I've been playing a lot of counterstrike on the [ProN] server again. It is at 65.98.35.50:27015. I thought I would never play the game again. Recently though I gave it another try and found the [ProN] guys. Really great bunch of people that try to keep the maturity level up and the game being played as it was meant to be. The racist and homophobic crap that goes on in that game is unbearable. Not to mention just people that cry about the "unfairness" of the game. I never understand it. The second they get killed by one person more than once they start screaming Hax0r. I suck so bad, yet I don't complain. If I'm not happy about the skill level balance then I just leave, and come back later. That or I just have fun dying. The point is to play and have fun. I actually went back to Counter Strike after having problems with UT2004. I really like the game but suck at it too. Problem is, the second you step in a server, you are just dead. It's no fun at all. The skill level between newbies and veterans is just so great that you can't even enjoy dying. I blame the game designers for that one. There really needs to be a way for anyone to just jump in and play. It is such a bummer to me because I love that engine so much. It is so easy to map for. The Source engine on the other hand just sucks. I hate mapping for it and Steam makes all of the development tools clunky and difficult. Don't get me wrong, visually it is much better than the Unreal Engine, but for developers it just isn't comparable. I'm interested in learning a 3D package because of all of this. I enjoy building maps for first person shooters but I'm always limited by the engine. My hope is that I can learn enough of a 3D package to import work I do into game engines (at least ones that allow that). I'm stuck between Blender and 3DS Max. Blender is pretty interesting to me because it has a built in game development package. 3DS Max is the industry standard. I guess I will just wait and see which one ends up being easier for me to use. For now I think it is important that I learn about the concepts behind 3D modeling. I have no clue what a nurb is. On a technical note I added a contact page. This should allow folks to get ahold of me fairly easily. I'm still working on a theme for the blog. I got a local install of wordpress running on my machine last night to test themes with. One final thing. Firefly. Watch it, buy it, love it. June 23 is Firefly day. Buy Serenity and Firefly on DVD that day. I recommend Amazon.com, as always. later, -junc

I really seem to be stuck with the whole novel thing. I work about an hour a day on things at best. I've got some really horrible habits. I spend much more time playing Counter Strike than I do working on anything Keptosh related. I just heard about pandora.com. Such an awesome website. It picks out music for you based on the types of songs you like. Basically, it considers the style of music rather than how popular, or what category it fits into. It is all based on tempo, melody, and whatnot. Pretty slick stuff and worth checking out. Blender has made its way into the public eye with a movie called Elephants Dream. It is exciting to see Blender getting so much attention. I've been considering shifting my 3D focus to it. I have the game kit and intend on ordering the actual guide next week. This little burst of attention has driven my shift to it a little harder. The movie is just amazing. I have no freaking clue what it is about, but it is pretty. Between that and Final Fantasy: Advent Children the 3D thing really has my attention right now. later, -junc