Midgar Swamp Updates

The personal blog of James Gowdey, aka CaptainCanada...a half-Canadian geek with a 4:47 mile, an obsession with DDR, and a whole lot of random links.

Saturday, June 16, 2001

Nothing gives me more of a rush than watching my C drive slowly defragment away.

I got a lot of progress down in FF6 (which I am playing on the PS2) - I'm in the World of Ruin now.

The internet was down for most of the day again, so I couldn't do much. I worked on a MIDI of FFX's Suteki Da Ne.

I can drive now because I completed driver's training, so I'll probably shut up about it sooner or later.

Once Bob hits me back about that story I'd like to write, I can get it underway - providing some content for the Swamp.

Holy shit, they're going to say "shit" on South Park next week! Unless they're shitting me. (I stole that directly from their commercial.)

Well then, time to check out my local webcomics and haulass to bed. I'm waking up early to order my dad to go on a run for Patriarch's 24-Hour Period.

Friday, June 15, 2001

DAURAGON IV: *pant* ... *pant* ... *pant* ... *pant* ...

Well, I beat the Bouncer again, and now I am in charge of all four Dauragons! Of course, that's a minor spoiler! But who cares!

The internet's been down all day, as well as my FTP access to Port5. So STILL no replyin' to these messages. Ughagh.
Well, it's a nice Friday night. Time to SIT - ON - MY - ASS!!!!

Cool. Currently, my FFX Piano Intro is the only FFX file on VGMusic, and is one of the four total PS2 songs there. I'm FAMOUS AGAIN!!!

Furthermore, I had my second driving lesson today, where I drove all around Marin County. That was some fun crap. I'll probably go out driving with my dad later.

I'll be working on various MIDIs and on the Bouncer today, also, I'll try to get the Reply feature back up as soon as possible. Port5's FTP is a bitch.

Thursday, June 14, 2001

I'd like to reply to both of the previous posts by replying, but FTP access to my PHP server is too clogged up. So I'll reply here.
First to Bob's:
Well, sorry for your loss... I hope I (or anyone I know) don't have to die that way. Must've been hell for your grandma while she was alive, if she could even notice she was really even going through hell, or if you would even have called her alive then, as you said. It reminds me a bit of the movie Steel Magnolias (see it, it's pretty good), not that that's the exact same thing that happened.
And then to James's:
Talent show zuh? Eh, I would have wanted to do that. And that's probably the same reason that I like Cross Country and Track - because people don't depend on you as much. Refer to Calvin and Hobbes for more insight on organized sports. And I can't download the compilation video because ~(wtf) I'm on 56K now and ~ my other Cable computer has screwed up codecs so I can't watch WMVs.

All right, now for my own stoly: MY PERMIT'S VALID AND I CAN DRIVE!!! W00!!! WITH MY MOM!!!
Early this morning, I had behind-the-wheel driving training with some TL dropout who's really good at driving (hence her job). Driving is really easy, but watching for Stop signs and speed limits is tiresome, and I get a bit stressed whenever I pass a car or it's behind me. But with two more lessons and my DMV test a half a year away, I'll get it down in no time. I already drove my mom to Vallecito Elementary School a few blocks away today, where we picked up my sister who just graduated from it.

Then I went swimming, but my sister was in the car on the way to the pool, and it's illegal to drive minors, so I couldn't drive there. But I'm already establishing a sense of FREEDOM!!! OF AMERICA'S BEST WARRANTY!!!

Which brings me to my next topic - T.V. and Calvin and Hobbes.
Calvin and Hobbes, despite it only being around from 1985-1995, is by far my favorite comic strip. Bill Watterson, the author of the strip, although arrogant, is very insightful, and his comics strive to escape the torture of last-minute gags and punchlines. If people actually took comics more seriously, one could learn lots from the strip. For example: I never noticed how stupid television is OVERALL until Bill Watterson shoved his thoughts in my face. And now I have reason for not having watched it much for the past 5 years, besides the escape to the internet that everyone's made. But the only bad thing about Bill Watterson, as I said before, is that he has a very large ego, and low self-esteem. He puts down his previous works, but still boasts about himself, and he constantly mentions that other strips are saccharine and not "art" by definition, without giving examples. But heck, I can't argue with him, since he's stopped making comics long ago.

I beat the Bouncer again, and I can play as Leann! Whee!

Wednesday, June 13, 2001

PRAISE THE GIA!!!
PRAISE THEM AGAIN!!!

WOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reply feature is down at the moment. ;_;
Expect it back online tomorrow.

Poor fishie. My goldfish Magus (shamelessly named because of his dark color at birth) died today, and my dad STILL hasn't flushed him down the toilet. My sister's off celebrating her elementary school graduation, so she'll be pretty shocked to hear the news. It was almost 2 years old, so I guess it lived a nice goldfish life. Pretty weird to think it was older than my dog (shown here 1/2 year ago).

Anyway, as mentioned, I attended my sister's graduation. She's among the top in her class, and the student council president, so she wrote a little speech. I was making faces at her the whole time. How cute.

Afterwards, I went to the DMV where I took my permit test, and passed by the skin of my [insert hilarious anatomy here]. I'll be able to drive around by Saturday afternoon, when my behind-the-wheel training is over. WHEEE!!!

Well then. Back to working on Casa Fairview.

Tuesday, June 12, 2001

I got a comments system to work - it's PHP-based and Tripod doesn't allow PHP, but I opened a remote server and put it there. I'll fix it soon to perfection.

This is pretty screwed up, but I can't stop looking at it. It'll bring more male fans to the film... horny unemployed loserly fans, but nonetheless...

It's been a hard day thanks to my mom but I can't talk about that now. Perhaps tomorrow. I'll be watching Traffic tonight. Reply to this (YAY) and tell me what you thought of that movie!

Sunday, June 10, 2001

MY WEEKEND SUCKED!!!

Kidding. On Saturday, we drove to Fremont, CA, on the east Bay, where I was born. I went to the Bar Mitzvah of a childhood friend, Evan, at Temple Beth Torah where I was named and CIRCUMCISED!!! My own service (two years ago) was better than his, but his reception... HOO...

After the service, we drove to the house where I lived from 1988 - 1992. Memories. Ah.

Then, we drove to Niles Canyon, and my mom spent HOURS looking at antique shops. They are very boring shops. At least she bought us root beer floats to tide us over.

Later, we drove to San Jose and to the Fairmont Hotel, where Evan had his reception. After waiting an hour for mom to dress in the hotel lobby's bathroom, we went upstairs, mingled while the dinner was being prepared, and then entered the dining hall.

We danced the hora and stuff, circling Evan. I did an exceptionally nice job of FREAKING THE HELL OUT OF HIM every time the circle narrowed in on him, with me laughing maniacally. We sat down (our seats were designated by custom-made hockey jerseys with our names on them hehe cool), and ate the "kid's" dinner (corn dogs, fries, and pizza ugh). A band played as we ate.

Then, another hall opened up, revealing a dance floor and a DJ, and a miniature racing track. It was all pretty cool, although I don't dance to hip-hop unless sugar-high (which, sadly, I definitely was). We returned home and I went straight to bed.

The next day, after painting all the doors of my house and deciding to paint an M.C. Escher picture on my wall later in the summer, we drove to this houseboat in Sausalito, a southern Marin city, for my sister's Girl Scout meeting. It was definitely the biggest houseboat there, and its owners were rich, of course. We spent the day canoeing around, barbequeing, and resting.

While lying over the edge of a boat with my head upside down next to the water, I got an idea for an RPG story which will probably soon be turned into an IAQ:

10,000 years ago (about 2050 A.D. in our time), the world reached a population of 10 billion people. It dawned on the people of Earth that something needed to be done about this exponential growth of the human race: it needed to be stopped.

A war broke out between countries because of arguments about the issue, and the result was the world domination of a new corrupt leader. His plan was to cut down the population drastically: by sending billions into space by force - ceasing the planet's gravity to function.

The leader told the people of the earth that his new plan would solve the problem, letting people have loads of more space to live in, and the people of the world supported him. He burrowed down into the center of the earth, setting up a device that would counterbalance the force of gravity, making centrifugal force kick in, sending almost all the people of earth into the atmosphere, killing them.

10,000 years later...

The world is upside-down. People live inside the world. The sky is down, and the center of the world is up. What has happened is now not history, but science. People live on the crust of the world - to us, what would be the bottom of it. The world is nearly hollow, with underground passageways dominating the entire world. Heat comes from the center of the world, while sunlight shines through clear, metal-like rings surrounding the world, keeping the crust in place.

The world, now presented with 260 billion cubic miles of space to live, is facing a problem - overpopulation. The world has 30 billion people living in it. A war breaks out, bringing a new corrupt leader to power. He plans to stop the ancient device that stops the gravity of the planet to crush the people of the world, launching the world's leaders into space. Using a propaganda machine similar to the one used ten thousand years ago, he promises a bright new world, where people can actually walk on the surface without falling into space.

A resistance group tries to get the word out that this motion will bring gravity back to the world, but seeing that it is mostly hollowed out, gravity would make the world collapse in on itself.

So, the resistance group starts its mission to stop the ruler of the earth...


It's a rough description, but it sure is something. I had some great mental images of art possible for it.

I have to get to bed now. Bye bye.