So concludes my reading week: the first one I've ever had, and potentially, the last. Should I actually manage to graduate next year, I won't be able to enjoy another such solitary and desolate week. Though the long week was well-spent in confinement and fairly productive, the week was not without it's disappointments.

The original goals laid out for the week in advance were all met. I did my laundry, cleaned up the house, ate some of my leftovers, did my homework, did my writing and played some games. Unfortunately, with each accomplished goal came a slightly depressing downside that proved to queer the whole deal. laundry was one on Tuesday, but the dryer messed up and everything is still kinda wet a few days later. Putting on socks has become an exercise in enduring pain. My cleaning was done adequately but I can't help feeling like I should have done more. The house still feels kinda dirty. I made a few home-cooked meals, but I also ate out a few times with Heron when he came back, tossing away more money that I'll never get back. I did my homework alright, but I was gifted with a subpar mark on my Psych midterm, which has left a bad taste in my mouth. I did my writing, but a few of the articles tanked and two lay dormant in a draft-laden limbo. I even managed to play some games, but I ended up buying Guild Wars out of boredom.

So everything was accomplished, but not to the perfection I had initially hoped. The only thing that really went off without a hitch this week was my group meeting today for ENGL 210F. The entire meeting went very smoothly, and all our work is organized and laid out in the project roadmap I just finished submitting to the dropbox. It's hard to enjoy this brief moment of academic success in lieu of my poor Psych mark, but a guy has got to hold on to something.

This week coming I've got a midterm on Monday, then a variety of classes throughout the week which I must attend. The semester has drifted into "group work" time, so my attendance is no longer an option. On top of that, SSX Blur comes out this week, which I'll be reviewing for work. I don't really know when I'm going to sneak a trip to the mall in, but I'm anxious to give my Wii something to do, so I'll probably make my way there as early as possible - even if I have to solo. Other than that, not much else going on. Sorry if the writing is lacking today; I've been writing all day long and I've just about exhausted what creative juices I have left for the day. Some Guild Wars ought to cure that. Off I go.

PS. Someone was complaining about the lack of new comics. There's a new one up that explains the situation.

You know, when my co-worker originally told me that he wrote about games more than he actually played them, I laughed and shrugged it off. However, now that I've begun this whole writing tizzy, I'm starting to see such becoming the case. In the last few weeks, I really haven't had the time to sit down and grind a game for as long as I was earlier in the semester. It seems like whenever I really get going on a game with Magic or whoever, something comes up to interrupt the process: be it a call to go out, Battlestar Galactica, or what have you. Damn you game gods! What a tangled web you weave!

Reading week is now underway and so far, so good. Having the whole house to myself is really nice; I can walk around naked, blare everything as loud as I want, stay up until all hours of the night without any regard for others - it's like I've got my own apartment. Actually, I really don't mind the size of this apartment were it only for me. If the two other bedrooms became one master bedroom, I think I would actually consider living here permanently. The rent would probably be pretty high though - I think about $1500 a month - so I'd need another roommate, but still. I could actually enjoy living in something like this.

But I digress. The week has begun and I've set myself a schedule of things to do. Yesterday I managed to finish reorganizing the writing part of my site, I faxed my tax forms to Ars for payment and I did some quality writing. Today, I've done my writing work and I plan to catalogue the rest of the semester's assignments on my Outlook schedule so I know where I stand. With the rest of the week, I plan to do my laundry, do some school work, clean the house, do some extra writing for the site and spend some quality "me" time with myself. Solid week incoming.

And that's pretty much it. I rally don't have too much to say. I figured I'd keep the blog alive by posting something small once in a while rather than saving up content for a big post every new moon. Things are rolling along and that's pretty much it. Anyway, I'm going back to work. I'll come back and write something sometime later this week.

Wow. That has got to be the longest period of time I've ever gone without writing in this bad boy during a non-work term. How deeply, deeply sorry I am. Just thinking about the faces of the poor, depressed readers that have been starving for content makes me remember... just how small the readership is. Well, dear diary o' mine, I've come to empty about two weeks worth of events into your memories.

The past two weeks have been spent nearly exclusively on either school or work. The two aspects of my life have become the ruling dichotomy of my days, and very little time has been spared for anything else. Sure, there's been the unmemorable KFC and pizza feasts, trips to Bomber and ESM and other typical events disperesed thoroughout the past days, but none of those have really been anything more than functional feasts. No, the true mind-time has been spent writing my heart out and attempting to make up for the last month and a half of wasted time.

As I join you tonight, my reading week has begun, but a long two weeks of studying and assignments has only just now come to an end. With one major assignment, one hearty quiz and three solid midterms, I had a lot of catching up to do if I hoped to not be screwed for finals. The quiz, which was for my Linguistics class that I abhor, was the first thing I tackled and it managed to go off fairly well. However, that class is definately not going to be my shining mark of this semester: the lack of attendance and relative mathematical answering requires the precise, non-bullshit answers that I'm not fond of giving. Needless to say, my attendance is becoming mandatory. With that one out of the way, I moved on to the portfolio assignment for my business English class; a major assignment that I popped out like it was a spelling bee. I feel confident, but like the last assignment, I'm sure to be disappointed.

With those two easy-peasy things out of the way, I began the brunt of my studying: six straight days of studying would hopefully net three straight aced midterms. In retrospect, it turned out to be more like five and one. Of course, I managed to get sick right at the worst time, so a few of my days prior to the exams were spent rithing in sweat-induced pain. I perservered, though, and managed to at least write most of them. My psychology midterm, which I did the most prep for, turned out to be fairly easy, whereas my anthropology one, which I did a moderate amount of prep from the textbook for, turned out to be relatively disheartening. The tie-breaker, my contemporary rhetoric course, was cancelled for a snow day, leaving me on the verge of the holiday without a real firm grasp of my academic standing. One thing is for sure, though: this won't be a brag-worthy semester. I really need to get into academic shape. Or graduate. Whichever comes first.

Wow. So much talk of school, eh? Imagine if I actually cared about what I was learning rather than being mandated to trudge through the academic trough in the quest for a piece of paper I'm only going to use once. To be honest, the main thing that's been on my mind lately has been my current writing gig. The first month is closing in, and already I've apparently run the gamut from good to bad. On the whole, though, I'd say that the entire thing is working out really well, and I'm 100% positive that I made the right decision. The people who have worked there for almost seven years now have welcomed me with open arms, and I have done my best to do them justice.

On the bad end of things, I managed to get myself into a little bit of a PR battle with regards to one of my articles. I'd written a particular post about a recent sting that was put on by a D.C. news channel: the team sent underage children into game stores with hidden cameras, watching as they were easily able to pick up Mature titles. This would be the equivalent to the same child going into the adults-only section of a video story. I ran with the story and labelled it "ESRB still not working", as in a reference to the entire system of the ratings and their subsequent enforcement. The ESRB people weren't pleased. I ended up having to butt heads briefly with their public relations manager, eventually conceeding - with the approval of my editor - to slightly modify the title. Though I felt that the headline was perhaps a little strong, I really don't think it was anyway inaccurate. But hey, not my call to make as a new writer on the beat. That, actually, has been the other negative to my current situation: I'm still not great at taking edits without feeling the tiniest sliver of personal intonation. I really don't know what's wrong with me, but for some reason I'm incapable of taking constructive criticism 1% of the time. Edits are so completely normal and typically hefty that it should seem commonplace, and yet whenever I get a lot of edits, I feel as though I've failed somehow. Whenever I do something I really care about, I always try to be an unrealistic perfectionist, and I never succeed. I really need to stop doing that.

On the other end of the spectrum, though, things have been much more exciting. I've had a few different stories hit the front page of digg, one hit the game section of slashdot, and one prolific story has managed to hit a whole whack of different pages, ranging from Evilavatar.com to the developer dev blog of a high-up Nvidia executive and even Newsweek. The team at Ars has been incredibly pleased with my performance thus far; especially my Opposable Thumbs counterpart, Ben. Moreso than anyone else, he's been playing the role of coach and so sure really be accredited with all the progress I've made. He is, and really the team as a whole are, so enthused about what they're doing; it's something I rarely see thanks to my current chosen entourage - which brings me to my next point.

You'd think that such prolific "good" would outdue all the bad, right? Well, not so. All of the aformentioned joy has been somewhat unhinged by the fact that none of my friends or family really seem to care about this progress. I'm not really sure whether or not it's beacuse it doesn't seem "real" to them (and hey, maybe it isn't) or what, but the relatively apathetic response from those closest too me who should be motivating me the most has left me feeling incredibly bitter. But, I suppose with many people on the verge of leaving, I should just forget about all that personal stuff and embrace the last semester of unity. If only I could tear Davi away from WOW and Heron away from Korean MMOs long enough to actually enjoy a meal at a normal time of day without incuring their normal antics. And they say I can't carry on a meaningful conversation. No shit. After four years with people like these, I've probably forgotten how - and not a day goes by that I don't regret that.

Beyond that, the semester rolls on. With school and work taking up the majority of my days, I really haven't had that many crazy adventures or noteworthy derivations from my worn path - not that I would have if I weren't occupied with the aformentioned activities. Frankly, I like the way things are going better now. By focusing on school and work, I've managed to catch up to respectable sleeping habits and regular class attendance; in fact, my productivity at work seems to drive me towards school more, as it saves me time from catching up on school work to write more. Honestly, that's the better situation for me. My current plan is to keep this up and cut down on the eating out so that hopefully by the end of February, I'm a star employee and a star student. Much like the tail-end of OAC, I feel a sudden compelling force to concentrate on work. With the graduation reality setting in, I've once again arrived at the point in my life where everyday friends of the traditional nature really aren't beneficial; the ones I've chosen to make serve only as distractions from an otherwise successful path. Most of the onus for this problem lies with me: I'm a shitty person in that regard, I know, but when it comes to work, I'm a serious person: thanks to my father, I've come to identify a man's job as his only real measure of worth, and thus I should really focus myself if I plan to have things work out for the best. Whether or not no one else agrees, I think that the Ars gig was definately an overt blessing, and I for one am not going to fuck up whatever non-existant "bigger picture" message I may or may not have recieved from it.

So that's that. A re-focused, re-aligned Frank who is on a quest for independance in this crazy work-a-day world. Just call me Erin Brokowich, or Lizzie Macquire - whichever makes more sense. Sadly, that means that my blog will remain the wasteland it has become. With so much other writing going on, it's hard for me to devote much time to this anymore. What was once a rather prolific life log has become but a simple portfolio and resume shack. I've noticed the traffic has waned a bit since I stopped writing, so for this I apologize and I understand: no real reason to check when you know there isn't going to be new content. I'm planning to do a little work over the holidays to back up some of my writing if I get the chance, so I'll try to come and say something. For now, though, I must be off into the night. I've got an early day of work tomorrow. So long.

Oh yea. Happy Valentine's day. My gift to you? I didn't even *touch* on that.

Jesus, these last few days have been busy. If it's not an adventure into the sub-arctic tempratures of winter Waterloo, it's a spree of stories for work or a never-ending onslaught of Phantasy Star quests with Magic - and now, even studying for school has entered the fray. All this activity is so counter-normal that I'm starting to wonder how much longer I can keep up this place. Lord knows that I'm not a very tolerate person. Anyway, that's my subpar excuse for not writing: I've been busy.

Despite the excess of action, though, things have been going fairly well. Though I recieved a little heart break from my ENGL 210F assignment when it was handed back (which net a disappointingly low 70), I feel pretty good for my big quiz tomorrow and I think I have next week's assault in pretty good shape. How everything will turn out is pretty much anyone's guess, though the key is going to lie in my ability to step away from the computer (read. Xbox and work) in order to study. This weekend is really going to make or break my semester, so I've got to get into gear and make up for a month and a half of slacking.

One thing that has kinda been bugging me throughout this period of extended berivement is the many readers of the site I'm currently working for. I never really realized how critical the reading masses were until I started reading the comments of the posts I write. Apparently, there is a specific type of reader that exists solely to make the poor writers look like douchebags. These poor souls, these beasts, will go to any length in order to accomplish their sick goals. I had one guy commenting on a thread and referencing obscure trivial data from nearly 40 years ago as though I should have an intimiate knowledge with every useless fact on any given topic. Most of the commenters that slag on the posts don't even fully read the written words, or check out the cited works, before going off on a tyrade. Surprisingly, I can see this becoming a real hurdle. I'm often too prideful to stand idly by and let people ramma-lamma-ding-dong, but my peers assure me that taking the professional route and letting the vagabonds wrestle against themselves is the best way to go. So, professionalism it is: a quiet Frank who speaks only through his articles. That's what they want and so I must oblige. I'll have to rely on the good readers to silence the annoying ones.

But, all that aside: I should be focusing on school now. What I wouldn't give for some encouragement for the heavens. It's times like this that I wish I had faith.

I rarely, if ever, make a post simply to link to something. That kind of elementary and trite blogging is something I consider myself above. However, every once in a while something comes along that truly tests my limits with regard to posting solely about something from the internet. And this time, I simply cannot overcome the burning urge to share this with you.

When I was a young gamer, the Sega Genesis was my toy of choice. Having got it in conjunction with a Fisher Price pool table, the system was more to me than just a passing toy: it was a lifestyle. My brother and I cherished the wasted winter days spents thumping foes in Streets of Rage or scoring goals in NHL '94. One game stood far above the rest, though, and it proved to be the first basketball game I ever became obsessed with. From the first time I screamed "teddy jam" as the backboard broke, I knew that "Charles Barkley's Shut up n' Jam" would be a part of me forever.

Thus, you can understand why this latest development has caused me to curl into a ball of delight, ready to explode upon the keyboard like so many spilt colas. Never in my wildest dreams could I have possibly imagined such a thing to become reality. And yet, here it is: written clearly on the black pages of the web's lost archives. Created with RPGMaker and brought to us by a complete stranger is the game I've been waiting for. What game, you ask? Well, the original source of this provides a telling so thorough that I need not attempt to emulate it. Heed these words:

The Great B-Ball Purge of 2041, a day so painful to some that it is referred to only as the "B-Ballnacht". Thousands upon thousands of the world's greatest ballers were massacred in a swath of violence and sports bigotry as the game was outlawed worldwide. The reason: the Chaos Dunk, a jam so powerful its mere existence threatens the balance of chaos and order. Among the few ballers and fans that survived the basketball genocide was Charles Barkley, the man capable of performing the "Verboten Jam"...

Flash forward 12 years to the post-cyberpocalyptic ruins of Neo New York, 2053. A Chaos Dunk rocks the island of Manhattan, killing 15 million. When the finger is put on the aging Charles Barkley, he must evade the capture of the B-Ball Removal Department, led by former friend and baller Michael Jordan, and disappear into the dangerous underground of the post-cyberpocalypse to clear his name and find out the mysterious truth behind the Chaos Dunk. Joined by allies along the way, including his son Hoopz, Barkley must face the dangers of a life he thought he gave up a long time ago and discover the secrets behind the terrorist organization B.L.O.O.D.M.O.S.E.S.

A tale of zaubers, b-balls, and atonement; brave dangers unheard of, face spectacular challenges that even the greatest ballers could not overcome, and maybe... just maybe... redeem basketball once and for all in:

Tales of Game's Studios Presents the Official Demo of Chef Boyardee's Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden Chapter 1 of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa

- SelectButton.net

That's right, folks. Charles Barkley in an RPG. A finer day could not exist. Never in the history of mankind has such a glorious piece of art so carefully and completely embodied everything that it means to be Frank Caron. I'm at a loss for words. Pinch me.

It seems strangely fitting that I start a new month on a good foot: all that I've been complaining about lately has strangely been resolved and is now a joy. Then again, it's hard for me to sustain hapiness: it's so foreign. I feel like a robot. But hey, this robot has discovered something amazing: apparently, bitching to nobody on the internet does work! Take heed, children of the series o' tubes! Go forth and blog! In all seriousness, though, I'm in a pretty good mood and I have a few minutes to spare so I figured I should jump on here and start February off on a good note.

Work has, obviously, been the focus of my mind lately. I'm in the process of a continual move towards integrating myself within the team, and I think it's been going fairly well. Though I was a little frustrated with my lack of consistency in posting last week, I've come to realize a few key things: one, I should be uber thankful, and two, my current average number of posts a day - two - is more than enough for me given that it's not a full time job. These realizations came by way of Heron and my own pondering about the situation during a warm night's sleep. What's more, my newfound enjoyment of the situation has apparently powered up my e-penis, as one of my stories managed to make the front page of Digg today. As much as I hate the new Digg, extra traffic and readership is gravy that I want to float my boat on.

To make matters better, I managed to maintain a very good standing with the Deeko team post my leaving. You may recall that I was a little bit wary about making the jump, but the big kahuna Pete really helped make the whole thing a breeze. We had a few chats about the whole situation and he assured me that there was no problem, things were still good and all would be well. I offered to continue working on some of the stuff I'd been working on prior to my leaving and he was happy to hear it, leaving both sides of the table feeling good. With that concluded, I'm now free to say that the "transition period" has concluded.

But work isn't the only part of the Waterloo life that is on an up-swing: a series of good outings has led me to revel in my social status here, which is a very rare occurance. Whether it was the trip to Mel's with Amanda, an entire two hour period spent laughing with Davi and Heron about "Made", a wandering through campus that starred numerous bumping-intos or a long-requrested trip to Kickoffs with Ian, my social bar is climbing back up and I feel as though I'm in a better mood for it. Hopefully the few upcoming outings - including a special guest star mission to Best Buy - will continue this trend.

Even school itself is going well. I've got my schedule under control, I'm on top of just about everything, and I'm heading into my big midterm week with a proper plan in place. Barring any unforseen travasties, things should go fairly well: I'm even grinding my anthropology readings as we speak. I've got a few things handed in that I'm awaiting marks for, but I'm confidant that everything is going well thus far.

So, there it is. A happy, productive Frank. Hopefully things continue to roll along well, allowing me to "Katamari" my good vibrations into a positve forward momentum. Maybe I should start doing Yoga or Feng Shue to get this positive energy to stick around. Just think about all that moving and exercise... so healthy... so good for me... on second thought, let's not. I'll just bask in this and continue to do what I do. Maybe, just maybe, the heartbreak month won't be that bad after all.

Can't wait to quote that unbridled optimisim in the throes of defeat later this month.

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