Gattsu's Journal

Some Python

2015-08-19T22:17:00.000-04:00

Still here.

Checking out some programming.

Decided on Python. Don't ask.

Started on Learn Python The Hard Way (http://learnpythonthehardway.org/) and got up to Chapter 39. It's pretty great and I highly recommend people check it out. It's totally free and you can support the creator either through those previous links or by buying the book on Amazon.

Around that time I picked up Learning Python and have been reading through it as well to get some more background on exactly how the program I wrote in LPTHW CH39 even worked. Learning Python also gives me some perspective on the differences between Python 2.x and Python 3.x.

Also, started writing programs and scripts to help my do my job, which is nice.

Things are good, if not a bit busy.

Sorry for not stopping by my own...spot...more often.

Anyway, I highly recommend you guys give Python a whirl.

Learn Python The Hard Way is actually a pretty great introduction to the language and is free if you go to their site. Learning Python is a fairly detailed deep dive into learning the language and why it works the way it does.

And, as always, there are some fantastic (and free) training resources and tutorials available on the Python website:

Python 3: https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/

Python 2: https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/

Give it a go.

My Destiny Is Unclear

2014-09-12T22:38:00.001-04:00

As I'm sure many of you are also doing this week I have been playing a lot of Destiny. I'm enjoying the game and that's the problem: I can already see the beginning of the end when it comes to my enjoyment of this game and it's complicating my current enjoyment.

That said, I'm still loving the gameplay. I enjoy the feel of the arsenal. I enjoy the Halo-style encounters that I'm placed in and the close calls that I only barely survived due to some split second decisions.

However, unlike the Halo games the gameplay parameters do not feel perfectly crafted and tuned. A layer of randomization has been added over everything: the number of hits needed to take down an enemy is no longer a product of impeccable balance but is now the byproduct of hundreds of dice rolls. When was the last time the game gave me a suitable upgrade for my gear? What are the stats on my primary weapon? What is the level difference between the enemy and myself? Which enemies did the game decide to spawn in at this time?

I touched on this before but some of the best gameplay experiences in Halo are the result of the constrained resource management that game forces you into on the harder difficulty settings. I still remember running low on ammo and having to master the alien Needler, a weapon that I previously avoided, and quickly finding that it was fantastic in a variety of situations. That kind of discovery is not possible in Destiny as you bring your arsenal with you. Without this avenue of improvisational tactics adjustments, I can see myself cooling on the gameplay quicker than I would with the typical Halo game.

I'm also noticing a very stringent pattern in the story missions of the game: run to location, hold box to Tyrion, and then fight off waves of enemies. Rinse, lather, repeat. Eventually I'll reach a location that has a backing soundtrack and then I fight a boss. Mission end.

This pattern has held true for every mission that I've encountered so far, though I am still somewhat early in the campaign. Normally, this sort of by-the-numbers story mission design would have dissuaded me from continuing but this game has a few structural differences that lend it some needed longevity. This is due to the structure of this game being much closer to Phantasy Star Online than any other modern console action that I can think of.

You have a central hub world where you can accept challenges, buy gear from vendors, identify items, and store/retrieve items from your bank.

You head off to one of several larger world areas on a set of predefined missions and based on the mission that you select you are taken through various configurations of each area. These configurations affect the path through the level you will take, which groups of enemies you will encounter, and the bosses you will fight. Along the way you will collect loot in the form of armor and weapons dropped by enemies, techniques (similar to spells only using a type of magic called "sci fi tech") that can augment the way you play the game, consumable items that will buff you in ways that drastically change your tactics for a limited time, recovery items that will give you a leg up in combat, items that you can slot into your gear to alter the properties of your equipment, and currency. Whoops, seems like most of that stuff is missing in Destiny. Instead I have the opportunity to grind factional reputation. *sigh*

Therein lies the rub: while this game, structurally, reminds me of Phantasy Star Online it is lacking that game's fantastic item drop variety.

I enjoy playing this game, but I'm not sure how much longer I will be saying that. How many more days do I have before I decide to load up another game instead for just one night? How long after that before I forget that I still have Destiny installed? I feel these are questions that I shouldn't be asking but I'm asking them, anyway.

I know I will quit this game, sooner rather than later. Until then, I'll continue to have fun playing Destiny.

Wrestling with the Weight of the Present

2013-07-21T15:17:00.003-04:00

I wasn't sure exactly how I should handle this.

Questlove of the Roots eloquently expressed himself when he said that the verdict showed how little he was worth: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/07/questlove-trayvon-martin-and-i-aint-shit.html

What do I say? Not sure..

I know that the weight of the present is on top of our shoulders, pressing down. This is a weight that is felt by some but not all. It is an invisible and, at times, you get used to it and forget that it is even there. However, there is always an incident to snap you back into reality.

You stand less tall than others as a result of the burden weighing you down. You are less.

The weight of the past? That doesn't exist anymore.. now does it?

That's what I'm told, at least.

The past and the present.. Oh, how they intertwine..

Bessie

2013-06-21T15:44:00.000-04:00

Bessie

The door was cracked open as ma went out earlier.

The storm they heard of on the radio really was coming, and it mad the sky look like it was having a funeral for the sun.

The porch creaked underneath her big'ol feet.

"Bessie is that you?" Ma called out to her.

"Yes ma it's me." She replied.

"Well, why are you sneaking like some thief?" Ma scolded her.

"donno ma." She replied to ma.

"Well, you know I love ya?" Ma called out in a softer tone.

"I know ma." She told ma.

She took a few more steps outside and she saw ma rocking in that old rocker.

Ma had pa's old shooter on her lap.

As ma saw her ma gripped pa's shooter.

"Bessie you know I love ya?" ma called out to her gripping pa's shooter.

"I know ma." She told ma.

"Well, why are out 'ere for?" Ma asked her.

"Well, I wanted to play." She told ma.

"Get inside and play." Ma told her.

Bessie went over to bush right in front of their cabin that a snake moved into.

"Bessie." Ma called out to her.

"Bessie!" Ma called again.

"BESSIE!" Ma yelled out to her.

"Yes ma?" She replied back to ma.

"What ya doing by that bush?" Ma called out.

"I'm just playing." She told ma.

"You better not be playing wit' no snake." Ma called out.

"But, ma it aint bad." She told ma.

"Bessie get inside!" Ma yelled at her.

"But, ma the snake aint bad." She told ma.

"What y'all color folk doing out 'ere?" A man said to them.

"Get away from my girl!" Ma yelled at the two men.

"Aint no reason to point that at us." The man wearing denim overalls and blonde hair said.

"Yeah aint no reason." The man white shirt stained brown and brunette hair said.

"I know who you are!" Ma told the men.

"What, are you going to shoot us?" The blonde man asked ma.

She heard a loud bang and smoke come from pa's gun when she suddenly felt a hot syrup rain on her.

All she could do was cry as she saw the blonde man fall to ground trying to tell her something.

The other man ran for his life, but ma was good shot, and she saw mist spray from his head as ma shot him down.

"Bessie." Ma called out to her.

"Bessie!" Ma called again.

"BESSIE!" Ma yelled out to her.

New Blog Contributors

2013-06-17T12:32:00.002-04:00

Hello everyone,

I'm one of the new contributors on this blog. Hopefully this means that the blog will be updated at a faster rate than before. We all know that glaciers move slowly ;)

-Xasio

Tough Times Ahead

2012-04-07T17:50:00.001-04:00

I've been reading through China Mieville's Perdido Street Station after previously putting the book down and it's an interesting story. The author has a great way of making every single thing he writes about feel dirty, used, and wretched.

I haven't finished the book yet but what I have read is now pretty engaging. Multiple story threads are starting to intermingle and no pleasant outcome seems likely. It's only fitting that this book ends on a down note.

Of New Years and Better Times

2012-01-07T22:57:00.001-05:00

Well, the new year is here and I'm still around. Haven't done much writing lately. Also haven't done much reading.

I will update you all later on.

Pretty consumed by work, as I always seem to be at this time if year.

Later.

Sent from my Kindle Fire

Reading slowly...

2011-08-09T01:27:00.000-04:00

I am slowly reading through A Dance with Dragons and I enjoy it, so far. About 30% through. I'm only reading it for a few minutes before I go to sleep.

There are a lot of exposition bombs in this book, though. Two out of every three chapters is dominated by pure exposition. This doesn't bug me when it is used sparingly or when the narrative picks up after a few pages but started with Feast it seems like the author is doing this more often. It was largely the reason why Feast is my least favorite book in the series.

I am also playing E.Y.E. Divine Cybermancy on Steam. This is an odd game and I love it. Very poorly localized and with an interface that is like gently caressing your eyes with sand. The gameplay is a fast paced Source shooter where the bad guys go down in a few hits (strongest guy I've seen is a helicopter that explodes after 2 armor piercing sniper shots), with a fairly detailed RPG stat system, the EVE Online tech research system stuck on fast-forward, support for up to 32-player multiplayer, gigantic levels, and a fun ability/tech system. There are also respawning enemies and random quest objectives which may throw some people off. It's a rough game, by all means, but I find it really enjoyable.

It's getting late and this post is likely riddled in typos, as it is. Good night.

Messing around and trying to figure out how to move on from here...

2011-06-22T19:53:00.000-04:00

My brother's funeral is on Friday and I am not sure how to move on.. By the way, my brother passed away on the 19th. I have been very busy with planning and do not know when I will get back to writing. Hopefully, it is sooner rather than later.

Thanks, all of my beloved viewers, for your patience and understanding when it comes to these infrequent updates.

I'm still here

2010-07-15T23:22:00.000-04:00

Haven't written anything in a while. I'm back to reading, at least. Just finished Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card. Enjoyable read.

I think I'm a scifi fan. Dunno, more details to follow.

Thanks for sticking with me, my faithful viewers.

Regards,

Gattsu25

Journal

2008-06-27T05:31:00.001-04:00

Updated irregularly.

Anyway, I'm Gattsu25. This is my journal.

Currently reading:
The Lies of Locke Lamara by Scott Lynch

I don't know what to say about it, so far. I've only just started it but it's pretty juvenile.

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Loving this one, so far. I'm thinking that I'll save this until I'm back in Florida and read it then.

A Fire Upon the Deep by Verner Vinge

What can I say about this one? Verner Vinge's prose has matured, as well as his ability to craft an interesting story...and now he can actually present that story in a way where it no longer feels like a lecture. I bought this book at around the same time that I bought The Lies of Locke Lamora and, in my eyes, there's no question that this will be the first (of those books) that I will read.