Moment's to Cherish and Share

In my possession is a small green log book. In this book are written down moments of my 2014 deployment which will forever be cherished. Names will be exempt because of obvious reasons. So without much further welcome, here comes the disclaimer:

Log Book Open: 4th of June, 2014

WARNING:

This book is purely fictional. Names (Except for yours), Characters (Including you), Places and incidents either are products of my imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events (Like this one) or locals and persons, living or six feet under, is entirely coincidental.

AKA, Don't sue me.... I have nothing!

-AZ3

June 4th, 2014

AME1 and AZ3 decided men should not play volleyball except on a beach or the olympics. Otherwise, it's gay.

June 7th, 2014

ADCS has declared there needs to be a time for silence, and no stupid conversations.

June 7th, 2014

"I'm all for the 2nd Amendment, but there is no reason to have a AK-33 in a Starbucks." - AZ3

June 8th, 2014

Lets add "Amazon Women from the Moon" to our iTunes list of downloads. - AME1

June 14th, 2014

"Sunni or Later, someone is going to do something in Iraq." - AZ3 to the QAO

June 14th, 2014

"After watching 5 minutes of the world cup. I've decided soccer sucks." - AME1

June 28th, 2014

"She gives you the lay-up and you just take the touchdown every time." - AZ3 to AO1

August 9th, 2014

AME1 - "How are ISIS gong to figure out who's hot and not?"

AZ3 - "All those who look like Jessica Alba over here! All those who look like Kathy Griffin, over there..."

August 31st, 2014

AM1 walks up the ladder well with an empty coffee pot. The hatch above the ladder well opened violently and broke the coffee pot. AM1 in shock looks at the blue shirt who opened the hatch and says:

AM1 - "You broke my pot!"

Blue Shirt - "Man, I'm sorry."

AM1 - What am I going to say to my AZ3!?"

A BTR was written shortly after.

September 1st, 2014

Dear Boat Chucks,

I realize that we will be pulling into port again in a few days. I also know that in standard Boat Chuck fashion you guys decide to start slacking off a lot during times like these. With that being said, I really need you idiots to keep doing your jobs such as maintaining the toilets in working order for the rest of the week. As you are aware, you dipshits are the janitors and plumbers of the NAVY and it's very important that you stick to your lot in life and clean the shit up and keep the pipes working. 

So there you go! Fix the fucking heads and keep them working. It's all you're really good for.

V/R

AME1

September 4th, 2014

AD1's Fact of the day:

"I took over section leader... Like a boss!"

ADCS replied, "Keep calm and CDI on."

October 4th, 2014

"AM1 is finally the first person to be briefed before any of the QAR's." - ADCS

October 10th, 2014

Quotes of ADCS (Retired):

"Bitches and Hoes! Hoes and Bitches!"

"I know I'm RIGHT! It's in my name!"

"I must of sucked the right dicks because I'm a Senior Chief. Oh, but I'm not a Master Chief."

"I'm not afraid of you AO1!!"

October 16th, 2014

"Didn't you know? Everyone is getting Ebola, it's the new thing." - AM1

November 11th, 2014

ALCON,

I've noticed there is now a group called SFPA - Sailors for the Performing Arts. With this in mind, I've decided to start another group that seems pretty legit to me. I'm going to call it SWLCBACBRPASLARP or Sailors Who Like Comic Books and Comic Book Related Products and Sometimes LARPing. I just need a few volunteers to show interest in setting up a committee. Let me know if you want to run for President, VP, Secretary or Treasurer.

V/R

AME1

---Response----

AME1,

I'm sure we could all manage you and I and two other fellows dressing up as KISS and build a LARP group.

V/R

AZ3

Close of Log Book: 15 of November, 2014

A Favorite Productivity Tip

Q + A = E

This is a formula I learned in school this last year and I've paid homage to it since. At the work place, on my art and other projects too. 

And I'm sure you're saying to yourself, "I didn't know this guy could Math!?" Indeed, I can. But what does it all mean?


It's a mantra I've adapted to my life and it follows:


Quality plus Acceptance equals Excellence.


Meaning: The quality of work or effort added by the acceptance of which I choose to perform at equals the excellence I wish to reach.


This goes back all the way to 2000 when I began writing music and I realized my quality at the time plus my personal acceptance of knowing the limitations I had at the time equated to the lack of excellence I was wanting. Thus, I began working harder and harder on my craft to bring forth a new level of excellence. However, like most things, I keep on adding to the Quality which meant there needed to be a reexamination of what is expected to be Accepted by the Quality to create a more Excellent product. Thus begins the everlasting loop of how creativity and productivity meld into a love child of head aches.


Lastly, I'm right handed and I've noticed I work better when I work in a counter-clockwise motion rather than clockwise. Being my right hand is dominant. Thus if it is always in motion I'm more productive than using it in an unproductive manner.

A Day in the Life

Jamming some tunes till I realized, "OMG, I love this music. I want to write something along this theme."
Then I'm sitting at the piano and hit a chord and we can say, C major is the starting point. Pretty simple, till I think about the 31 flavors of Baskin Robin chord structures I could create simple with this one chord. Okay, Cadd9 is the vibe I'm feeling for today. (This is going to change probably as I progress).
Now I'm looking in my music journal and skimming through any notes I've jotted down on my own experience of writing music which could be a good jumping point. D chord seems like a likely candidate. Thus, I begin again with a Baskin Robin chord structure hunt to help me relate this new chord with the previous. D5 and Dsus2 sound like options. Vastly different, but also similar.
I continue this theme of logic till I build myself a large group of chords and then the real writing begins for me.


Okay, lets say I've composed the song via paper. Want to know the "magic" of production? It's seriously me programing and engineering instruments to the notation I spent hours/days on. Then I split some instruments, i.e. piano into different areas of the speaker system. This gives a more 'round' structure or 'surround' cheap trick. Bass is usually on the left. My logic behind this, bass notes are played on the left hand, left ear is going to hear those notes play first before the right ear picks up. Same can be said for the Treble. Those sounds I split intentionally. Meanwhile other sounds like Bass and Drum will be front and center. Unless it's a fun Drum cycle which can be shifted around so not one sound is heard the same space twice. However, the blend of these sounds not being so harsh in one particular area is allowing "Tremolo" to blend out the rest of these tones and blend the Treble with the Bass in moment or another. Another hint is using Treble Remover on Bass Notes and Bass Remover on Treble Notes. So much space is heard when limiting these parameters. Specifically when you're working with a Bass instruments, most of the time there's an unheard 8th or 13th heard. We don't "need" this.... Get rid of it if you only want the one note heard. (I can go on about how one note is actually up to 20+ notes heard in a single tone, but I digress, this is why we remove Bass and Treble sometimes)
Finally, I dress up and or strip down instruments and arrange as I notated. And if there's any moment when something is just not happening. I flip an Oblique Strategy and see if it helps. Okay, okay... Sometimes I flip two Oblique Strategies to give myself an option.
Otherwise, I go back to the drawing board and mic-up live instruments to play. Guitar, Voice, Synth, Violin, Flute, Theremin. The usual suspects of instruments you can't simply midi in. This gives the track the "organic" feeling. Which is always fun to have. Especially if I can get someone from outside the thinking box to weigh in on how a song sounds to them. Usually, 95% of the time. This sends a song to me in a whole new direction and inspires me to write even more or arrange to them rather arrange to myself.


Otherwise, it all starts back to jamming to music and feeling the vibe to craft my own art. It wasn't always like this and it used to be smashing different loop samples together into a 'song' which made some kind of sense. So, the execution between 2000 me producing music is vastly different than how I go about it now. Sometimes I find myself reaching back and looking forward too.


Voice Acting is fun because you never know what script is going to be there to read from. Or, how to go about a 'project.' My dream Voice Acting job (if I ever got picked up) is reading books with background music involved in someway or form. I used to 'read' for tryouts because I knew I was never going to get a roll per-se. Though, physically acting isn't really my thing, I have done some voice acting work.

Mortal Kombat REVAMPED

I remember way back when, in the pizza parlor, and for 50 cents was a game called Mortal Kombat. At the time, this was allegedly the most violent game. Today I put into my X-bone the same game title and was met with a whole new game. And it totally destroyed my life investments back on the Super Nintendo with a game running by the same name.

Okay, lets kick start this video game with the premises it's a revamp. With this in mind, we don't get to pick and choose our character. Instead we roll through 'chapters' within the game. i.e. Scorpion is chapter one, Johnny Cage is chapter two, Sonya is chapter three.... So on, so forth.... And we progress through the first video game. Then we move on to the second game and we find the true idiot plot arises.

Characters will meet up with other characters and beat the bloody pulp out of each other for no reason. What got me in these moments is how stupid it is to have to get through these fights to "progress" (a loosely used word) story line.

Finally we get all the way to where Mortal Kombat 3 concludes. Then we realized we just got sucked into a horrible abyss of a dumb ass sequel. The underlined plot is the game opening to every character dead except for Raiden and Shao Khan going at it. Raiden is beaten nearly to death. I'm still trying to break down how he was the soul survivor within the vast amount of characters provided. Anyway, Shao Khan throws him from one place to another and Raiden's amulet is shattered. Then he says a couple of mumbo-jumbo words and sends a message to himself in the past with the words, "He must win." Hold up! Like, really? That's the message!? Well at least we divided the sex down. However, with the plethora of male characters there's not really a 'good' pick. Without being a fan boy, anyone would have guessed the favorite would be Liu Kang. Thus the game goes through the woes of Mortal Kombat history. The highs, the lows, the ups and downs for the cannon. All the way to the very beginning.

Now we're rolling through the game and as we progress, the 'choices' which are not of our own (the player) is pushed through the flimsy story line. Ya'know, if the mechanic of choice base system was integrated into this game. Then I could see where this could be getting good. If Raiden's message was, "YOU MUST WIN." Then the enigma would be there. However, it's not and it wont be. And now I have to continue on with the game we have. SPOILER ALERT, everyone important dies. Yes, all the choices we make end up with the worst case scenario possible.

Needless to say, let us break down the game into what it presents:

First, the "fighting" is a hell of a lot better than it was in Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance. Graphics are better, however this also depends on the character. Some characters look like plastic, while the more 'alien' characters have the attention needed. Where 'graphics' are let down is in the women's department.
Graphics gripe part one: I forgot halfway into the video game if I was playing a fighting game or watching a swim suit competition.
Graphics gripe part two:, if it's anything my wife has thought me, "eye brows are sisters not twins." This goes for other parts of the body, because everyone seems to be a H-cup. Finally, for the women the detail given to their hair was left with everyone having 'plastic' hair. Ya'know the type I'm talking about. Silent Hill Homecoming is the worst of this. Because they spent a large amount of attention on the main character and then neglected everyone else with 'plastic hair.' The hair is too shiny for the light provided. Strands of hair plastered to the forehead. THAT LOOK. Seriously, 2015 and I thought we got past Playstation 2 graphics at this point. Meanwhile the gentlemen have stalk body builds too. All the Ninja's look like one another minus colour differential. Some wear masks, others do not. However, most of the gentlemen look like a Chia-pet on a fridge with two rolled up rugs for arms. P.S. some men in this game are subject to the 'plastic hair' look. I find it sad when a Ninja's hair style is akin to Fabio.
Second, this game has the audacity of ineptitude (kinda like Midway's Batman Forever on the SNES) to think I know every move known to mankind. Some are innate being I've played the games previous. So simple moves like back, forward, punch usually makes Scorpion do his spear thing. Down, back, punch makes Sub-Zero do his freeze move. However, for everyone else.... I busted out Google so fast, then realized there's a "Move List" on the pause button. However, only accessible after the countdown and first syllable of "FIGHT!" Any case, the game has a time with going easy and then building up to full retard difficulty. Dear Mortal Kombat, my button mashing skills does not equate to 'this guy has skills'. No, I have button mashing skills. Also the equivalent of throwing my controller down a flight of stairs and getting the same entertainment.
Third and final break down is literally watching an X-Ray slow motion of bone breaking. Overall however much you get hit builds up power in your character. Then when you reach your max you can initiate an attack which can (depending on character) deplete a third health from your opponent. This includes a cut scene, and someone's skull being dropped kicked. Someone's shin being snapped and other body parts which result in instantaneous death. However, you'll find the fight keeps on going and life carries on till a victor is named. Which kinda takes the piss out of the whole experience. I can't even do a Fatality. I don't get spot lights and the dum-dum-dum bass line solo to a glorious blood bath. Instead I settle with beating the stupid out of an opponent due to X-Ray vision contusions and compound complex bones breaking. The best bit behind this whole thing is every character at least has their own style of pulling this move off. However, after the 10th time it all becomes stale as pop corn at a movie theatre.

Bandjo and Kazooie a Revisit

On a list of video games I personally remember from my childhood is Banjo & Kazooie. This was the last Rare video game I remember from my childhood before the company was bought out by Microsoft via X-bone....

The premises of the game is very simple. Banjo, a bear with yellow shorts is asleep in his home. Kazooie, a red bird stuck in a blue backpack is also asleep. Till one day Tootie, Banjo's sister comes over for a visit. Meanwhile a vain witch notices she's getting old and needs to get younger. So what's the obvious thing to do? Not make a potion... But straight up kidnap little bears from Whinny the Pooh. Holding Tootie hostage. The heroes: Banjo & Kazooie show up and kick the witches ass.

The basis of the game mechanics are very, very simple. Collect these three categories: 10 puzzle pieces in each level. Two hollow honey combs in each world. And all the skull tokens possible. It's kind of a make shift Mario 64, if Mario was a bear. Luigi was a bird and about as useful. Stars are puzzle pieces and the witch is Bowser. Very simple characterization, very simple game play. A lot of this game is simple.

Meanwhile in every level is at least one new trick to unlock. Which is great till you realize, not half way through the game you'll unlock every single move the game has to offer. So, we're stuck with knowing what feels like 8 different special movies by the time the game claims it's done teaching you new tricks.

Highlight moves include but not limited to: FLYING, which I would think would be a prerequisite to a bird in a back pack. But apparently the buzzard doesn't have the talent. So, two levels later, evolving a double jump hover into legit souring into the sky is a stretch of a limitation the game conceives. Meanwhile, on the bear side of tricks.... Oh, yeah... that's right.... there isn't any... All of them where literally in the beginning of the damn game. This includes the following (no shit): jumping, swimming, climbing, scratching, rolling, running, double jumping, and not falling to your death. There is literally no "special movies" to the bear. Which begs the question.... What is he really there for?

Mini goals which are pivotal to the game is to collect five little coloured birds. Eventually they are like a side category to the whole collecting 10 puzzle pieces in each level because when you do collect the birds they give one. However, in spite of this being another random task it all adds up in the end where they help out in the last battle against the witch.
Meanwhile, those skull tokens will be handy throughout the game. A witch doctor transforms you into an ant, walrus, washing machine, pumpkin and other things to help Banjo and Kazooie accomplish getting more puzzle pieces. However, this is more for the bear to transform. Kazooie is completely useless in this aspect of the game. And you're also completely rendered useless to fending off bad guys in these states too. Why is it a giant ant can touch me and it knocks me out. I'm an ant and I can't hurt back? Plot twist??? Maybe????

On the flip side of things, the levels are really fun to play in. I especially enjoyed the premises of instant replay from level to level. Again, because if you breeze through the game about 4-5 worlds in and you'll learn all the moves the game has to offer. Then you go back to level one and annihilate the game. This means one thing, developers either knew this tactic was possible. OR if your a cynic like me, they didn't and now they have a broke dick video game. The only reasonable plot whole in the later is the fact the end of the game notes Banjo and Kazooie being in two other adventures in the future and there's more "special moves" to learn for the game I was just currently playing. Meaning, I have to jump online, google the hidden move and then annihilate world one through nine for 100% completion. I'm looking back at a younger me and thinking, "wow, the internet is an interesting place to be. Look at all the porno!!!"

Seven paragraphs in... Is Banjo and Kazooie a fun game? Yes, in the nostalgic N64 style on an X-box360. Does the game stand the test of time? In particular, about as relevant as Mortal Kombat on the arcade. Nothing fancy was really born in this game. It's fun for eating hours of your life away. However, it's not by any means a block-buster. It's one of those game which didn't push an envelope because everyone else was on the same ride. However, now that I had played the game I couldn't win back in the 90's. I'm off to other lands and other worlds.... Ya'know, something more exciting like Mortal Kombat 9: the reboot.