Evergreen Lee's Blog

Just so you know, this is the kind of obstacles I have to deal with each day:

She’s on top of my papers, right next to the laptop. When I tried to get the papers, she grabbed my hand.

typed – 2527/22345
nanowrimo avg words needed – 1667/13333 – MET
personal goal – 2500/20000 – MET – 40% yay! 🙂

Yesterday was REALLY hard. I had stayed up until 6am the night before, reading a book, then had to do a bunch of other stuff, like take the cat to the vet (just regular shots). I absolutely did not feel like writing, partly because I was so tired, and partly because I was just in a bad mood (no doubt influenced by being tired). Someone had put in an order on Etsy, so I wasted a lot of time going through my tie-dye stuff trying to find what they ordered, re-organizing along the way. Only when I was done did I realize they had not paid for it yet (and still haven’t). I put off writing until around 11:30pm, finished around 2:30, I think. That seems pretty fast actually, but it FELT like a major struggle at the time. By the way, I should note that I don’t count a day as ending until I go to bed, so that’s why the wordcount goes under day 8 instead of day 9; it would get really confusing otherwise since I do a lot of my work late at night, crossing over the line mid-paragraph. I will still count Nanowrimo as ending at midnight though; no cheating for my eccentricities. I was really grateful to Gary last night, since him bugging me is the main reason why I finally did go write; he’s also started reading the story, which makes me happy. I’m hoping to go over the goal tonight just enough to hit the 50% mark; that would feel pretty awesome 🙂

typed – 2527/19818
nanowrimo avg words needed – 1667/11667 – MET
personal goal – 2500/17500 – MET

I’ve always been a big supporter of Rock Band and Harmonix. The one time I made it to PAX, I spent almost all of my time waiting in line to play Rock Band over and over again (the other main place I went was the SingStar booth, if you were wondering). After having gone through several iterations of karaoke games (which I loved) and guitar games (which Gary loved), Rock Band seemed like the perfect solution to let both of us (and several friends) play a game we could all enjoy at the same time. I’ve lived with the fact that they are never going to have very many of my favorite songs (since I prefer songs that sound pretty as opposed to those that are just loud and/or have fancy instrumental sections); most of my favorite artists don’t even have a ‘band.’ I have gotten a ton of people hooked on it; I even have a wiki to keep track of which songs each of my friends has bought (so we can try to buy the same ones). To say I’m a ‘loyal fan,’ would be putting it mildly.

However, over the weekend an issue has come up which is making me both mad and disappointed in them. Let me try to summarize the details: Rock Band 3 added keyboards and harmonies, something I was initially very excited about. Apparently, in order to update previously released rock band songs to include these features, they have to reprogram the songs entirely. Any song that has these features is a “RB3 song” and will not be able to be played in RB1, RB2, or Lego. Another thing that RB3 added was the ability to do “pro” instruments; RB3 songs, not counting those on the game disc itself, do not have the pro abilities by default. Everyone wants the old songs to be updated so we can play them with the new features; we expected this to cost *something.* On Friday, they made an announcement (in an attempt to clear up a previous announcement) that seems to indicate this:

– RB3 songs, whether new or old, will cost $2
– If you want RB3 song features for a song you already own, you have to repurchase the song, for $2
– If you want pro features for either a RB3 song or a non-RB3 song (if you already own it and don’t get the upgrade), it will cost $1

This means that for every song I already own, I would end up paying a total of $4 for RB3 features, $5 if I also want pro. I currently own 173 DLC songs (I get to see the number every time I turn the game on); this does not include the songs that were imported from RB1, RB2, LegoRB, or GDRB (although I probably would not care about upgrading all of those). Songs I do not already own would only cost me $2 or $3 (pro). By the way, for anyone who was considering buying songs, this is pretty much a huge red flag that says “DON’T BUY ANY SONGS.” At least, not unless they are already updated to RB3 mode. An additional problem is that for any songs which are re-purchased, you will end up with two copies of that song in your RB library (and two copies taking up space on your drive).

I wrote a couple of posts on the forums about this, but as the thread is currently over 70 pages long, I somehow doubt anyone from Harmonix will ever see them. I don’t know why I bother; I think its the same reason why I continued to offer advice for AOL products long after it was clear that no one was actually interested in making things better. Here is the main one though, re-posted for your possible enjoyment:

I think the main problem comes to down to this: If they are offering the song to new people for $2, then that is how much they consider the track to be worth; taking into account whatever they have to do to upgrade, and any other licensing costs or negotiations. The old songs are worth $2; the new songs are worth $2; so why do I have to pay $4 for the full version, when they’ve already indicated it is only worth $2? Replacing the old songs with the updated versions in the store, and allowing people to re-download them is the most logical option, hands down, especially since it also eliminates the problem of duplicate songs in the library. We know they can do this; it is within the realm of abilities they have already shown us. So why aren’t they?

One of the reasons people have been willing to spend so much money on DLC in the first place is that they have always had the expectation that once bought, the songs will carry forward in each Rock Band iteration; that the games will get gradually better, and the songs will go forward as well. Not very many people are going to spend $100s on DLC that will only be usable in one game, which will be outdated within a year or two. Forcing people to pay for their songs over again *and* the duplicate library issue it will cause sends a very dangerous precedent. No longer will we be able to assume that the songs we pay for today will still be valid tomorrow.

typed – 2506/17291
nanowrimo avg words needed – 1667/10000 – MET
personal goal – 2500/15000

I didn’t start until 10:30 last night, so I only barely met the goal, but at least I got it done. Tonight will probably be similar, though I should be starting a little sooner (as soon as I finish this).

I had to plug in my electric blanket last night; it was that or turn on the heater. It’s still a lot warmer down here than it is in VA, I’m sure, but I am not very good at producing body heat on my own and get cold really easily (Gary is the opposite). In the morning I did not want to leave the bed, because it meant getting out of my warm cocoon. Possibly due to the colder temperatures, I found myself writing a scene last night involving cold and snow 😉

typed – 2889/14785
written (not typed yet) – 0
nanowrimo avg words needed – 1667/8333 – MET
personal goal – 2500/12500 – MET

One thing I’ve noticed, probably due to my procrastinating heart, is that I seem to take about however long I give myself to do it. For example, Thursday I only had maybe 3 hours, and got it done, then yesterday I had 6 hours, and still just barely wrote the same daily word goal amount. I’m not sure how the weekend will go, since Gary wants me to spend most of my time with him. I’m ahead enough that I could do nothing for two days and probably get away with it, but I don’t think I want to set that precedent.

typed – 2582/11896
written (not typed yet) – 0
nanowrimo avg words needed – 1667/6667 – MET
personal goal – 2500/10000 – MET ~ that’s 20% completed! 🙂

I actually spent most of the day yesterday unpacking the trailer; I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t be able to get the writing done, but I also felt the need to get other stuff accomplished. Turns out its a good thing I did, because the trailer apparently has a small leak and (since its been raining a lot) was on the verge of ruining some of our books. I got them out in the nick of time; only two seemed a little damp. Because of that, I ended up unpacking everything, instead of just some. Now the only things that are left are two treadmills and a REALLY large cat tree (made by our good friend Jim). Then I had to unpack a lot of the boxes, either because they were wet or because I didn’t want the cats sitting on things marked “fragile.” I have now unpacked *every* fragile box, and the only casualties were two wine glasses (they were in a box marked “very fragile” that was put underneath about ten other heavy boxes at one point – don’t ask), and they are no great loss. I also broke one D & B shot glass while unpacking, mostly because I was being careless. I have quite a lot of very breakable figurines, so I consider it impressive that they all made it through OK. Since I’m thinking about it, here’s some unsolicited advice on packing:

When packing fragile things, use clothes you won’t need right away, extra towels, and those plastic shopping bags that you always forget to put in the recycling bins at the store, rather than paying for bubble wrap, styrofoam, or special wrapping paper. Newspaper can also work, but adds more weight than bags or clothes (which you would have had to pack anyways). For the really fragile, extra special stuff, I packed each one into a small box and then packed those into hard plastic boxes (better than cardboard because they won’t bend in under pressure). Plastic or Rubbermaid boxes are also particularly good if you have an open-bed truck you will be using, since they are waterproof.

The boxes they say are for books are too big for books, unless you’re hiring someone to move them and don’t care if their back gets broken. Try to find smaller boxes if you can (I used a lot of priority mail boxes); the filing boxes that have handles work pretty well also, usually found anywhere that has office supplies, including sam’s. If you can’t, try packing the top half of the box with something lighter, like dvd’s. Most of the “special” boxes moving companies sell are a rip-off, particularly things like garment boxes, unless you have both money and space to burn. One thing that *is* probably worth getting is a mattress cover, if you are moving a bed (keeps it clean). If you don’t have enough friends with spare boxes, you can go to grocery stores or other places and ask them for their empty boxes (grocery stores go through inventory the fastest, so are most likely to have them at any time). Use your older blankets and sheets for wrapping around things like furniture and mirrors. Keep a pile of “soft” stuff (such as clothes or stuffed animals, in plastic bags) out until the last minute, for filling in holes around things, to prevent shifting while traveling.

Pack things in priority order (pack the stuff you need least first) and when you get to the things you can’t go a day, a week, or a month without, label them as such; I used a * for things I wanted right away, followed by 1-4 for things which I would probably want to find quickly, but wouldn’t need immediately. This saves you from having to unpack everything to find that one thing you need later. Don’t limit this to only things you need, but include those you might *want,* like your favorite books, movies, CDs, or games. When packing the moving vehicle, put the priority items in near the front (assuming that the entire vehicle will be getting unpacked at once), so they won’t get buried when unpacking the vehicle. You can get away without prioritizing if its a one-shot move, but if you have to put things in storage and/or move piecemeal (like we did), it will really save your sanity if you can easily tell what boxes are important. Also, It takes most people several months to fully unpack.

There is such a thing as too much help; too many people moving too quickly might not put things where you want (causing you to expend a lot of extra effort later) or might not pay as much attention to your labels (such as “very fragile”). We learned this one the hard way; fortunately it worked out OK, and I did really appreciate that so many people were trying to be helpful, but I think it would have been better with fewer people at that time. I’m a bit OCD about organization, so having things getting moved around too fast was particularly problematic for me.

When unpacking, don’t forget to recycle the cardboard (unless you have room to store it for the next person)!

typed – 2651/9314
written (not typed yet) – 0
nanowrimo avg words needed – 1667/5000 – MET
personal goal – 2500/7500 – MET

typed – 2556/6663
written (not typed yet) – 1.5 pages
nanowrimo avg words needed – 1667/3334 – MET
personal goal – 2500/5000 – MET

typed – 4107
written (not typed yet) – 2.5 pages (~875)
nanowrimo avg words needed – 1667 – MET
personal goal – 2500 – MET

I decided yesterday that it made the most sense to do all the posts for the previous days, especially since I do a lot of my work late at night. I have an odd habit where I like to write everything out with pen and paper before I type it in; this may make things difficult at some point, but I’m going to stick with it as much as I can. Based on yesterday, a written page should equal around 400 words, although it can be a lot less if there is a lot of dialogue; I’m going to use 350 as my internal counter for now. My personal goal is based on 20 days instead of 30, partly because I know that starting on the 19th there is going to be a lot interruptions for family and things.

In other news, Gary told me I’m a bad influence because we got another family addicted to Rock Band when they visited us on Sunday. Also, we were successful in vacating the storage unit, although we haven’t started bringing anything off of the trailer yet. We weren’t home saturday night; sunday night there were zero trick-or-treaters; I now have an a large excess of candy…

Our copy of Rock Band 3 arrived in the mail yesterday, hence I spent a lot of time yesterday patching, exporting, looking at available songs, and playing (I’m a singer usually). The last time we played rock band was probably in late 2009; by December we had switched to crappy satellite Internet to save $ and shortly after that was the layoffs and the decision to move. For most of 2010 therefore, the components have been in a box, and our good drum kit still is. Gary tried the keytar some and seemed to like it; the main problem I have with it is that you can only play the new RB3 songs if anyone is using it. I found out that a bunch more of Jonathon Coulton’s songs had been put in the store (through RBN) and I wanted to play those, so Gary switched to drums, but he needs a different chair or exercise ball to play very long without his back hurting. Anyways, it was a lot of fun! One of the greatest things was that the leader boards are all new again, so if you do a song well on expert, you have a pretty good chance of ending up in the top 10 (whereas previously, even if you were flawless, you could still be pretty far down on the list). I even got the #1 spot on a couple of songs (mostly Coulton ones); very exciting, even if it won’t last long!

We had everything off the trailer by Tuesday night, and I unpacked a TON of boxes, so we should be set to get our last load this weekend. Most of what is left that is unpacked are books – not only do we have more of them than anything else, but they will be one of the most difficult to place and organize due to weight, quantity, and varying heights. Theoretically, we should have enough bookshelves for all of them, since they fit in VA, but several of the bookcases are currently holding other things or are in the room that we know still needs work done to it (and would therefore have to move again at some point).

Btw, “The girl with the dragon tattoo” – I have no idea why everyone raves so much about this. We watched the movie the other night and I had to watch The Last Unicorn afterward before I could try to go to sleep. It’s not that it’s a “bad” movie, although I don’t think it’s great either, but it shows a lot of graphic violence/rape done to women in unnecessarily vivid detail. That is something I can totally do without, along with violence towards animals. Also, most of the “mystery” was stuff we figured out fairly early on, and the only “smart” thing that this supposedly brilliant female character manages to do is something that I figured out pretty much as soon as I saw the numbers. Maybe I just watch/read too many mysteries, I don’t know, but it seemed pretty obvious. Why is it that for a lot of “acclaimed” movies, the only thing that really sets them apart from other movies is depictions of graphic violence/rape? Is there a fascination with human misery? Is it supposed to be “brave” or something if movie producers decide to include such scenes? Also, in this particular movie, although the women manage to “escape” for themselves, they do little to prevent other women from facing the same treatment. The main villain keeps on raping/killing for FORTY years; what kind of justice is that?