I have decided to move my sites into Drupal. It has been a slow and long process. Keptosh.com has already been moved over. I didn't bother changing the theme at this time, but may do so in the future. I'm also considering changing the overall function of that site. My wife's site funnylittlebirds.com has also been moved over to Drupal, but she hasn't populated it with content yet.
 
I have made a lot of "I don't blog enough" posts over there years. While I do not want to do away with the blog altogether, my goal for the future is to remove the emphasis of the site from it. My blog will become my ranting ground, as it always has been. Instead, I will shift my focus to articles or features. These articles will not have an associated date and they will appear in rotation on the front page. They will be stand alone commentary on a variety of subjects that interest me and will hopefully interest my readers. This will allow me to focus on specific topics that would seem out of place in the blog and still keep the blog informal. This also releives the pressure on me to produce blog posts as frequently.
 
With the current organization of the site if I don't blog everyday the site looks stale and dead. That last post date is just kind of floating up at the top declaring the last day I bothered to interact with my site. I think the web is changing too much for this to be a true indicator of activity. I tweet more than I blog. So, this will find a more dominant place in the new design. I also would like to turn more of attention of this site to my music. This will mean a featured album or something of that nature.
 
As of this writing the new theme has been built in photoshop, but not assembled yet. I will probably launch the site with the default Drupal theme initially. The horror of having that theme live should motivate me to finish the xhtml and css for the new design. Until I have enough articles to take the new front page live the blog itself will remain on the front page.
 
That is what is on the horizon for now. If you do find yourself reading this blog, let me know what you expect from it. What would you like to see more of.
 
later,
-junc

My first gaming experience was on an Atari 2600 that my dad bought for my sister and I. My dad was always on top of the latest technology while I was growing up. I remember playing a game called Asylum on the TRS-80 and then, several years later graduating to Miner 2049er on the Atari 400 and 800. It seemed that Atari had treated him well so he moved into the Atari ST line instead of the Amiga line during the late 80s. The competition between the two systems proved to create a tiny pocket golden era for early computer users. The IBM machines were not quite there yet, requiring add on video cards with astronomical costs to play the same games that were available on the ST and Amiga. Several games were on the Atari ST that changed my life forever. The classic adventure games from Sierra like King’s Quest, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, and Goldrush filled a good chunk of my video game youth. These were the family games though. The ones that everyone loved. Three games have stood out on the Atari ST beyond the Sierra classics however. Black Lamp, Sundog, and Brattacas have stuck with me over the years. Sundog has driven my interest in open world space trading simulation games over the years. With only one true modern successor in my eyes, Freelancer, it has been an lonely search. EVE Online attempts to file these voids but fails on some level at the foundation. While I keep on renewing my subscription to that game I always lose interest at some level that I just can’t quite understand yet. Black Lamp was a very obscure game. While it hasn’t fueled any new interests, it has always remained with me. I am not sure why as it was a typical hodge podge game with a very abstract theme. I never did manage to beat that game but always intended on going back and doing so on an emulator. I should mention the Sierra games one more time. Their impact on what I feel a game should be goes hand in hand with Sundog in many ways. An open world with the freedom to explore and yet a strong solid goal. The Sierra games drove me into exploring the AGI and SCI communities centered around tools created by fans of those games so that they could create their own classic style adventure games. These communities eventually led me to the AGS Community. Adventure Game Studio was where the Keptosh game was born and how my novel began to take shape. Finally, there is Brattacas. later, -junc

Most of my focus over the past few months has been on Novel Writing. Unfortunately, that has received much less activity than I would like it to. While my goals have been to move further ahead with Keptosh, things have kind of fallen flat most of the time. I managed to finish an outline and start the storyboard. The storyboard is where I am currently hung up. I have attempted a few different strategies for moving the novel along but most of them just end up wasting time. My inability to focus on one project at a time is a major weakness. I always feel that I have so much to do. So while I put the focus on the Novel I get distracted with the other projects and generally end up getting no where with any of it. My hope is to combat this writer's block by setting some public deadlines here in my blog. Obligations to reach certain milestones within the process which I will feel guilty about if I fail to reach them. I recently attempted this strategy with a co-worker. Telling him about a goal I had set myself in October. While I missed the overall goal I did get a large amount of work accomplished during that time. So it is obviously a decent motivational tool to share deadlines with others. At least, so long as they aren’t depending on that deadline. Writing a novel has not been an easy goal to achieve. I feel that there is a difference between a writer and a novelist. I think a lot of people have what it takes to be a great writer, but not a novelist. For me, I fear that it is the opposite. I am by no means a great, or even good, writer, but I feel that I have a decent shot at putting out an adequate novel. I attribute this to the Hero’s Journey model and many others like it. Basically, the key is to learn the elements of good story telling, not necessarily story writing. In the end you can plug certain things into the story to make it take a shape. From there, flesh out enough scenes that cover those core mythological struggles. Once you are down to the scenes, trying to understand how rhythm plays a part in both single scenes and strings of scenes is key. The result of using the toolset is the construction of a novel. I see it more as a step by step assembly process. With that view of novel writing it certainly boosts my confidence and helps me believe that I can finish my Keptosh novel. later, -junc

Over the past year I've been telling myself I would abandon the Outline-Screenplay-Novel process for Keptosh. Instead I had decided to jump straight from Outline to Novel. Well, the outline has been done for at least six months now and I haven't touched it. So, I am planning to move back to the screenplay idea. Hopefully, this will push me to just start writing some content. I was kind of getting stuck on the opening lines of the novel. Putting way too much thought into how much that meant. When it comes right down to it I am well aware that I am a horrible "writer". When it comes to grammar, spelling, and my general grasp of the English language I just kind of…fail. I do believe that I have a very strong grasp of story structure and dialogue on the other hand. So, outlining and screenplay writing just kind of flow more naturally. Recently, I purchased another DVD burner because I couldn't read any of my old backup CDs and DVDs. After my last backup I realized that using DVDs just isn't efficient when you have a 320GB hard drive. The solution has been around for some time now. I've just been a little slow in picking it up. So, I have the intention of picking up an external hard drive this month. For less than a hundred bucks you can pick up a decent sized USB 2.0 drive. Of course this means the massive chore of going through all of my old CDs and copying them over to the new drive. Well, that is it for now. I will, once again, attempt to post more. later, -junc

On June 7th, 2008 the Core Rule Books for D&D 4th edition will be available. Today I picked up the first Adventure Module, "Keep on the Shadowfell." I have finally managed to admit to myself that I am just a collector. I played a very short game with my girlfriend when I first picked up the 3.5 books a year or so ago. Since then though, they have just sat on my bookshelf. This new edition is rather exciting for me, especially with the promise of the computer element added in. What exactly D&D Insider will be is a whole other question. It appears that it will be a virtual miniatures environment. If so, then I will be quite happy. I've never liked the whole "collection" take that WOTC went with for them. I mean, when I need 10 Kobolds to be standing along the path then I need 10 Kobolds. I can't buy random miniature packs in hopes of getting that one last Kobold. I imagine there are alternatives, and perhaps WOTC even does allow for individual purchases. They certainly don't seem to publicize it though. As for the "Keep on the Shadowfell" module itself, I was expecting to be disappointed. I had read several bad reviews online. Most complained about the price and lack of hardcover for that price. Then upon hearing that it was a folder with some booklets and foldout maps I must say I was concerned. However, after looking at it, I am impressed. The booklets are near magazine quality. Compared to the newspaper quality paper and black and white print of the 3.x modules it is leaps and bounds better. The foldout maps are great for miniature users, although questionable in light of D&D Insider. As far as the adventure itself is concerned I have no idea as of yet if it is worthwhile. What I have read seems to be well written. Some of the negative reviews I read criticized the module as being too advanced for beginners and too simple for veterans. I could certainly see this from what little I've read so far. Although, I do feel that the first module for 3.x, "The Sunless Citadel", wasn't of much help to the beginner either. I've always felt that the fledgling Dungeon Master was always left with very little in regards to learning how to design adventures. Finally, I am writing this from Word 2007. I have been loving the entire Office 07 suite and looking for a reason to use Word on a regular basis. I suppose my novel should have been the first thing to inspire that use, but alas, I am slow when it comes to all things Keptosh. Anyway, blogging from word, FTW. Keptosh screenplay in Word, on the horizon. 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

Okay, so it is time for a real update. A real post of some sort. But, first, more technical crap. I disabled the must register to post thing, but kept the ability to register. This will make it easier to track the size of my "community". As far as the spam thing goes, since comments go to moderation first it is not such a big deal. I also enabled akismet, the wordpress anti-spam thingy, so hopefully that will help. Anyway. I have a few projects going on at the moment. The top of the list is occupied by the Keptosh Novel. Years in development, things finally seem to be coming together. I'm trying to work with the Weekend Novelist approach. Most of the plot development was spent in Dramatica, specifically with The Writer's DreamKit. I recommend the book and software if you have trouble getting a plot into a decent outline (if outlining is your thing). The Novel template included with The Writer's DreamKit is worth the $35.00 (buy it from Amazon, not the publishers site). The Dramatica Book (which is also available in an older edition for free online) is pretty decent for working out character archtypes. All in all though the whole Dramatica thing is just a fancy version of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey. Maybe even a dumbed down version, I've never read his book. All of that stuff means nothing if I don't start writing though. That is what the Weekend Novelist is for though, It provides a pretty decent 52 week program for writing a novel. I recently purchased the second edition of that book and so far I'm a little disappointed. I haven't read through it all yet so I won't slam it yet. Hey, this is getting pretty long, so I will wrap things up. My other big project of the moment is trying to learn 3DS Max. Summer quarter I am taking a C++ class and a time management/study habits class. I'm pretty excited about both of those. later, -junc