I tried recording myself singing Constellations the other day. I ran into this problem.
Anyway; I'm just here to complain right now.
I want to play with movie studio today, but I'm too busy doing chores to do anything!
(crying)
-Skylark
I dunno, but I'm watching a video relative to that right now. [link]
I tried recording myself singing Constellations the other day. I ran into this problem. Anyway; I'm just here to complain right now. I want to play with movie studio today, but I'm too busy doing chores to do anything! (crying) -Skylark I've been doing a mixture of watching tutorials and exploring my new movie making software, mentioned in this post: http://skylark-torch.weebly.com/1/post/2013/07/movie-making-beginnings.html For my first in a series of expected "Test Videos," I practice beatmapping to the opening of one of my favorite songs, Magic is Timeless, by Archie V. I should have said something days ago, when Jacen first helped me, but guys, look. Our problem is fixed!
As mentioned in this post, our blog comments weren't appearing properly. However, Jacen so kindly sopped his way through the loads of CSS behind this site to find and fix the problem. Thank you Jacen!! -Skylark So my mom has a favorite drink; this being SoBe's Strawberry Kiwi Life Water.
Our expectations weren't very high, and we set out to the first location --a Food Lion not far from me-- fully expecting to not find anything and to have to move on. We depart on our lovingly named car --Applejack--, with myself at the wheel. To get to this store, we need to go down a four-lane road which has a soggy grassy median between the two lanes of traffic.
As we ride, I hear the wail of sirens passing us in the opposite direction. I didn't pay it any mind and just kept on driving, I mean, I hear sirens all the time as they pass. Nay did I notice, the sound of the sirens never left the back of my head; in fact they got notably louder. I check my rearview and notice the awesome shape of a 2011 Dodge Charger, and the not-so-awesome blue and red flashing lights on top. Is he after me because I said I made a hitlist? I scope out the area in front of me, assuming that I'll have to pull over. Keep in mind, the speed zone I'm in allows for me to go from 50-60 MPH, and I was going about 58; but this guy's on my but, so I can't really lay on the brakes or anything. I'm also watching the trooper's actions, and I cut my mom off, who apparently hasn't noticed yet and is still jabbering about something. "Mom, have you noticed what's behind us?" "What?" "Look behind us." "What is-" Breaking off as she turned around, she looked forward again and turned white. I'm still reducing speed and preparing to pull over, but decide I should go through the light and pull over at the gas station because I'm entering a very busy intersection, more to the point the road I'm on doesn't have a shoulder, but rather a soggy mush of a ditch.. Then I notice something truly interesting. The cop's giving me the most peculiar face, holding his hand palm up, like 'What is this idiot doing?' and riding my tail rather closely. Then I get it. He's not after me, he wants to get by. But I'm confused, because he could have, I dunno... gone around? I mean, he scared my mom half-to-death and made me think I had to pull over for something! We're on a road which has two-lanes going in the same direction, why did he have to practice running me off the road just to get on by? So anyway, I change lanes and he zips off like he's Rainbow Dash or something; leaving my mom in the other seat with a load of stress to deal with. I'm soothe-talking her on in to the Food Lion parking lot and defending my own actions, as I've come to do with every trip I drive with her, and that topic's finally dropped. Even so, my brow's still furrowed just thinking about it. I could've gone without that today. When we make it in, of course we find her drink, and it's on sale, and we buy it. Woo, happy day. Suddenly filled with stress. -Skylark Ps: Had an internet company worker drop by the house today and fix up some of our internet issues. Hopefully. I stood by to watch what he was doing, and, I'm pretty sure I already have all the know-how I need to do everything he did for us today; aside from the bag full of tools, of course. I'm jelly. - - edits made on July 21 due to twitter questions. - - Over the years, I've gained a keen interest in the art of video creation. I love the idea of making a fluid presentation for others as well as myself to enjoy. More to the point, I've had people approach me, asking me to create video presentations for them. I've always wanted to say "Yes!", but my mere Powerpoint capabilities can only carry me so far.
So here, today, I have received my very own copy of the Sony Movie Studio Platinum 12 Suite. Back in August of 2012 I ordered a new headset. Specifically, I got the Turtle Beach Z6A Headset. [Voyetra link] [Amazon Link] I bought it from Amazon because it was a bunch cheaper there --$80 or so-- than on Voyetra's site --$129 or so--. My reason for purchasing this headset was because, as a fan of music, I wanted to hear more. More, more, always more! The Z6A was a headset that actually featured 5.1 surround sound by having four speakers in each ear cup. It satisfied my desires rather well, especially because I could manage the bass driver independently. In fact, I could control each of the speaker pairs, and I still had a master control over that! I fell in love with this headset the moment I laid eyes on it. I beheld an explosion of sound the moment I put some music through it, and I was thoroughly enjoying it's superior quality in every aspect of it. When folks would come over, the Z6A was a main showcase, rather than something to push off to the side. I'd let my friends try it out, mess with the controls, and listen to some killer dubstep, classical, and even vintage rock just so they could see how truly amazing it is to wear surround sound on your head.
I even went out to search the web for nice additional accessories to use. I found quality cables to run from my X-Box 360 and it's controller so I could enjoy the system like nothing before. [link] Four months later, I had reason to fret for the first time. The headband's slider had completely cracked all the way through. This wasn't due to mishandling or anything of the like, but rather, it was due simply to the use I put it through. The fact that the headband had cracked was very odd to me. I though it must have been a freak accident, because my last headset, the Turtle Beach X1 had never experienced a problem of this magnitude. (In fact, it's still functioning to this very day as TorChuJACK 117's primary gaming headset.) I then tried to tape/glue the piece back together so I could continue using it as before. I didn't care how hideous I made it look, so long as I could continue hearing the sheer beauty of its 5.1 surround sound. The repair never worked, and the same piece on the other side of the headset gave-way soon afterward. This left me with a headband and two dangling speakers. I had one option left, contact support. Of course, Turtle Beach's E-mail support was prompt and helped me very quickly, in perfectly readable English. They sent me a free replacement, which arrived only a week after I shipped the broken specimen in. The new headset worked perfectly fine, and lived up to the total glory of its deceased brother. I even got to keep a few of the cables which come with the headset, meaning I had extra items, which is something I am very fond of. I enjoyed it for about seven months before it formed a hairline crack in the same exact location as my first Z6A. This can't be attributed to me: I always use two hands to put the headset on or off, I store it in a specific and safe place, and I wear it in a reasonably adjusted manner which conforms to my head nicely. I observed over the course of a week as casual use caused the crack to form into a gaping one. It still hadn't gone all the way through, but I waited no longer to contact support once again. This time, my experience was a bit different. Rather than shipping me a new headset right-off-the-bat, they contacted me and informed me that the Z6A's had been discontinued. Not surprising news, considering the headband's likeliness to crack under the strain of normal use. The support team offered me an alternative: that I receive a headset from the line of my functional model, the X1. This new headset, the X12 [link], combined with the DSS2 they offered, took away my 5.1 surround sound, but gave me more cabling options and equalizer features and Dolby Digital audio... I now have fiber-optic support! The price of my initial Z6A was about $80.00 way-back-when. The price of this new hardware is shown as $129.99, meaning I'm getting a replacement that's worth more than what I had bought. That's enough to make me a happy customer. :) (Though, according to the originally advertised price of the Z6A, it's the same value.) The Z6A will always have a special place in my heart as the first great headset I've ever owned, and I would still have it, were it capable of living through the terrors of common use. I've just set up my new replacement X12 and its DSS2 only last night and I'm so far enjoying it. I'm also happy that the X12 includes a bass boost knob. :3 TLDR summary: Bought a new Z6A for $80.00 in August 2012. It broke. Got replacement Z6A for free in December 2012. It broke. Got replacement X12 and DSS2 for free in July 2013. Brand new, and functioning fine. Still a happy customer. I miss the Z6A though. -Skylark As some of my readers may know, I'm a "Time Lord" on a Minecraft server which my good buddy Cad'ika Orade owns and operates. At my current position, I am effectively "second in command" of the server, and I am one of three Time Lords; Myself, Cad'ika, and Conrad. This server is called Nova Mund, and it is not yet ready to accept the public. Why, may you ask, can the server not accept the public? The answer to this is simple: It's tiny! If we wanted to open to the public, the server would bend under the strain. It would not be able to handle a onslaught of new members. We would first need to prepare it for a variety of scenarios, as well as finish constructing the public buildings and systems, the rules, and get the plugins on there that we want. On top of all this, we would need more money to pay to our server host so that we may improve the loads which the server can handle. Enough about all that. I didn't want to make this post all about what the server is and isn't exactly, I wanted to tell you about something that I'm doing on it right now. This something, as you may have guessed from this entry's title, is the Nova Mundi PRS, or Public Rail System. This is a project which has grown from the mechanations of the originally "survival" created rail tunnel connecting the cities of Novaheim and Torch Run. I started out with the plan to make interchangeable 16-meter long segments, and Cadika helped me design the original model. As this tunnel was being created, I continually devised ways of making its segments more and more universal. I kept desiring to make this tunnel part of a larger network. Initially, this tunnel was only supposed to be a two-way exclusive network between these two cities. It was never quite finished, though, because as I was touching up the final portions of the rail station stops, I completely outgrew the idea and waned my plans for a much larger scale. I went to my workshop area and began construction of a rail junction model in creative mode. Initially, I had hoped for the junctions to be less of a gigantic building, as they are simply four-way intersections. I had recruited both Jacen's and Cadika's help in redstone tricks to make them as small as possible. However, none of the implemented methods allowed someone to jump on the rails and ride freely without first understanding a number of concepts, such as holding certain items to go certain directions, and all of them required the use of a plugin. How it works One of my biggest concerns for the rail network would be that of user-friendliness. I don't want complex rules or systems that people don't understand. I want someone to be able to hop on and go! I don't want them to miss a turn just because they opened their inventory for a moment or two, either. Rather, I'd like to have systems where someone can pull up, read a sign, hit a lever, and be on their way. This is how my systems function. When one enters a junction, they are stopped initially. This allows for time to read a sign about the junction they are entering . When the user is ready, they may press a button to continue on into the junction. They are then cycled through a series of up to four pauses on the interior of the junction. At each of these they are given the option to continue to the next pause, or to turn off and travel the rails. It's styled after a roundabout in a way. Each junction gets an alphanumeric name from its location on a pre-defined grid. Cadika gave me the information needed to do this. The junction under Novaheim is at the heart of the network and is called Junction M0. The way this grid works is such: going North increases numerical value by one, going East brings you to the next letter of the alphabet, going South decreases numerical value by one, and going West brings you to the previous letter of the alphabet. It's just a four-way grid, as you may see in the below map of the server. Maps With buildings this big, you know the project's gotta be on a large scale. And large-scale it is! I took a few minutes of my time to take a snapshot of the Nova Mundi server's DYNmap and paint over it to show where I plan to put rail lines and junctions. I must admit, we don't have a whole lot of freedom, considering the universe is made of square blocks. I still have a lot of work to do, even on just this map. For starters, lots of new areas have been explored in the short time since I captured the image, so I need to recapture the map as a new image. I also need to make it user-friendly by labeling cities and areas. The idea here is that users will be able to reference this while they're riding the rails to see where they're heading. Alternately, users may reference the Nova Mundi DYNmap for a live and interactive map of server places and activities. T-intersections I've also been doing work on more compact three-way junctions. I call them T-intersections. With some complex redstone wiring hidden underneath, I now see that perhaps a four-way intersection would be possible in a form somewhat similar to this, but we have an existing junction design which works, provides all of our needs, and which has already formed the cornerstone of the existing network. We have no need to redesign into a more complex and easily broken system such with these possibly smaller 4-way intersections. More to the point, we would need to redesign the footpaths. However, for a T-intersection, this is ideal. It's small, can be added in as a regular 16-meter long chunk of the track, does not impede footpaths, and follows the same principles as our junctions do for user-friendliness. I know that the jumble of tracks in the center looks confusing, but users don't need to comprehend how to get across. As stated, they simply pull up, read which lever sends them off, and go! So as you can see, a lot of work has gone into designing this system. I really do hope it gets the love it so deserves.
See you on the rails, -Skylark According to the guys at the Weebly support desk, I have a CSS problem. Those of you who've tried to comment know this well, as seen in the pictures below: Apparently the text above the comment boxes is white, as is the background, so you can't see the text (Unless you highlight, of course.) I don't yet know how to fix this, but I am investigating the issue.
I believe what this will come down to is myself having to search through the heaps of CSS Weebly provided in their template of my blog. Argh. -Skylark My mysterious field trip, mentioned in my last post, was actually up to Amish country! I went to a Sights and Sound theater to watch a live storytelling of Noah, saw some lame fireworks, and went to an outdoor mall. But the best part of it all was the dorm. We were initially going to stay at some lady's house, but we had collected too many people, and we wound up staying at Lancaster Bible College's dorms. That was exciting! Over the course of the day, I would have no goals or objectives, aside from meeting up for some activity with the group; meaning I could just stretch out and relax whenever I good and felt like it! The way the dorms were set up, we had a wide array of seating options, and I could sit-in pretty much anywhere! It was awesome! My family recently obtained a refurbished Nikon camera, so I took this opportunity to melt the camera lens with exposure. While I was on the bus, I took photos of plenty of cornfields, much like the following: Overall, it was an uneventful and boring trip. However, the dorms were what got me hooked. I absolutely loved the atmosphere at the bible college.
And that's that. I'm home now, and back to my usual overwhelmed self. -Skylark First, I just wanna say, I'm going out-of state in the near future. I'm not saying when, but I will post about it once I'm back. Second, some of my watchers have messaged me saying "What gives, why no posts lately?" The answer is simple, I'm working on one really big post. Though, this is no true excuse. As Jacen pointed out, I should continue to make small posts and keep you guys up-to-date... I mean, even with the big post, my life keeps going. So here's a quick trip into my past week for something interesting. [6/27/2013 3:36:49 PM] Hello: So on Thursday, the 27th, this character called "Hello" messages me on Skype, asking for some free graphic design work. Really, I don't mind doing this sort of thing for folks, but I still have to put limits on the amount of work I'll do for a free graphic. I really felt bad when Hello asked if I could do an animation and I had to put a price tag on it. At any rate, Hello first had asked me to help design an entire site; coding, graphics, and the whole getup. Of course I declined due to the largeness of the project, my complete lack of true coding skills, and my time-sucky-uppy projects which I've already got going on. In the end, though, we correlated and I agreed to do some free work for Hello's site. Specifically, I did this: Most of this graphic, I've done in one quick sitting. The "PVP - Survival" text, however, has taken the longest, as Hello had added it in last-minute and asked for revisions when I wasn't capable of working on the file. Of course, it only got stretched out longer due to each of us being offline when the other was available...
In fact, this is the latest version of the graphic, but Hello still hasn't confirmed it as being complete because, as I was working on it, Hello popped offline again. -_- As things go, I'll advertise too. I'm Skylark-Torch, and I'll do custom graphics. If you want serious work done, be willing to pay out of your shilling. Even if you want simple free stuff, be available to chat and give highly descriptive outlines of what you want. You can get in contact with me by emailing me at [email protected] -Skylark |
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