next time you see a dog on the side of the road that got abandoned by its owner.

I've gotten my hands on some new pop culture, rifled through some old stuff at long last, and here are my reviews:

Everclear, Slow Motion Daydream

Everclear's music is so formulaic. Granted, this album sounds nothing like Sparkle and Fade, but their sound has very slowly evolved into this modern, tame, I-have-a-daughter-who-means-the-world-to-me sort of pop sound instead of their introductory my-girlfriend-died-of-an-overdose rebel sound. This newest one is a sort of ultimate evolution of the pop sound that started with Soundtrack to an American Movie, Vol. 1. Sometimes the album even starts to take the band in a new direction that sounds like easy, timeless rock like Springsteen or either of the Dylans. It's definitely not the Everclear of old, but it is confident, easygoing, and strangely still easily identifiable as Everclear. Recommended for fans, everyone else give it a single listen.

Call of Duty

What the hell? This game's practically a year old. Well, like many games, I finally finish it way after it fades from the public eye. It's one of many World War II FPS's, even designed by most of the team responsible for the original Medal of Honor. About half of the original MoH crew from 2015 broke away from the pack at the end of the MoH project and formed Infinity Ward, and this is their first baby. The inspiration from MoH is definitely there: artwork and architecture are very familiar; many objectives play out in the same fashion. What's new is the game's simplicity and absolutely amazing production value.

Gameplay: The inclusion of three distinct campaigns gives the gameplay three separate impressions: the Americans rely on teamwork (provided amazingly by some very convincing combinations of AI and scripted teammates), the British SAS prefer to keep quiet, and the Russians simply pray for survival as you watch your comrades get mowed down by the dozens. I can't count the times when ambushes leave you clueless as to where to go, or your commanding officer gives you an order only to be taken out seconds later by enemy fire. There's a noticeable lack of plot in this game, but it's not really a problem. The game is more of a war immersion than a storytelling experience, and it works very well. From the first American entry into a French village the day after D-Day, you're in the very middle of the fight.

Graphics: A year ago, they were great. Right now they're not the best-looking thing out there (blame Doom3 and Far Cry) but they're thoroughly modern and it'll be about another year before they look even the slightest bit aged. Expect the Quake III technology to crank out a few more good experiences before the Doom3 engine really gets put into widespread use.

Sound: Amazing. Bullets and explosions everywhere, teammates bark at each other and crack the occasional joke, and it's downright scary when you hear sniper fire but you can't pinpoint where it comes from. Creative uses Call of Duty to demo its newest hardware and it's obvious why when you try the game out - even more so when you get a high-end 5.1 or 7.1 system going. The entirely orchestral score is reminiscent of MoH (and, yes, Saving Private Ryan) and it gets better as the game gets along. By the time you're a Russian storming the Reichstag in the game's final level, it's such a beautiful and moving moment that the weak-hearted FPS player might start to tear up.

Production value: At the top of the ladder for modern FPS games. There's never a gap in objectives, tension, sound quality, attention to detail, animation, level design, variance in art......

Final verdict: An amazing FPS and a very solid game. Recommended for everyone except those who hate FPS games. If you haven't played it yet, give it a spin.

What's next: An expansion developed by Gray Matter (creator of the decently-produced but boring-as-hell Return to Castle Wolfenstein single-player segment) has just hit stores this week. It includes new gameplay sequences including on-rails shooting and air combat, but the biggest improvements will be hailed by the thriving multiplayer community. Infinity Ward is at work on a sequel but no details are available.

Seriously, the Plan II office just held down the Run button, tapped Down twice, and let it go after winning the third round.

Specifically, the Plan II Honcho himself, Dr. Paul Woodruff, who is always an excellent man. Once my advisor took my essay to his office, he decided to let my essay slip in.

One of the worst days I had in a long time just got reversed, and I feel very happy. And if I win the big prize, well, I'll get something nice for some people.

Speaking of nice people and doing nice things, thanks to all the commenters who posted their consolations in the previous post. Your sentiments have been noted and I'll have my people look into something really spiffy for you guys.

Today I made one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I messed up the deadline for the Plan II essay contest and now they won't take my entry. So the work I did over the summer is down the drain, I let down my editor, and I have no chance at any prize money or recognition which I needed so much if I'm headed to journalism school. I get violent very rarely, and that happened today. I threw things, I broke others, and it took a lot of restraint not to start fights with people over tiny, tiny, petty stupidity that I'm used to seeing every day.

But on the other hand, I have to be thankful that I'm still in good health. Combine that with some quality Austin Chinese food with my boys, and suddenly my cursed day of Tuesday is a bit less crappy.

TheFaceBook.com is a truly awesome site. It's like Friendster, but it's college-oriented. So, everyone who goes to your school is in your 'realm' of the site, you can find people by Greeks, organizations, classes, or just by your friends who are on the site. You can find new people and send them IMs, 'poke' them, or search for new ones. On the more global level, you can search for people at other schools and add your other-school friends to your list. Go sign yourself up now, cause it's cool.

for everything anyone has ever made fun of them for.

Why? The Peugeot 907 concept. Thanks to Ruthie for pointing that one out.

The rational me would have stayed here Friday night, chilled with the boys, and gone about my weekend like normal. Instead, I thought, I'll put another 400 miles on my car, burn a tank of gas, spend even more money when I'm home, not catch up on sleep, and generally do things that I shouldn't.

And it was totally worth the trip home to spend a night at home, see my mom and my dog, and go out to see a movie with the Emily as I posted about a couple weeks back, and get back to Austin just in time for a music rehearsal, the football game (more on that in a second), a party, and *not* my homework.

The football game. Jesus Christ. UT kicked off the ball at the start of both halves, we got about 12 false start calls against us, got no call when a guy intentionally twisted Vince Young's ankle after the play, watched Arkansas gain 40 yards off an incomplete pass, and we *still* won the game because Arkansas gave us a safety off their first drive because their center's an idiot. What a game. After that one, I had no problem with going out partying and getting stupid.

I'm sure my weekend is more interesting to me than a blog reader, but man, I did something I normally wouldn't do this weekend and I had a great weekend thanks to that. I'm proud of myself.

I know I've tried to limit the political postings on s.o. now that bs exists, but this one seems a bit dire and I'm a smidge nervous.

StopTheNRA.com is just about what you'd expect from the name. Their big deal right now is a ban on the sale and import of assault rifles, passed 10 years ago, that's set to sunset next Monday, and it's going to be a big issue in Congress since the NRA has grown considerably in the last decade. Overall, I'm of the opinion that the ban has largely worked, so if you agree, click the link.

Click here to get straight into the show. Once Aroon finally comes back from the moon or wherever the hell he is and gets pure imaginary back up, he'll be putting up the memoirs post. But for now, enjoy some pictures through the eyes of blakerson and our friends at [SSB].

I still haven't gotten the Quakecon 2004 album up, and for that I apologize. It's coming soon, I promise.

Also to be added might be a new shot from the UT campus under the photography session, since today was the first football game of the year and I got some good pics.

Every day I walk into Men's Chorus rehearsal, it feels like Longhorn Singers are just outside the door laughing at me for missing auditions. They get to travel, they have fun outside of rehearsals, they have *good* parties, and they even have people of the opposite sex.

I totally screwed myself over.

1. I miss coffeehouses. If you're in Austin and you're a fan of chillin at Starbucks/Metro/Spiderhouse, please give me a ring. I really need a high-quality cookie.

2. I'm possibly coming to Lubbock (oh god save me now) for the UT-Tech game, since Men's Chorus might be doing a joint show with the Tech choir on the same weekend. And I was flippin' out about going to Hawaii with a different group. Psh. So, Kracker, Erin, and anyone else who's in Lubbock or feels like going, let's get something together.

So now that I'm posting this I'm sure to jinx myself, but I have quite a lot of free time so far. Of the five academic classes I'm taking, I'm only working in three on a regular basis. Philosophy's got some demanding reading, Japanese is naturally a lot of work, and I have to do some reading just about daily for Economics. History of Western Music is a fairly effortless class, as is Texas Government, but I'll have to study both of those a bit before exams come along.

The big difference here is that I'm used to seriously working in 4 or 5 classes at a time. And when one of my three working classes is actually pretty painless (Econ, readings are crazy short), it leaves me with a *lot* of spare time. Way more than I'm used to as a college student. And instead of doing what I should be doing (catching up on music or gaming), I'm attempting to be social. I'm doing the same sort of rounds that I did at the very start of last year - check the rooms that have lots of people and see if there's anyone to talk to.

At the very least, I'm spending more time off the computer. I deserve kudos for that, because only I can prevent forest fires carpal tunnel.