LIfe in the states... school

Well… how is my first week of school going?

Its going pretty well… I’m getting back into my work… preparing for semester exams, getting my science done, getting right back into bible and history… my favorite subjects this year (English is my second favorite…).

Also, I finished my first model in my new 40k army… for which I’m very happy… I think the paint scheme is very good… I have it on the web somewhere… not sure where… I’ll find the link and post it up later.

Anyways… so I’ve had both my English and my Geometry classes… neither have changed much… English is Grammar and writing… while Geometry is all about theorems and proofs… I am enjoying both… as Geo is less about writing and more about logical thought progression, something that I do like.

In other news… Ikarus finally located the package that he shipped to me and Michael LAST MONTH (early last month… lol) it should be getting to me sometime within the next six days… which is awesome. That thing contains like $380 dollars of 40k minis and rulebooks (44 for the codices… 180 for the battleforces… 40 for my predator… I dunno… 30 for the farseer and stuff… 15 for the commander on jumppack)… here is the great part though… I only paid 240 for it! That’s including shipping! That is like getting the codices and a batteforce FOR FREE!!!!! This is why I will order as much as possible from Ikarus… even if he is now requesting extra money for it all (a 35 dollar fee for a yearly membership to the 40kterra lodge… this will give me the discount)… it’s still worth it… as I have to buy stuff for Jacob as well as some gifts… and probably some more 40k stuff…

So… the rest of life is good… I like my laptop… and on PBP house, I am learning how to RP… it’s not easy, and it is really all about getting into your character and trying to understand what would happen… it’s really fun and well challenging…

Anyways… I should be showing you guys a 40k CSM and Eldar 1.5k army list… at least, hopefully a 1.5k list for Eldar… mike might not have enough $$... oh…. I should probably get an email off to Brian.

Stripping Models

Well... I did it... its amazing what you can learn on the internet.

In fact, I realized something... I a geek. Not just a normal geek... but a SUPER GEEK. Its just... my hobbies are so... geeky... lol.

Anyways... model stripping...

Its quite simple, you stick your models in break fluid for 24 hours. Then, you pull 'em out and scrub off the paint with a toothbrush... works like a charm.

Now, mind you, not all the paint came off... but 90% percent of it did. Which means that I still need to spray paint the minis. But it'll all work...

So... a big thank you to those on the internet you gave me this wonderful idea!

Check this link

check this link:

http://www.40kterra.com/forums/developers-blog-wip/3388-black-suns-renegade-chapter-2.html#post66788

It is a blog on my Warhammer 40,000 army... the Fleet of the Black Sun. Eventually, this fleet will compose of a combination of Chaos Space Marines and Traitor IG/Lost and the Damned. Their oppenents, which I will also be creating, the Shrieking Falcons Chapter, are also in the pipeline... though they'll be a while. Finally, I'll also be adding some Grey Knights and a Ordo Malleus Daemonhunter Inquistor... not sure what his name is, but he's a long way off.

Anyways... since I'm blogging, I might as well continue my posting...

Life is good... enjoying the last few days of my holiday, loving my time here. I got my game board today, a nice piece fo 8' by 4' plywood... I've already dumped all my crap on it... its SO HUGE. anyways... I guess I can post pics of it later.

The year in review... anything happen?

Well… I suppose since its now 2008 I should look back… since that’s the whole point of New Year’s Eve… wait… isn’t it to get drunk? Lol… jk.

Now, seriously, Isaac, the masterofweirdness’ year in review.

First off… this blog is only over a year old… so this’ll be the 1^st time I’ve done this on my blog.

Hmm… the first big thing that happened this year was seeing Brian and Julie during the midterm… that was good fun. I got have a sleepover with Brian and for the first time saw his Black Templar army. That was really fun.

The rest… hmm… well I started looking at WFRP and 40kRPG… both of which are amazing (I just know that 40krpg will be amazing, even if I haven’t actually seen the rules… lol) and I finally started playing it… first time was the 4him Retreat w/ Jacob and Julius. Rping… its awesome. We don’t do to much of it, but I do enjoy it. I’ll miss RPing with Jacob and Julius… but well… I’ll have to deal with it I suppose.

Summer. Summer was very good. Regular sleepover’s with Brian, who is now finishing up his final year at Hebron, and regular gaming. That’s when I really got into gaming, and I now do it regularly and often, which is awesome. I also played a decent bit of 40k with Brian. Teaching him the rules and learning how the BT were good… and very bad. It was great.

After summer… my second year of High School… English 9 and Geometry with Potter’s School, Civics and American Government, Old Testament, Biology, and Latin I, those are my subjects… I need to work on my latin, but everything else is going good. I am really enjoying Civics, which is a bit surprising, its not at all what I thought it would be. Old Testament Law is really cool… not exactly practical, but at least I’m seeing how God wanted the Israelites to govern themselves. Geometry isn’t amazing, but I’m not failing, in fact I’m getting a good number of Bs… even a few A’s, which I consider VERY good… considering how hard the class is for me at times. Biology is one of my harder classes, but I’m doing pretty well at it. Not amazing, but pretty good, all B’s… a few C’s… so I’m doing just above average… my general goal in all my classes. English I really enjoy, but is actually quite hard. I get mauled over every time I submit an essay… despite me trying to work really hard at getting them good, and knowing that they are some of the best writing I’ve done. Everything else is easy, but getting a C- on several papers really doesn’t help me… I just have to work harder. Latin… well… I’m working on it. For me the motivation is the hard part, as I don’t have any… I need to discuss it with my mom.

Anyways… that’s school for the 1^st Semester of my Sophmore year… my Freshman year was similar, only different classes and higher grades… which may have something to do with the fact that the classes were MUCH easier… *sigh* guess you can’t always have it your way, eh?

Well then… what else… Rping stuff can be read on my RP Blog… its not much, but its what we’ve done. I’m planning a 40k Campaign as soon as we get back to Dhaka… I’ll have to go over it with Jacob and Brian… maybe I should send them a email…

Also, my trip to the states… that was hell… but I got here, and now I’m happy, reading good books, playing good games, enjoying myself really well. However, I will say that its not all perfect. Stupid USPS has totally messed me up and I’ve lost (well… it’s supposed to be coming… but I’m not sure… lol) a package… a big one… full of my 40k army. I can’t afford to buy the stuff retail, but I’m sure what to do about it… guess I’ll just have to wait and pray about it.

Well then… that’s been my year in review… I would say this:

2007 was a lot like 2006… only different. The same things happened, but so did other stuff. I grew taller, read more books, wrote more stories, continued my blog, started Rping, joined the forces of Chaos, got a laptop, went on a really cool vacation. But really… it was just another year in the life of Isaac, the masterofweirdness. What else can I say? Nothing really, at least, I don’t think I can say much.

BIG update

Hey all... BIG update... I'll post it all up:
Hell… I have finally found out what this place is… it is what happens when your flight is delayed 22 Hours three days before Christmas.

I cried. That was the first thing I did. Then, it sank in. I get an extra day. A day on which I can simply relax, watch TV, listen to music and enjoy myself at the expensive of British Airways in a nice hotel.

After a bit of thinking, I believe it really was God. It took us forever to get our connecting flights, but we finally got it… Dhaka, London, Detroit, Houston…. YA! But, that was the end of it… no… we nearly missed our flight in London… idiot security guard. She told us that we had already missed our flight and that there was no way we could make it. Praise God though, we made it, managed to get on board, and well… here I am, typing up this blog entry on my dad’s laptop.

In other news… I’ll miss Bangladesh. I said good-bye to all my friends at Church… it was hard, I realized how many people I have grown to know, trust, and enjoy relationships with. Mark, Sayed, Austin, Jacob, Julius, Max, Saion, Jay, Jackie, Jo, Sam, Deborah, and more I’m sure. What is more is that I know I’ll be missed. Max, Jacob, and Julius really need my support in their day-to-day lives. To be honest, of that group, I may know the most of the Bible… I may understand the more “advanced” principles of what is called Christianity. Its hard living in this world and our religion doesn’t help one bit…

Anyways… I don’t what else to write… I can’t wait to see Muti and Pawpaw, I can’t wait to get my laptop, and I hope that my 40k models get to me ASAP. For those of you who don’t know… I ordered some 40k models (I spent $120ish dollars on ‘em, and my bro spent the rest. Sadly, the models are stuck in the USPS system thanks to Christmas).

Oh, did I mention that I watched 3:10 to Yuma. Very interesting movie. A good western staring Christian Bale and Russell Crowe… well done, good action, nice plot, very good acting. Oh, and right now, I have three movies on my must watch list, they are: Shoot ‘em Up, AVP2!!! And I am Legend. All sound amazing…

Also, I’ve decided to give Heroes another try… I talked to Caleb about it, and he told me that after the first 4 episodes the sex in it pretty much disappears… for which I am very, very, very glad. I actually watched some episodes in the hotel… when were it, yesterday (lol) it looked very good.

Well… I still have another 3hrs left… I’ll do some other writing and get to this movie that I wanna watch called Rescue Dawn… also staring Christian Bale.

NOTE: This may not get onto the ‘net till Christmas… or after, but it was written on the 23rd or something like that… I have no idea what the date is… nor do I care…

* * *

I’m in my grandparent’s house now… very happy. The trip by car was good… I slept 90% of the way. We stopped for dinner at Applebees… I had some of the best beef I have had in years, gotta love Sirloin steak.

Right now I am about to have some breakfast… chocolate milk, bagels, cream cheese… jealous yet?

Oh… a final note on the journey of hell… we lost our baggage. Yes, we lost our luggage… its currently in Heathrow Airport. The ground crew in Houston said that it should all be to us (they will ship directly to Georgetown, w00t!) hopefully by tomorrow… despite it being Christmas. Oh, Uncle Robert, my mom told me to mention that your laptop is in our check baggage, :p rofl.

Merry Christmas!

This was written on the 24th unlike the rest of this post.

* * *

Merry Christmas!

So far, this Christmas has been good… I woke up too early (4:30AM… darn jetlag) but managed to remain mostly asleep until around 5:30. At 6 I got up and opened my stocking and then read a chapter in my newest book, Bitterwood by James Maxey… so far it’s a good fantasy novel. It has some interesting ideas, and I like the way the author presents dragons, he makes them different than contemporary dragon stories, like Eragon, but I ramble… Christmas.

We had breakfast… fruit salad, eggs, bagels, coffee and chocolate milk. Now we await the coming of Aunt Diane and her boyfriend, Mark so we can open presents… I can’t wait till I get to unwrap my Laptop, turn it on and well… enjoy it. ‘Course, I need to buy CoD 4 and CS: Source, but until then I can play Oblivion and Sims 2… I can’t play DOTA as I was a retard and forgot my AI copy, besides, I don’t have the patch… so I’ll need an internet connection… something I don’t have for this PC or any others ‘side my granddad’s OLD PC…

Anyways… merry Christmas to all, may you be blessed.

I’ll update this Christmas post later, after I’ve opened the presents…

Oh, wait… I can blog about my books!
I went to Barnes and Nobles yesterday, very happy, picked up three books and decided to return for two more… Glen Cook novels. Anyways, I got Fulgrim, by Graham McNeil, a Horus Heresy novel on the Emperor’s Children and their primarch, Fuglrim. I also got two Solaris Publishing books, their Anthology of short fantasy stories and Bitterwood, which I have already mentioned.

The anthology is good, I’m sure I’ll enjoy at least most of the stories. I already read the one in there by Steven Erikson (for this Brian, you should buy it, the story is pure Erikson genius) there are also stories by Steven Savile and James Maxey, so I should enjoy the thing. At the least it’ll give me a better understanding of what fantasy is… I need all the exposure I can get if I’m going to make my own fantasy setting.

Anyways… Bitterwood. Its fantasy, but I can tell its set in the future, a future were we are like medieval people and dragons rule the world. Anyways… it’s still in the beginning stage, and people are still introducing themselves, so far the main characters are all dragons, but I hope we get to see lots of the dragon killer, Mr. Bant Bitterwood.

So… my life of novel reading is, so far, going very good, the only thing that is frustrating is the lack of Malazan books… I haven’t asked about Ian Esslemont’s book, but I really should, the only problem is that it is Hardback… maybe I can leave it here.

* * *
Dec 28
Well…. Lets see what have I done the past few days?

Well… I haven’t read that much, but I won the single player of CoD 4 on regular. It was VERY fun, I very much enjoyed running about with M4A1s that are either silenced or have an underslug grenade launcher. Also, I really like the nightvision thing… its fun. Finally… I now know why a person would use their pistol over their assault rifle… if you silence your pistol, in close corners, it can be very useful. Anyways… I can’t wait to play the game in multiplayer, which should be very fun.

Company of Heroes is also good. I’ve already played it a bit, but now it runs properly, nice and fast. So I’m enjoying it a lot more. I think the final games I really want are Bioshock, Mass Effect (if it is for PC) and Medieval Total War II… I may have to pick one over the other… but whatever. Oh… I also want a real copy of CS… but I want to check if I don’t already have it… as I know I already have HL2 Episode One, which may have it already…
Anyways… a while ago I realized that I need to start accounting, lol. So I installed Quicken on my PC and will deal with all that probably on Saturday or Monday.
In other news, I hope to see AVP2 either Saturday or Monday as well…
I also need to make an order off of Amazon. What am I buying? The Tome of Salvation, Night’s Dark Masters (if I have the money) and Storm the Gates of Hell, an audio album by Demon Hunter. My bro will be getting Realms of Sorcery and my mom will also be buying him Skillet’s lastest album, Comotose.
Well… I think I’m gonna go write some random stories and stuff.

Christmas Blues

Well… I leave soon. I’m excited. I’m depressed. I’m… scared (?) I don’t want to go. I don’t want to leave, Brian, Caleb, Matt, Julius, Jacob, Max, Deborah, Jo, Jay, Jackie, Evans, Austin, Sayed, Mo, and the rest of 4him and my friends. I want to go. I want to see Muti and Pawpaw, Aunt Diane, all my cousins, all my family. I want to go. But I don’t, but I do. Get the point?

I played most of Half-life 2: Episode Two, didn’t finish it, but got really close… so I figured I won’t need to buy it in the states. I got Jimmy Eat World’s first album. I love it.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas. May your life be as blessed as mine! I wish you all my greatest of blessings. May Jesus Christ bless you and fill you. This year, I pray you may all get to know him in a deeper a more intimate way that the one before. May my Lord, and hopefully yours, keep you safe.

Updates!

Darn it! I forgot to upload my two most recent blog entries...

well there they are, this one is dated December 5

Hmm… I haven’t blogged in a while… so I guess I’ll go ahead and do so.

My life, day by day, grows more and more crazy. What can I do? A cyclone hit Bangladesh… giving my parents extra work, their company is getting audited, and my mom, being unofficial head accountant for her company in Bangladesh is really busy. My dad is in the process of getting himself ready for leaving for the States. Making sure he has the right presentations and the like… ya know? It’s a lot of work… and a pain.

And me… I have school… lots of school. Science has been easier, one experiment shouldn’t be too hard, on the other (if we do it) will not be too bad. Next module we don’t have any experiments, YA! It’s on Evolution… I already read through it a while back, and it’s very good… Dr. Wile does a great job of pointing out all the flaws, misconceptions and bad ideas that the Theory of Evolution has… it’s really sad that scientists continue to believe it. You would think they’d give up and come up with a new, equally flawed idea… but no, they just edit and change the Theory of Evolution… sad.

Anyways… I am, for the hundredth time playing Neverwinter Nights… doing what I call speed leveling. I am using a combination of cheats and knowledge of stuff to grab all the crap I need from chapters 1 and 2 to get to chapter 3 ASAP. I should finish Chapter 2 by the end of this weekend. And hopefully get to chapter 4 by the time we get to the States… if I work really hard, I might be able to go to chapter 5… but I doubt it.

Also… the more I play Neverwinter Nights, the more I realize how stupid DnD is… I am a level 6 Dwarven Barbarian… I can easily take on 4-5 orcs (with the help of my level 6 Halfing Rogue) or ten-twelve goblins with real ease. Now… while that may not sound bad… the thing is… they don’t even hurt me… it would probably take 15 orcs… attacking me AT once to do any reasonable damage… even then, I wouldn’t die as I would have three or four potions… which I should be able to use. Plus, I usually don’t bother with using my Barbarian rage, which would help. Oh… did I mention I have magical armor and a magical sword… at only being level 6?

Now… while WFRP may be more of on the opposite edge… to me it’s more realistic. By the time a player gets to say… their 2^nd career, they can easily take on 1-2 1^st career monsters. So, a party of 4 could take on 4 1^st career people with a very good chance of winning. If they were really unlucky, or most of the characters were non-combat characters (IE a scribe, servant, valet, and student, instead of a Soldier, Wizard, Bounty Hunter, and Mercenary… or even a mix of them, a Bounty Hunter, Servant, Student and Merc), they may end up losing.

But in DnD… only fighting 1 person per PC? What crap is this! No, no, you must take on 10 people per PC to make sure of a kill. I swear, by level 10, I could probably break into a poorer noble’s mansion and kill everyone… wait… I did that at level 5!!!! With what? One rogue and one barbarian/fighter… once I even did it with a pair of fighters… it gets a bit silly, IMHO. Especially when I start killing giants… that was just plain dumb.

So… for all of those here who are going to be making RPGs… please, remember, NO STUPID POWER LEVELS! NORMAL POWER LEVELS PLEASE! I DON’T WANT TO BE ABLE TO KILL GIANTS REGULARLY AT LEVEL 12! (Out of twenty mind you… so that would be a character who has gained 60% of his exp… plus my henchman… so two characters…).

If you must include Giants, Dragons, and the like, make them only killable by HIGH END characters… in DnD terms that would probably be characters with SUPER UBER GEAR!!!!11!!! IE longswords +10 that does 3D6 extra fire/ice/sonic/whatever damage and armor of equal power that are around levels 19-20…

In WFRP terms, that’s a lucky party of warrior characters (Champions, Witch Hunters, and Daemon Slayers…) with a few magic weapons (Greatsword that does extra damage) and is smart (IE they trip the dragon instead of attacking it outright… that or bring an army and dragon-slaying objects with them).

End of Rant.

See you next time.

Isaac

PS you may be wondering why I am playing Neverwinter Nights, eh? Well… it’s because I don’t have anything better to do. DOTA is boring unless I can play multi-player as my favorite hero is not in AI mode (he is now the Sacred Warrior… I LOVE this guy). Sims 2 is okay for temporary distractions… but only such. There is only so many times I can power level my way through a family… getting everyone to the top of their careers in 27 days… so here I am… playing Neverwinter Nights… a game I never bothered to beat because I kept messing up my saves and stuff.

Don’t worry, once I go to the states I will get a Real copy of Company of Heroes, Call of Duty 4, Medieval Total War II, and play Dow: DC and DOTA online… plus all the other games I talked about… not to mention start assembling new 40k models and stripping (paint wise) old ones…

And the next one, dated December 10th

This Saturday I went to the 4him “formal” christmas party that we had.

Actually, it was really formal, more like semi-formal. Generally, the men were supposed to wear pants and nice shirts, and if they could, a tie as well. The girls were encouraged to wear skirts of some sort or a nice saree/sawar.

Anyways… it was nice and fun. We hung out, talked, ate lots of good food (mostly chicken… no rice, surprisingly, and a beef pie which was very nice), drank lots of good drinks (Chocolate Milk! Soda! Water!) and good desert (Lemon Cake and Chocolate Cake… plus some local sweet thingie and donut bits… all very good). We had the traditionally 4him White Elephant Gift Exchange… the one where everyone gets a number, and, in that number order, you take turns picking out a gift. However, once you have picked your gift, it can be “stolen” from you. One gift can be “stolen” twice. If your gift was “stolen” you can “steal” another gift (but you can’t steal yours right back!) or take another gift from the tree.

The fun thing about this is that the good gifts are often stolen a lot and the bad gifts (gag gifts… like toothpaste and soap) curse their owners with the fact that they must pray that someone is strange and takes their gift… fun, no?

The party was fun… it is always great hanging out with my friends, and the food was really good. So, I enjoyed myself.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Oh… only 12 more days till we go to the States… I’m not sure if that’s totally a good thing… I still have a lot of school and my parents are beginning to panic with the amount of work they have…