All I want for Xmas is a Headshot

Quite a weird and bizarre Christmas I've been having. First off, on the trip home, we had so many gifts we were trying to cram into the Truck (F150) that the only way we were able to make it work was to have Myself, Taint, and Sahd sit in the front seat. I had to ride bitch. I actually didn't mind so much except for the fact that there is no head rest in that seat. And that wouldn't have been such a big deal if it weren't for the fact that I hadn't slept for over 30 hours at that point.

My head was constantly rolling all over the place on the four hour drive home. When we got home, I opened the front door to my parent's house and noticed immediately that there was no Christmas tree!! They had just gotten back from a 3 week vacation overseas and my mom was too exhausted to put anything up this year. So now we have a huge pile of presents just sitting by the window. I volunteered to pretend to be the tree this year and I would blink my eyes to mimic blinking lights. I don't think anyone was to excited about that idea. lol.

I was actually feeling pretty decent that night even being as exhausted as I was. I was dancing around singing "Down" by Jay Sean. Then I went to bed around 1am . The next morning, I woke up and couldn't move. Apparently the drive down must have strained by back at a pressure point. I literally couldn't get myself up without extreme pain. This of course was exacerbated by the fact that I really needed to go pee. lol. Suckage. Long, painful morning story short, my mom put some bengay on it and I got pain meds... I'm feeling much better today for sure although I'm still downing Alleve like tic tacs.

Besides resting and feeling loopy yesterday, I pretty much bunkered down and watched The World's Deadliest catch marathon. I got a pass out of not going to mass with Sahd and his family because of my back. I took it because the thought of an hour on those hard pews and all the standing and getting up would have sucked. We only go every year to make his grandmother happy.

Anyhow, late last night, my dad poppped a live concert for Andrea Bocelli and I actually saw the dude for the first time. I had no idea he was blind and played the piano. The man is a amazing. However, watching his concert made me super sleepy and I actually went to bed before midnight which could also have been because of the meds as well.

The shitty thing about going to bed that early is that I normally only sleep 4-6 hours. I woke up at 4am. I noticed the light in Taint's room was still on so I went and he was still up playing Modern Warfare II. I have the game myself but haven't installed it because I've been working my ass off up until the night we left.

So I sat down and started to play. I tell you what, there is nothing like kicking off your Christmas morning killing marines and terrorists. lol. I was off to a rocky start at first especially with Team Deathmatch mode. However, after a few rounds, I started to get my stride back. FPS is like riding a bike, there are just certain memory muscles that don't go die. I think I will definitely install the game when I get back to Austin. I also didn't notice much issues with the non-dedicated server thing. I love the pace of the matches and of course the unlocks and level ups are nice. It'll suck when I start my own up because I'm going to start at baseline. boooo! lol.

Anyhow, that's been my Christmas so far. I'm waiting for everyone to get up now so I can had off to Winnie,TX to bein the first leg of my Christmas day.

Merry Christmas! [HEAD SHOT]

Answers and Inspirations

I just got through watching a live ustream posted by @manorton on twitter for what seems to be an online worship service called Redeemed Point. They had people playing music and then I guess a pastor come on and give a quick sermon. This one was about Christmas and the true meaning of the holiday.

I thought it was kind of neat watching a very intimate sermon via live streaming. The weird thing of course is that I’m atheist but for some reason, I have this really strong fascination with sermons. I especially like to listen to or watch sermons done by smaller churches and services. I hate those big tv production ones or the mainstream churches. Usually big productions lack a lot of the intimacy and relate-ability of the message I enjoy about these smaller ones.

I’ve had my issues with Christianity in the past, especially as I was coming out as an atheist. However, over the years, there is something I still really am drawn to about the Christian worship. A lot of the teachings are solid. They are about respect for family, empathy for your fellow man, and the beauty of community.

After you move away from home, you are basically on your own when it comes to guidance. Hell, even most parents today don’t offer up the needed thumping you expect from traditional teachings. No one wants to be the bitch. While, I don’t agree with a lot of the Christian philosophies at times, I still appreciate a great deal of the idea of community leadership and guidance. I definitely feel lost at times, not really sure if I’m a part of anything anymore.

However, when I listen to a few small sermons nowadays (South Lake Presbyterian Church podcast), it is quite pleasant to hear the global themes of our modern social morals reiterated. Where else do you find such community and guidance today? I’m not sure.

A lot of atheists kind of see this as ridiculous I’m sure. The newage atheists tend to define atheism as a cult of anti-religion where I simply see it as a singular definition of the lack of belief in a god or gods. I also don’t tolerate general ignorance when it comes faith guided hatred or bigotry either. But for some reason, I’m able to appreciate the most of the teachings of Christ without actually believing in God. Social morality is huge in my book and I think all communities benefit from having it as backbone…and quite frankly, I don’t really see government leaders, community leaders, or any other organized group in our society pushing to keep it strong except churches (regardless of what their motivations might be).

Probably Horde

I totally forgot! Last night at the theater to Avatar, we arrived early to make sure we got good seats. We always pick the row that is about 3-4 rows behind the midpoint.

Anyhow, we secured our seats fine. This young couple ended up parking it next to Taint to the left of us. For some reason, about 2 minutes after they sat down, they got up and scooted one seat over.

Sahd said to Taint, “Do you stink or something?” And Taint laughed and sniffed himself. We all laughed. I looked over and saw the chic was wearing a World of Warcraft Hoodie so I commented under my breath to the guys, “They’re probably horde.”

The chic must have heard me and was like, “Did you just say ‘We’re probably horde?’” LOL. I was like “yeah”..

She said, “yeah, we are.” So I bantered back, “There you go!”

Taint chimed in, “The war continues.” lol.

FYI: Hot chics play horde! hahaha.

Sniffs and Sneezes

I spent an hour or so talking to Flipmax in the garage after Avatar last night. I didn’t think we’d talk so long or I would have moved the conversation inside. In any case, it was very cold and I think I might be getting sick now because of it.

I woke up today with a sore throat and lots of sniffles and sneezes. I really don’t want to be sick for the holidays so I’m going to see about getting my work done asap and then maybe going back to bed. Also, I stayed up way too late last night.

I am really annoyed by how fubar my schedule is… I wish it was acceptable to carry on in life the absolute opposite sleeping schedule as normal people. However, if you sleep most of the day awake and keep wake through the night, you find a lot of your time is in solitude.

I wish there was a balance. *sniff*. I guess I better get started on my work. Hopefully I can finish it soon.

Take me Back to Pandora Please

I wasn’t planning on going to see Avatar while it was out in theaters. I was going to wait until it came out on dvd. However, Flipmax wanted to go see it and I thought, what the heck. So tonight after dinner, I convinced everyone to go watch the 10:35pm showing.

There must be bad marketing with this film because they failed to convey that it was available in digital 3D in every major theater. I’m so used to those special Imax 3D films where you had to find a special theater to go see shit in 3D. When I pulled up fandango.com, I noticed in all of our major theaters there was an option to watch it in “realD 3D”.

I was like sweet, I haven’t seen a movie in 3D since I went to Disney world many eons ago. I was also warned that 3D films nowadays are really cheesy and gimmicky when it comes to their 3D production, ie..a ball being thrown at you. I also never really buy the hype for movies and honestly the trailer only mildly interested me.

It may be stupid but because I was unaware of the 3D glasses procedures for theaters, I came prepared. I’m used to them handing them out out of these cardboard boxes and when you’re done using them, you throw them back in the box. The last experience I had really grossed me out. SOOO, I brought along disinfectant and tissue just incase.

LOL. When we walked up to the ticket lady, she told us to pick up our glasses at the table next to us. They come packaged in a sealed plastic bag. I guess the theory is that you return them after the movie, they get “sanitized” and then prepackaged. They’re a bit awkward to wear, sort of like slightly too large sunglasses. Maybe I’m just not used to wearing them.

The movie itself is indisputably a milestone in movie history. For me, it was like Lord of the Rings and The Matrix. You just knew, after those films were produced, the bar was raised. You wait for these types of movies for years!

I can’t say the story was all that amazing. If you’ve seen Dances with Wolves, Battle for Terra, and to many degrees, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, you get this plot immediately. Avatar’s story is pretty much: Earth is in peril, humans needs something from a moon named Pandora, the humans conflict with the indigenous humanoid life forms, and the plot ensues. It’s straight forward, a classic story, and relatable. All the bases are covered by "back story explanations" so the movie can quickly get to meat. (example: Language barrier? Easy. There used to be a school set up to teach the aliens English and vise versa. Move along!) It might be a bit basic but it’s enough to keep you entertained for nearly 3 hours.

As for the computer graphics, not all together new. You’ve seen this technology before as well with Golem in Lord of the Rings. It is CGI transference where you’re not just animating but rather translating real actors and acting into CG.

NO, what made this movie revolutionary and amazing was that it is the first film to marry true sc-fi fantasy and reality for the audience. The transition between what is fantastical (ie, CG and creatures) and what is based on the reality we know (the actors and theme) is seamless! You really can not tell in this movie that it was as computer simulated as it was. You just believe that everything is real.

This is the first film where NO details threw me off or out of the context of the movie because of awkward computer graphics or bad renderings. And even more amazing, is the fact that most of this movie boasts an organic world. In the perspective of computer animation, organic simulation is the hardest. Putting solid architecture and elaborate sci-fi city backgrounds behind green screens of actors talking is childsplay compared to this (*cough*lucas*cough*).

The characters flow with and through the environment and because I was watching the 3D version, the perception of depth was even greater. I never felt too overwhelmed by the 3D except for the opening sequences when there were long hallways where the field of view and focused aperture fucks with your mind. I’m sure James Cameron always intended this film to be viewed in 3D but nothing about the movie suggests that it was designed to be 3D. It simply is and that’s what makes the 3D aspect of it so successful.

Holy F-ing details! The reason you hear so many people say “I want to watch this movie again,” is probably the same reason I’m saying the same thing. This move is like the equivalent of the richest, darkest chocolate cake you have ever tasted. There is no way you can take it all in with just one bite. I have to see this movie several times just to absorb the amount of visual elements he packed into it. There is no way you can come out of this movie and not believe Pandora isn’t real! I love directors who do this. That’s what I loved about Lord of the Rings so much, the world was so elaborate and so much care was put into every frame regardless of where the focus of the scene was.

The only reason I probably won’t watch this movie in the theater again is because movies are too damn expensive and like I said before, the story itself is very simple. It’s just translated so well visually and of course it’s the first of its kind. It’s the new milestone marker for animated story telling for sure. I love it when technology rises to meet visionary ideas. Avatar is definitely an example of this. The fact that Cameron pushed the release date of the movie from May to December because not all theaters had 3D projectors speaks volumes to this. Not to mention he pushed the start of production from 1998 to 2006 in order to wait for CG technology to advance.

I spent like an hour and a half talking to Flipmax after the movie about it and few movies ever really awe me any more. And for a movie whose actual story line wasn’t that impressive, I’m still left with a profound impression of the film. It is soooo immersive that I think a lot of people will have a hard time parting with the world movie.

It is officially 1984

President Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize with a speech on the need for war. "Clear-eyed, we can understand that there will be war, and still strive for peace," he said.

I don’t think I’m the only one who still thinks this whole thing is just a tad awkward, the Nobel Peace Prize bit and all. However, after hearing that quote, all I could hear echoing in my ears is:

WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

I must start practicing my “doublethink” asap!!!!

Pass the Salt

Gotta love google. I’ve been trying to figure out why I crave salt so much. I go through periods of the year where I really crave salt. I always just assumed I love the taste so much. That might actually still be the case.

However, I did some research and found out there are typically two reasons why people crave salt. Yes, salt has several natural minerals in it that humans need. yadayadayada. We know that. But apparently table salt has most of those natural minerals filtered out of it. So that .007 ounces of natural salt we need per day is actually nil despite the fact that we consume shit tons of salt ever meal.

The other theory is that I might be suffering from Adrenal Fatigue which I had never even heard of until tonight. The adrenal gland is some 3 inch thingy that sits on top of your kidneys and produces essential hormones. During times of stress, you overwork these glands and they get stressed out too. Why that means you need more salt, I can’t quite figure out. I just know that adrenal fatigue does effect your blood sugar level.

The more I read on it, I think the adrenal thing is most likely my issue right now. I just read a bit on it where it talked about over stimulating your glands by taking too many stimulants..and of course I’m beyond stressed out from work. Apparently when we flood our system with “boosters” like caffeine, adrenaline from stress, and excitement from violence/challenges, it starts to max out our glands. The phrasing I read was “flooding the engine”…

OR it could be that I just love the taste of salt and my brain is looking to indulge itself?

In the meantime, I’m going to grab another soda, continue licking this salt off the pretzel sticks, and figure out how to not be stressed out anymore. lol.

Resources:

Adrenal Fatigue/Exhaustion

Ezine Articles

Natural Health Web

Blog-22

The fucked up thing about blogging these days is that you want to talk about shit that’s going down around you and concerning the people around you. However, everyone is online now and everyone usually knows where your blog is because, yea, sometimes you want to share your thoughts..but then you don’t want them to feel bad when you write about them.

I’m ISTJ. Introverted Sending Thinking Judging. My two highest are Introverted and Judging. I judge a lot. I observe people around me and situations and reflect upon them until they are inside out and over. A lot of times I have to write about these things to get them from jamming up my head. The last thing I’d want though is for people to think that I’m bashing them on a blog or using their grief or my grief as an exploit.

So anyhow, that’s why secret blogs are necessary…so you have a place to write the stuff you really want to write without fear of saying something wrong.

Alachia's Tweet Cloud 2009

Tweet Cloud 2009, originally uploaded by alachia.

Tweets aren't a very good indicator of following your personal life throughout the year but I'd say my tweet cloud is very characteristic of the way I interacted in the meta.

I was interested in seeing the word "house" in there. I didn't realize I had tweeted so much about my house selling and buying drama. lol. "Awesome" and "Love" are my go-to words for describing my delight with something so no surprise there.

Also not shocked to see "cupcake", "blog", and "night" in the cloud. I'm a night owl, I re-emerged my personal blog from the graveyard this year, and found a true love affair with all things cupcake.

The only word that puzzles me is "time"...why is "time" so large a word in my tweet bubble? I can't recollect using the word much or even why I would. weird.

And I'm just a little embarrassed that the word "woot" made it into my bubble. Thank god it's small! lol.