A Foray into the Internet (Non-Bullshit Title: I Like MS Paint Adventures)

Another day, another blog post.  I really think it's actually quite helpful to have a space to just run through a few minutes of my train of thought, no matter what ridiculous tracks it may run on.

It's a bit difficult to figure out what I want to write though.  I carved out this little page in order to keep myself amused, thus the obvious five cent title.  But should I focus my writings on myself, like a journal?  Should I attempt to discuss intellectual things, and cast my opinions into the every-growing electronic fabric that makes up the Internet?  Or should I attempt to use my own boredom to try to help others out of theirs, throwing interesting and helpful tips and ideas to those who cannot find the time to search for them?

Noble ideas, but I've come up with a better one.  I'm just going to write about stuff.

Which brings me to my current interest my flight-of-fancy browsing has brought me to: MS Paint Adventures.

MS Paint Adventures is run by Andrew Hussie, a creative mind that I have run into a number of times over the years while perusing the Internet.  I've always had a liking for his stuff, but because he has done so many different projects of various types, I was unaware until rather recently that it was all done by the same person.  The man has talent, that's for sure.

His current project consists of what I suppose could be described as "webcomics", though they are like no other webcomic I've ever seen.  My two favorites, Problem Sleuth and the current running one. Homestuck, are a combination of animations, drawings, games, and all other manner of things.  They are all presented in the style of an old school text-adventure, which any who've been gamers since the early days would undoubtedly appreciate.

While this unique format may be what initially draws your interest, it is not what sucks you in, though.  No, that would be the plots.  The thrice-damned, physics-warping, time-bending, space-folding, hallucination-inducing, inescapably-addicting plots.

If you've ever liked puzzle games, or a plot with so much intrigue and mystery that it seems to act as one, then these are for you.  Segue after segue, tangent after tangent, the plot branches into a massive production that could make anyone's head spin.  But fear not, all makes sense in the end.  Presumably.  I'm not entirely sure what Hussie is up to with Homestuck, but lately there is not a single update where I don't bang my head against the wall attempting to understand the implications.

The plots are full of foreshadowing and clues, and if you think something is weird, it usually is, and Hussie, the blasted literary temptress he is, will probably bring it back thousands of pages later, make it extremely important, and then laugh as you try to work out the connecting threads in the plot.  It's maddening, but a good kind of maddening, one that makes you determined to figure it out and not rest until you do.

I love moods like that.  You forget all about being bored.  You forget about all the important stuff you were supposed to be doing too, but I think that's a fair trade-off.

Either way, I would like to put my two cents into the giant coin jar that is the blogosphere and say that everyone should give MS Paint Adventures a try.  It's well worth your time.  I would suggest reading Problem Sleuth before Homestuck, as the former has finished, and is a good way to ease into the regular mindfucking these stories will inflict on your brain.

Hey, it seems I've managed to use up another chunk of my time.  Imagine that.  Blogs are so useful.

A Musical Meander (Non-Bullshit Title: What I Think About Music)

As  I try to settle into the idea of having this strange "blog" entity attached to my Internet presence, I am suddenly starting to see the appeal of actually writing something.  This is a rather odd feeling.  Especially since this is probably the only writing I've ever done in years that hasn't been school-related or illegible chicken-scratch in a tiny book that I used so I don't forget all my ridiculous ideas.

That being said, I don't expect to feel any wisdom or comparable value to come flowing forth from my keyboard anytime soon.  That would be boring, anyway.  To be a natural blogger the moment I started?  That would be so anti-climactic I would delete my blog in disgust, no matter how many readers I had, and go find something more interesting to do.

Thus, I will be musing today on something completely pointless to the world at large, for the sake of forestalling any potential success I may be capable of achieving: nuclear weapon proliferation my personal tastes in music.

Yes, this is going to be needlessly whimsical and ponderous.  I'm not nearly important enough to talk about important things right now.  Maybe later, when I change my mind, which could be tomorrow or months from now.

To start off, I am capable of enjoying most kinds of music.  I would like to think that most people are; they just prefer to seek out certain kinds of music over others.  This is a good thing, or I would have torn my laptop in half long ago after having to hear Rebecca Black's "Friday" one too many times, or put my foot through my car radio whenever country came on.

As for my specific preference, I am a large fan of electronic music.  Just saying this would normally attract all sorts of people saying that this either means I have terrible taste in music, or that I cannot be a "true" electronic music fan unless I know every subgenre and sub-subgenre by heart and in alphabetical order.  But I'm not important, so right now I can get away with saying whatever I want.  This isn't Youtube.

There aren't any specific types of electronic music that I can settle on saying I like over others.  Most of the time, I don't even bother to figure out which genre it belongs to.  By that point, I'm usually too busy dancing around in an extremely spastic manner.  I can say that dubstep, happy hardcore, drum and bass, and hardstyle are some genres that seem to have more appealing pieces to me than others, but I tend to pick and chose in a more random manner than I might expect.

And that suits me just fine.  Settling into one particular genre and manning its fanboy cannons doesn't seem much fun to do when it comes to music.  Perhaps I might be guilty of that when it comes to certain video game franchises, but that's a rambling monologue for another time.

I'm not particularly good at describing why I like electronic music, but I shall attempt to put it into words the best I can.  Electronic music, more than any other genre, stimulates my imagination in a way I can only describe as wondrous.  I am able to see in my head so many shapes, so many colors, so many ideas, that I can barely contain it.  That's why sometimes my ridiculous dancing turns into acting out what I see in my head, even if it really doesn't translate well to human body movement.  The ideas are just so vivid I can't contain myself.

And I don't really mind that at all.  It used to be embarrassing to admit, but I've grown comfortable with the fact.  There are worse things to be than a 21-year-old who occasionally still plays make-believe.

This is probably why music is extremely terrible for me to listen to when I'm trying to get something done, especially music that I actually like.  More often than not, the music will make me so excited or get such a good idea that I will abandon my work in the middle of it to throw myself across the room in a haze of delirious, audio-induced ecstasy.  It can be quite inconvenient at times.  Especially when I'm doing something important, like a paper with a due date in an hour, or while I'm sitting at work.

I wouldn't change it though.  The one thing I probably wish I could change is my ability to dance, because then I wouldn't look ridiculous every time someone catches me.

Besides, as someone who hates being bored, having an overactive and easily stimulated imagination is extremely helpful.  If I'm every suffering to the point of madness from lack of people or things to do, I can just pop in my headphones, click my iPod, and fly off into my head full of rainbows, bacon, explosions, and other ridiculous things.

Until I accidentally kick the table and send shit flying all over the house.  Then I have to stop for a while and curse loudly while I nurse my aching foot and pick up the stuff I have unexpectedly introduced to G-Forces.  It's a bit of a mood killer.

All potentially stupid injuries aside, I cannot thank the many artists and performers enough for all the wonderful sounds they create which is streamed through our electronics straight to our ears.  It makes life so much more interesting.  Life would be so much worse off if it didn't have a soundtrack.  Can you imagine that?  No music?  It doesn't really make any sense to me.  For no music to exist, there would need to be no rhythm in the world.  And for that to be true, I'm pretty sure the universe would have imploded shortly after it was created.

Well, I suppose that wraps up this little literary meander.  If you're looking for some profound note to end this entry on, you're probably reading the wrong blog.  The day I sound "profound", someone should punch me, because I'm probably either doing it on purpose for hilarity's sake, or I have obtained a gigantic ego and need to be taken down many pegs so I can stop acting like an ass.

I thank those who have taken time to read, as opposed to reading the trillions and trillions of other words available on the Internet.  I hope you have found them as amusing to read as I found them to type.

Now if you'll excuse me, I believe my pizza is here.

Debut Drabble

I never really thought I'd be the type to start a blog.

I never thought anything I had to say was particularly interesting, and I'm more than capable of admitting that a good portion of my teenage years were spent with a negative impression of most bloggers.  "Whiny, attention-seeking morons", I believe I called them.

Well, apparently I have joined the ranks.  The idea doesn't really bother me too much.

I can't really say why I decided to start a tiny little blog of my own.  I have no delusions about becoming someone that holds sway over a sizable readership.  There's a greater chance of me building an airship in my backyard.

......A much greater chance, actually. I only hold off because I have no backyard to speak of currently.  Those plans are merely on hold.  But I digress.

Perhaps it's that I feel more comfortable with the idea of sharing the constant diatribe of words, images, and ideas that flow through my silly brain to others.  I'm not really worried about being judged as much I used to be.  Self-confidence, it seems, will come with time, if you're willing to work for it.

But maybe it's because the idea of putting my words into a digital bottle and casting it into the raging sea that is the Internet is both interesting and potentially amusing.

I suppose that's the REAL reason I started this blog.  Because I cannot stand being bored.

So I guess I'll just run in the opposite direction.