Team J.A.F.

For a reference, I wanted to go back and look at one of my older Bionicle stories, one that had actually gotten a decent response on BZPower back in the day. But for the life of me, I couldn't find it saved on my computer. (But having looked up the date, I realize that it was probably written in the brief period where I owned my own laptop... which was stolen after six months, along with a whole bunch of my work that I had neglected to save elsewhere. Well, that's one mystery solved.)

But anyway, failing to find my copy, I decided to look up BZP's. Cause, y'know, I posted it here way back in the day, and when you post something on the internet, it never disappears. NEVAH! (Oh wait, I guess that only applies to embarrassing stuff and not work I'm proud of.)

So I dove into the BZPower Archive. After some searching and browsing and logging in again, I found the topic. Then I opened the topic. No posts were saved, just the topic and it's meta data (date, title, author, ext).

I looked up more of my old stories, as well as my review topics. Only a few of them had anything saved, and most was incomplete.

So really not much of an archive as far as I'm concerned. Oh well. (Google isn't any help either; their "cached" version is only a month old so it's the same blank page.)

I'm not complaining or anything: I know how much data there was to save on the old BZP forums, and I'm amazed that any survived at all. But yeah, just posting my findings. And anyway, why live in the past?

If you say you don't, then you're lying, both to us and to yourself.

I love penguins so much, that I made a MOC of one and entered it into the latest BBC Contest.



Yeah!

MOC Topics Here. Or you can comment on it in this blog, in case you're too embarassed to be associated with my work in the BBC Forum. (THEY MIGHT JUDGE YOU)

So comments and stuff appreciated. And if you really want to mess with me, vote for it in the contest so that I'll have to actually send this bulky thing to Virginia!

Ha, if you thought this was about some video game I was playing, YOU'RE WRONG!  This is about the game I'M MAKING!
 
So, a few blog posts back (wait, only three posts ago?  Man, I need to update this more) I asked for artists who'd want to help me make this Flash game.  No one responded.  But that's okay, cause I DON'T NEED Y'ALL and I made the artwork myself.   And then I added animation and code and clicky stuff and things.  It's a game!!
 
Okay, it's not 100% completed.  If I'd give it a percentage, I'd say 80%.  There are six levels for each region on Mata Nui (the classic island, not some dumb ol giant robot inner universe) and I have all of them completed except for Le-Koro.  The gameplay is you collect hidden masks.  Hopefully I can finish it in a week or so, and then I can post it here and in my resume to show that I can code stuff.  (What, Flash Actionscript is going out of style and isn't as important to web developers?  NOOO!)
 
Okay, really, the art could use some improvement, and there are still some bugs in it that either I don't know how to fix or I have a vague idea of how to fix and am too lazy to try it yet because it kinda works anyway.  I've already had ideas for similiar, future projects, so if there's an artist out there who wants in, let me know. 
 
I'd also like to thank Swert and Kakaru for testing it for my and telling me what's broken and such.  (They're the only people who'll respond to my IMs anyway, and only some of the time at that.)
 
I don't really have stuff to show yet, so in the meantime, here's a Mahi.

I posted a legit news story for the first time in forever!!
 
I forgot that I was a reporter!!
 
Oh, and it helped that Duel Matrix submitted the report. 
 

So, way back in the day, there were these devices called Palm Pilots or something.  They could include calendars and notepads and other stuff on them.  Basically, I always saw them as hand held computers, although clearly they were limited compared to desktops.  This was like in the early 2000s.  I know a couple of my classmates had some.
 
And back in 2003 or 2004 (I forget when) I wrote this adventure story that I'm sure I've mentioned here before.  It was about four friends getting trapped in a virtual game, where if they die there they die for real, and the only way out was to win the game.  (Rip off of Sword Art Online?  No, I finished this before then.  It was a rip-off of some other cartoon idea.  )  But one guy was able to keep out of the game, and he spend the story hacking into the program and trying to free the friends.  At one point, his desktop is compromised, so he downloads the data onto his palm pilot and goes mobile.  The palm pilot is integral to him finally figuring out the coding in the end.
 
The problem?  Well, I'm updating the story again, and something occurred to me.  Palm Pilots totally want out of style, and were never quite the extravagant hand held computers anyway.  But... well, what I described does sound familiar, doesn't it?  Oh yeah, smart phones.  Everybody and their dog has one nowadays, and they're clearly not a passing fad.
 
So, should I replace the palm pilot in the story with a smart phone?  It would be a little more accurate and true to current technology.  But it's also a classic part of my story which follows the technology of that era.  So, opinions?
 
(I know, first world dilemma for sure!)
 

I mentioned this idea to Kakaru when I met up with him last week, and he mentioned I should make a topic, but I'll do a blog post instead. 
 
So I have this idea for a Flash game.  Nothing nearly as complicated as MNOLG; basically a "find a hidden object in a picture" thing, Bionicle themed.  I've been practising on writing code for such a game, and I'm pretty sure I could get this completed with ease.  But... well, first, I need material.  I can animate and code, but I can't draw, and I especially can't draw complicated images with hidden objects located within them. 
 
So that's where you can come in!  Are you an artist who excels in designing complicated landscapes?  If so, PM me or contact me somehow, and I'll tell you the specifics of my idea!  It's not a ton of work; as I mentioned, it won't be the MNOLG with hundreds of scenes, but rather maybe just 6 scenes, 7 tops.  And, of course, the artwork needs to be digital and easily transferable into Adobe Flash.  Vector art would be appreciated (PowerPoint yay!) but I think I can make due with something drawn in MS Paint.  Hand drawn stuff might not work too well tho. 
 
So yeah, let me know if you're interested.  If not... well, might as well try and ask.
 
Oh, and I got to hang out with Kakaru and his family last week on my drive from Dallas to Portland.  It was a blast!  Except the part where we looked at our old BrickShelfs...
 

Hey, an update from me, yayz!
 
So this past weekend I got to meet Toaraga in person.  (Turns out there are other BZPers in Dallas!)  He was a pretty cool guy, and it was fun chatting with him.  Toaraga, you need to come to a convention sometime.
 
I also visited the Dallas Lego Store one last time, and bought a handful of Series 10 figs.  There were a lot of people in there looking for the gold fig, and apparently at least 5 of the goldies have been found in that store.  (By customers)  But they still had a ton of bags to feel through, and I got the figs I wanted. (Librarian, Medusa, Roman General, Warrior Girl, Bee Girl, Sailor, and Baseball Player.) I know some people get tired of these collectible figs... but I'm not one of them. 
 
I'm also set to move out of Dallas this weekend, and then it's another road trip back to Portland, so I'll be offline for a week again.  (Because I've been soo active these last few months.)  That, and I'm losing Internet tonight, so... yeah, gonna be away from BZP for a while.  (Well, I'll check up on it via my mobile web on my phone, but I rarely use that to post.)
 
Anyway, need to find a job to pay for the next Lego convention.  See ya!
 

Man, I had an awesome time at my internship in Dallas, TX, but sadly it is over.  Now I most likely have two weeks of downtime before I drive back to the Pacific Northwest, unless I can get a job with them before I leave.  (Seriously, as interesting as Texas is, I do kind of want to bail before the HOT weather shows up.  It's already been a little too hot for me and the locals are calling it mild spring weather!  Well, at least I can drive in the rain compared to most of em!)
 
But yeah, for the most part, I had an amazing three months here.  See, I didn't do anything exciting in college; I studied and spent time online, so I didn't do many fun activities, make many new friends, or go to many cool places.  (Lego Conventions aren't included in this analysis, cause they're considered super fun vacations from real life for me.  )  But I got to meet a bunch of awesome people here, go lots of cool places, and got some invaluable work experience, so I couldn't have asked for more.  Although I just graduated, the internship finally gave me the chance to have the college experience. 
 
And for now... well, technically unemployed, but hey that means more time to do online stuff until I find my next job!  I've been lurking BZP for the last few months, but I haven't done a whole lot, so I need to increase my presence here again.  (Or at least start posting news again, if just to escape from B6's angry gaze for a bit.)  But then again, my laptop is still about as sucky as it was three months ago, so I should probably focus on the job that will give me the money to replace the laptop... yeah.
 
So anyway... anything exciting happen while I was away having fun in real life? 
 

So this weekend I went on a road trip to Colorado with my roommate and two other interns from work.  This was kind of important to me because I haven't visited Colorado since I moved away in 2001, and I missed the place and really wanted to return to visit it's beauty.  (Yeah, yeah, sappy whatev, but seriously it's the one place I'm nostalgic for.)
 
So on Saturday, we flew into Denver in the morning, rented a car, and drove down to Colorado Springs and toured around the Garden of the Gods.  Then we drove up into the mountains to Woodland Park and Divide AKA the places I used to live and go to school at as a kid.  Then we continued on through the mountains, drove into Buena Vista and then up the Arkansas River drainage to Leadwood, and eventually caught up to the I 70 freeway and headed west to Glenwood Springs.  We went there for the famous hot springs, but only half of us went in (the whole bring swimgear wasn't communicated too well, I guess) and I was the only one who did any serious swimming.  (By that I mean diving.  And by that I mean a mix of cannonballs and bellyflops... yeah, I'm still a little sore from that.)
 
Today we got up early and left... so early that the sun wasn't even up yet.  We drove east on I 70 and went over a couple of passes.  We stopped at Vail Pass to play around in the snow a bit, then continued on into Denver, where we drove down and walk around the capital for a bit.  Then it was off to the airport, where we flew to Albuquerque and then to Dallas.
 
Aaaaaaaanyway, it's been a loooong weekend, but it was lots of fun and we saw lots of scenery and snow capped mountains.  (And drove over a few snow capped passes.)  I wish we could've spent more time hanging around and doing some little things, but we just didn't get the chance.  And now I have 300+ pictures to sort through... although sadly most of them are shot through a dirty car window, since we didn't stop for every scenic view.
 
Now I'm burned out and have work tomorrow... yay!
 

So today I went to the Lego store in Dallas to take advantage of the double VIP points.  I also went with two fellow interns to show them the wonderful world of Lego.  (See, Elly and Erin, I do blog, and yes, it is mostly about Lego!)
 
Anyway, I got two collections completed.
 
After a slow start, I did manage to collect all 16 Series 9 figs.  The last two were the Waiter and Caesar.  I would like to do another front page review of how to find them, ext, but I am so late on these that it isn't worth it.  Plus, what, Series 10 is coming out in a month or two, right?
 
I also got the Garmatron.  If for no other reason than to pick up kimono Zane.  Now I have all four lovely 2013 Ninjas.  (Technically I should get green Lloyde at some point too.)  Not too sure if I want the golden ninja; he doesn't have the same appeal as these four do.  (Oh, and I guess there was that Garmatron set thing too...)
 
And it turns out those Speedoraz things are pretty fun.  No, no, I can't be into Chima yet, I still have to spend my money elsewhere first!!  (But on that note, I got an extra 120 VIP points today with only $60, so that's $5 that I can spend later on some of the cooler summer Chima stuff.)
 
But besides the lego store visit... well, life, work, travel, stuff.