Cutting aliens in half, I don't consider that daft - Blog intro/retrospective (Part 2 of 2).

Yes, it's finally here! After many weeks of promising, I have decided to get off my butt (or should that be sit on it?) and finally finish the blog intro/retrospective. For those not familiar with my original idea, the second part was to address any points of interest in the other's posts throughout the years. Basically, if the other had brought up a conversation point that I had not addressed, or if I had addressed it, my opinion had changed since then.

However, before I get to that point, I would like to continue with my original rantings first.

The other is back with a vengeance, and I gotta say it's good to have him back! He's had some fantastic posts.

So yes, I will be 25 soon. Just another year, another birthday I guess. It's dawned on me that on the balance of probabilities, I won't live to see another two of these (quarter centuries that is, not birthdays). I'm ok with that. Let's see what the future brings.

See me. Be me. Experience the things I have. Know how I think. See my world. Experience me.

You know what really irks me? When people have things called photographic essays! Essays require the use of words! Yes, I am well aware of the adage "a picture is worth a thousand words" but that is just the height of snobbery. A picture is a picture! It is not a photographic essay. How about a musical essay?? An essay of smells perhaps??

The other just has an amazing talent for sticking these weird riffs and chords together which just sound magical when put together. And then when we get together to jam, it all falls into place so well. I can layer my knowledge of theory and obscure chords (that I've probably just used once - when I was learning the mofo) and it is a well oiled machine.

My early 20's have been a good experience in terms of gaming. I have probably gotten into first person shooters more than I had in the past. But also in terms of non computer games, I learned how to play poker. I never had any idea in the past, and it was something I really wanted to do. I remember in High School I played some friends and just bluffed every hand, as I had no idea what cards I had. But now I am quite adept at it, and that did fill me with a sense of accomplishment.

However, another thing that stems even further back than high school was chess. I had no idea how to play, and I didn't even know how to set up the board. But all that changed last week. I had some free time at work, and I loaded up Chess Titans (which can show you how the pieces are meant to move). So of course, I became hooked, and despite losing at least 20 matches to the computer (on easy), I have been reading up on this and am now completely obsessed. I have to beat a human opponent at least once in my life. What an interesting game.

I have also been getting into some good console co-op. My friend has been inviting me over to play some Xbox360 coop. We played Halo 3 which was bloody fantastic. Many a good time was had with that and we ended up finishing it. We recently got into Gears Of War 2, which I found to be absolutely wonderful. People may think it's just a third person shooter, but I think it is quite tactical in terms of pinning and flanking. Ahhh many a chainsaw lancer death was had, I can't wait to play some more of that.

I was going to examine the phenomenon of women being treated as objects. But if I went into that, I would be here for a while. So I will save that for another time, as well as - in a shocking segue, update the Joaquin Rate List (JRL)!

So without further ado, may I get on to part 2 of the blog intro/retrospective!

September 14 2004
It has to start somewhere
The other mentioned a point about English being a flawed language. Where some words are spelled completely differently to how they sound and so on. You don't get these issues with Eastern languages, but it does seem a bit of a theme in Western/Germanic languages. I wholly agree with the other's point. Words should be spelled more phonetically, or we should extend the alphabet to incorporate more sounds.

The other also makes a note about girls in Bangers. He said the good ones were engaged and the others are just plain bitches. Hahah, 100% agreed! That's probably why the good ones are all gone early - to live their unfulfilled lives.

September 17 2004
Disconnected!!! Damn
The other first blogged about the "11" phenomena. It is still everywhere!! Though not in the same abundance that I used to get, especially when I was in Sydney. I've been reading up on it, and it has some interesting numerological properties. For those interested, it's well worth a look, as it has several meanings.

The other had also been reading up on "ladder theory" and I gotta say, now that I'm older I believe that it is 100% true.

19 October 2004
Time machine
The other started this theme of not having enough time to get things done. And I agree with him, a holiday somewhere nice with no technology would be nice on the cards.

27 October 2004
Can't make up my bloody mind
The other made an excellent point about too many guitarists relying on tabs to play songs. Most tabs are incorrect, and it results in guitarists not using their ears, and failing as musicians in the long run. I agree with this point 100%, but I have to say that I'm hypocritical, as I am guilty of this. When I first want to learn a song, I will turn to tabs before anything else. I won't even play along with it. I'm sure my musicianship has suffered as a result, and I have not bothered to properly read music as a result. Once we break the bonds of the way we have developed this internal paradigm, we can begin to express ourselves properly.

19 November 2004
And only wrappers were left
The other made a statement regarding auras. This has been regarded as a pseudoscience by most in scientific circles, but I have to say that I believe there is some truth to it. Some people's energy you can just totally pick up. Sometimes you can just "feel" other people.

4 December 2004
Coz this shape was made to sink
The other made a point regarding people in arranged marriages not being in love. I disagree with him on this point. While of course people like this aren't in love at the start, I think that it can grow into love over time. But is that artificial? Forcing people into a situation where either hate or love can blossom? It may seem contrived (obviously), but whether this love is the same as those in "love" marriages may need to remain to be seen. But I think love is love, and that is that.

24 January 2005
More means good or more means bad??
The other made an excellent remark concerning exchange rates and the near arbitrary way that they are determined. Having worked in a field where we relied on exchange rates to determine favourable outcomes for clients, the idea of the value of a currency being based on the loose and vague notion of a "market" is just beyond belief. The other also offered a solution of a unified world currency. I agree with this, but I don't think the world will go for this, as obviously some markets would like to be better than others, which in turn benefits some corners of the market, and various countries. If we did go to a unified currency, I bet that there would still be some "market" ideal that would mean that the value of the SAME currency would be more in poor countries, so that they kept getting screwed over. Ahh Wall Street was such a good movie, I can't wait for the sequel, but I'm not keen on Shia LaBeouf being in it!

22 March 2005
Look at what I can do
The other made an incredibly valid point regarding custom things being made for famous people. While this obviously can be a far reaching statement which runs the gamut of objects, I think the most obvious (and pertinent) example relates to musicians and musical instruments. Being a guitarist, I am inundated with signature guitars, amplifiers, picks, guitar straps, strings and the list just goes on and on. Just like the other, let me say, you don't need ANY of that shit. Be unique, make your own mark on society! Nobody got famous from playing someone elses signature instrument! You know what's funny? The people who made these instruments also got good/famous by NOT playing that signature item. It is made for them - for their specifications. Just cause it's good for them doesn't mean it's good for you. If you buy signature stuff, I hope it's just for fun, not cause you want to sound or look like someone.

27 April 2005
Strategy
The other made a great point concerning plagiarism being encouraged in universities. I 100% agree with this. As the syllabus refers to only a small number of books/sources, obviously a lot of the material produced for assessment pieces will be reproducing what's in the stuff listed in the syllabus. When you add in the factor of pressure being placed on students to do well (especially given how universities rank people along the standard bell curve), obviously a lot of people are going to plagiarise stuff. Universities should be like they were when they first began. A bunch of people discussing various ideas and LEARNING. Not just getting degrees to work jobs that they're going to hate. No empiricism needed. Giant steps to help humanity, not slow ones.

2 September 2006
Untitled
The other made a good point about journalists being unethical. I agree with this statement - to a point however. I think the main issue is gatekeepers, editors, programmers, producers etc. These stakeholders tend to go on sensationalised news, blood, death and so on in order to earn ratings, and the big bucks etc. Obviously journalists are not clean in all this, as they are either turning a blind eye, or being obedient to some of these new ideals of "if it bleeds, it leads" (a tenet I learned in journalism). I mean what sort of bloody world are we living in where REAL journalists, who tell the news with integrity, research the facts and present them are regarded as being alternative or groundbreaking, and offering news to only a minority of people? That is truly a fucked situation. People need to care what's going on, they need to question the world around us.

4 September 2006
Lies get tossed and the truth is spoken
The other made a brilliant quote that I shall put here for your viewing pleasure (excuse the formatting, Blogger's block quote feature sucks):

"The mall on Mondays is a hilarious sight, there are mostly
old people
just hanging out, or a bunch of teenagers who obviously can't
figure out
what to
do with their lives, and then there is the
interesting sort.
The sort that
dresses up nicely, and walks
really fast, and pretends they
have a shitload of
things to do, and they
are so busy. I ask you, why
would a person who is
busy be
at the mall for hours on a bloody
Monday?? I guess sometimes
you have to cut yourself some slack and
pretend you are someone else,
it's quite
sad I tells ya"

Ahh the funniest and most accurate quote ever I say!

15 July 2009
To geek or not to geek
The other made a fantastic point regarding generalising vs specialising in a particular field. This is a HATED discussion of mine. I heard it stacks at my previous work. They said in order to get ahead, you had to specialise in a certain field, and in doing so, you would be indispensible. This is not how I fucking operate. I LIKE knowing little bits about everything. If I need specialist knowledge, I'll ask someone else. The thing is, these specialists only know about their field, nothing else. You NEED people who know the stuff about other things, or else management of processes just becomes a massive failure. It's encouraged to a fault these days, and I am not down with it. I'm reminded of an episode of Lizzie McGuire (as I usually am), where she realises that she's not particularly awesome at anything, but she's good at heaps of different things. Of course this is ruined later on when she realises that she's an awesome rhythmic gymnast. However, ignoring that point, I will never specialise, I refuse to be pigeonholed. And therein, I become unique and indispensible and ME!

25 October 2009
Agencies are scum
The other made a note about advertising/net agencies being scum. I had no idea things like this were even occuring! I had a discussion with the other regarding this the other day, and he enlightened me to the goings on in this business, and I was utterly horrified that this was going on!

26 October 2009
Tech companies are mostly capitalist scumbags
Haha without even telling you what the other said, I can bet you'll know what he was on about. And I know you agree with me in supporting the other's view. I hate how these companies take your dollar, deliberately withhold updates until the next model and so on. It's one of my pet hates. This is why I do not have a lot of the new new technology. I really hate that feeling of having something that is rendered obsolete only a few months later by the same bloody manufacturer! Can we just have something converged which has everything, and the only updates are software, and the only occasional hardware update when required?!?!

Ahh so that brings us to a close, and I gotta say, it's been a fantastic ride so far. Wow, that was a long post! I hope you enjoyed it. Anyway, that's it for now folks. Joaquin out, have a nice day!