Work was kind of funny today. I can't remember the last time I ever saw a grown man whine and complain so much. Gary is 38 years old, and he's kind of...well, he is a wimp. Now, it starts getting dark fairly early this time of year, so when we found out at about 6:30 that we had to go outside and load a trailer of bead bags, we knew we'd be working with little or no light. Gary had a major problem with this, "Oh, go out in the dark and someone gets hurt, that's real smart!". Then, when we were out in the trailer, he just never shut up. First, he didn't want to put 25 bags per row, because it was too much work to get the 25th bag up top (15rows in a trailer, 375 bags required). So I told him no we can manage it. But for the next hour, I don't think he went more than one minute without a. complaining about the lack of light b. complaining about something getting in his eyes or c. just complaining or swearing at the problems getting that last bag in each row. To be honest, I was having a really hard time controlling myself. Every time a bag fell off and he went "Oh Shit!" then tried oh so fruitlessly to stuff it back into its place, I had to stifle an urge to burst out laughing. Then I'd go over and do it for him. It was honestly just like working with a little kid.

Well, it's the weekend once again. My week was pretty much standard business. Work, working out, a little sleep, and altogether not enough gaming. The working out is going well though, I'm back at the levels I was before (or past) for most body sections before I hurt the back. I haven't pushed the back though, because the 6 week recovery hasn't run its course yet. But I think it's ready for more mild exercise.

Lately I've taken to re-reading my textbooks from University - first it was Romanticism, and English Literature. Now I've moved onto the various textbooks I have on International Political Economy. I have a small essay in mind that I'd like to write, but for the time being still going through the wealth of information in these books. I'm sure I'll get to it eventually, though. I know my readers love the political topics ;).

Also, I can't believe it's already the end of November. The time continues to fly by at a seemingly unbelievable pace. I have an appointment on December 15th to get my three remaining wisdom teeth yanked (crappy), and then shortly thereafter the family from Winnipeg is heading down to visit (woo!). I haven't been laid off yet, and by the looks of the amount of work on Line 1, I may still be there for a little bit yet. I reckon a layoff right around December 14th would be just about perfect. Time off for Christmas, extended into January for the visit to Cuba. Yes, that would just about do it. :)

Is anyone else having problems accessing my blog? It seems to bring up an error everytime I use the www.ks-world.blogspot.com format, but if I type in http://ks-world.blogspot.com, it works just fine. Been doing this for the last 4 or 5 days now.

I'm working on a more substantial entry, hang tight.

Playing Command & Conquer Generals. Notice Sneak and Boki use the same wireless headset? It was funny cause sometimes they'd get interference and once in awhile hear what was supposed to be going to the other's headset.  

Adam (Mr. Sneaky) raises his hand in salute between races. Anyone notice how huge the fan is on Paul's (Mirage) CPU (Black case with side open)? Damn, no wonder it keeps cool in spite of overclocking.  

Here we are getting ready to play NFSU2. 

LAN Party Goodness


Today was the first (Annual?) LAN Party in my basement, and I must say - it was pretty damn good! The final roster was 6 people, including: (I've decided to refer to everyone via their in-game names) Boki, Scuz, Mr. Sneaky, Mirage, Templar and myself, Khalas.

The crew started arriving at around 11:30, and the next few hours were devoted to setup. Organizing the tables and plugin availability, setting up network and testing, even doing last minute case work. Naturally, with the world being what it is, we don't all share the same games - but over a LAN, that's not a problem. Transferring 750MB iso files isn't a problem when transfer rates average 85mb/s. It was commonplace throughout the day to see us running through each others network folders, stealing files (that would then be mounted into a virtual drive and run), or just installing straight from the other drive. It's all good though, because I have a few new games to play now :D. Far Cry, Need for Speed Underground 2 and StarWars Battlefront to name a few.

The first game was Unreal Tournament 2004 - Deathmatch. I missed the first 2 rounds because it turned out I had a different version (had installed an update about a month ago), so had to uninstall and reinstall to make sure I was compatible, but after joining I managed to make a good showing by outfragging the competition in 2 straight matches :). We followed that up with 4 rounds of Team Onslaught action, the result was a 2-2 draw.

Next up we played NFSU2, I managed to take first in one race, but the majority were unfortunate runner-up efforts. I'm really impressed with that game though; the graphics are way beyond the original, and it seems to have far, far more depth as well.

Two large pizza's later, we took to the RTS world of Command & Conquer Generals. I'd never played it before, and was quite handily spanked. It was a good time though, I'll have to practice more for the next party :).

A transfer back to FPS seemed in order, and SW: Battlefront was the result. That was a lot of fun, another game I'm impressed with. Nothing really different or special in terms of gameplay - the draw is the SW universe, and that's enough for me. If running around as a combat droid kicking ass doesn't bring a smile to your face, then I don't know what will. We all had a good laugh when on one particular map Sneak and I sat in a huge walker outside the tunnel leading out of the droid base - by the end, we each had roughly 30 kills and only 2 or 3 deaths.

To cap the day off, we turned to WarCraft 3. I was more than happy to get in on this one, having logged plenty of practice hours in the last month. It showed - the first 3vs3 map was complete domination by Sneak, Mirage and myself. The second round was a lot more interesting, with everyone having had some practice and time to readjust. Scuz, Boki and myself took the victory though after a long, hard fought game. By the end, it was Sneak and Mirage against me - all of us out of gold, and Sneak with only a portion of an army left (I'd wiped out his base while they fought Boki.) It took quite some time to win that one, and it was pretty damn close to be honest.

About this time - 3am (15+hrs spent almost exclusively in the basement), we declared that the LAN party was a success, and that it was time to pack up. It was almost sad disconnecting the network cables from the router: so simple, yet the root of so much enjoyment. But take heart I say, because I damn well plan on doing this again!

I'll post a couple pictures, but for now here's just a couple memorable verbal moments...

Mirage: "Hey, we have a router already?"
Boki: "Yeah, I brought one and cables."
Mirage: "Ok, well I have an extra and enough cables for 10 people."
Sneak: "I brought an extra router and cables as well."
(Moments later, as Sneak does some work in his case)
Sneak: "Does anyone have any electrical tape?"
Boki: "I do!"
Sneak: "Aaaah, Geeks are always prepared!! and I have enough spare parts in my car to completely rebuild a computer too."

---

Sneak: "Boki bought the same case as you."
Mirage: "That bastard, can't he get his own style!"
Sneak: "Also the same monitor."
Mirage (To Boki): "If you have the same desktop background as me I'm going to kill you."

---

Scuz: "I can't multitask - I can either shoot or think." - Said while attempting to explain away accusations that he performs poorly in team matches of UT2004.

---

Mirage: "I think it's a good thing we're on a cement floor here, it's a lot cooler for the comps."
- Said during a conversation about CPU/GPU temperatures running under load.
Followed by mom entering the basement and exclaiming "Wow, it's never been so warm down here."

Are our lives defined by our passions - Or must they be limited to the periphery?

There's a lot of road work going on around our house right now. As I type, the entire curb in front of my house has been ripped up, and access to my driveway is blocked by a big mother of a dump truck. They start the work every morning at 7am. Lucky for me I'm usually in a deep enough sleep to get through it until 10 or so, when the continuous noise manages to rouse me from my slumber. Oh well, hopefully they'll be done by the end of the week. :/

I have GREAT news!!!!

An agreement has been reached on the construction of a 25,000 seat stadium ($70 million) on the grounds of York University. The stadium will provide a much needed home to the Canadian men's/women's soccer squads, as well as a new home for the Toronto Argonauts.

As a result; FIFA has awarded Canada the hosting rights to the 2007 World Youth Soccer Championship. You can bet I'll be there! This is honestly a great thing for soccer in Canada. I'm absolutely ecstatic.

Read the entire article here.

Sports...

In CFL playoffs today, the BC Lions beat the Roughriders in OT, and I'm pretty annoyed. McCallum should NOT have missed an 18 yard field goal at the end - that's such a disappointment! (Last time I checked, Toronto was beating Montreal 19-10, but oh well, not a fan of either team. I suppose I *should* cheer for the Argo's now? I guess they're better than Montreal or BC at least, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.)

After the pain of that particular loss though, I went and checked the Premier League scores and found that Manchester United had defeated Newcastle 3-1 on the strength of two Rooney strikes and one Van the Man penalty kick. I am pleased. Unfortunately, the teams I wanted to lose this weekend didn't fulfill their part of the bargain, so the Reds weren't able to gain any ground in the league table. I hold out hope though that they'll be able to fight off the slow start and climb back atop the league by seasons end.

In other sports news, the Manitoba Moose have had a pretty good start to their season, at 10-4-0-2, and having gained at least 1 point in eight straight games. Go Moose! Also, the Saskatoon Blades are off to a great start this WHL season. The Kitchener Rangers are also doing pretty decent. I know, it's not NHL, but we gotta take what we can get! Go Moose/Blades/Rangers!

Canada defeated the United States today 2-1 to win the Gold medal in the Four Nations Cup women's hockey tournament. Way to go girls!

I'll be hosting a LAN Party at my house next Saturday - WooHoo! Should be a lot of fun if everything works out. All my friends are invited to drop by with their comps of course ;).

Angry Alien has three(!!) new 30 Second Bunnies Theatre clips posted on the website! Go check them out! If anyone that reads this site hasn't seen the Bunnies yet, then all I have to say is - Shame On You!!

It's Remembrance Day everyone, be sure to wear your poppies and if you see a Veteran, go dish out a hug. I offer all the respect in the world to the men and women who have fought for Canada over the years. Kudos to you.

I was attempting to explain to someone a portion of the philosophy behind my own interpretation of absurdism and how I relate that to my own life. I did a poor job, unfortunately. Because, well, I have a terrible tendency to think of better ways to explain concepts once I've been removed from the situation that calls for the explanation. I don't believe I'm isolated in this, nevertheless it's annoying and frustrating.

So how should I explain my own philosophy on life, without going into such detail as to create an epidemic of boredom among all those who would endeavor to listen?

First, and this may surprise some - I admit that I hold myself to no standard religious doctrine. Or, to be more blunt, I don't believe in God. That's not to say that I don't respect those who do. I fully believe that everyone has the right to believe as they will, and that every individual must discover the beliefs that best suit. If God works for you, then I'm certainly don't have a problem with that. I respect the beliefs of anyone who will respect mine. Besides that, while I'm aware beliefs are important, I'm of the opinion that people separating themselves from each other due to some religious differences is absolutely ridiculous. I would like to think that general thought has progressed beyond such a stage. Now, back to the topic at hand...

Ok, with that established, readers may deduce that I wouldn't believe in an afterlife - that would be correct. I see our life, THIS life as the only one we have. I think one of the problems that *some* people have, is that they may tend to focus more on what comes after, as opposed to the present reality. I feel that kind of thought cheats the person of truly getting the most out of life.

So, the whole of life could be described as a progression through three simple stages: We are born, we live, and then we die. Looked at in the context of the whole of civilization - from the beginning to the current stage, amongst all the people of the earth - it seems so incredibly, even disastrously miniscule and pointless. There is no God, there is no more. What the hell are we, after all, to think we the individual equates to so much? It's absurd! Forays into such philosophy is dangerous, because not only does it offend, but it may also lead to depression. The trick, of course, is to take the absurdness of it - and run.

Think of it more as a liberation, a granting of sudden freedom. Remember that the earliest philosophers realized that they had to admit "I know nothing" before any true and meaningful postulations could occur. If I accept the equation of my life, then I may allow myself to advance to the next stage.

Realization, that life is more precious than it ever seemed before. Every moment, every second is something that we can never get back, because this is it. So why languish in an apathetic existence, never to take advantage of what we have? There is infinitely more to existence. Take advantage of it! There is no excuse for wasting away. Seek those things that are true and good in life. Discover the self-actualization that everyone in this world so craves. I believe self-actualization to be the key to everything; the key to finding and living the best life we can live. It sounds so much like the anthem sung by the "live in the now" rockers and like-minded people, but for crying out loud, it's true. Search for happiness, and even if it's found keep going! There isn't a formula for this, because each person is an individual, and will find actualization through different channels. The important thing is to do it, or die fighting for it, because at least there - we have a purpose.

The final stage is to follow through. Philosophizing about life, talking the big talk of someone who proposes to the world that he/she is enlightened is one thing, but doing it is completely another. For myself, it's like a fight everyday trying to live this life that I so crave. But it drives me forward, and has through the years. I've been to Europe, I've been to Australia, I've stood on Canadian shores and watched the waters of both the Pacific and Atlantic oceans wash upon our beaches. Yet there is so much more to do, to see, and I'm damned well determined to go for it. Because those are the channels that bring me closer to true happiness.


So, I hope that serves as a slightly better explanation than any I've given in the past in regards to some of my personal beliefs on life. I did try to refrain from making it too lengthy. We all know things like this are far, far from simple - and doubtless I've left dozens of arguing points for the true philosophic nitpicker. So feel free to post your own thoughts.

Well I weighed myself at the gym yesterday, and it seems I've lost 4 pounds since I injured my back. All muscle, I've been assured. Needless to say, I'm getting angry.

The trailer for Episode III is out, and it looks pretty sweet. No hunk of burning crap here, I desperately hope! And for something really, really amusing, check this out.

A few thoughts:

2006 Grand Prix GXP with a 5.3L small-block V8 sounds damn sweet to me!

The Powerman 5000 CD Transform kicks bloody ass. (That's Entertainment!)

Backs are crap.

If a horde of aliens invaded the earth, and the world was drawn into a war that raged for decades, and I became perhaps a regional leader in the conflict, I think my alien nemesis would look like a tape gun - one of the ones we use at work.

Tonight was my first night back at the gym since I destroyed my lower back last Tuesday. The doctor said it'll be about six weeks until the back stabilizes, but I can goto the gym so long as I don't push it too hard.

I was only there for about half an hour, working mostly on chest with a bit of arms thrown in for good measure. I halved the weight for each set, but I increased the reps to try and compensate a little bit. By the time I left, the back was throbbing slighting but nothing uncomfortable. The only problem was when I was doing some finishing stretches, and I forgot that I'm not supposed to twist my torso...the result was a moment of, shall we say, discomfort. Nevertheless, I plan on returning to my regular gym schedule - even though it's really frustrating not being able to push the weight that I'd like to. :

In other news, I was watching Resident Evil: Apocalypse on my computer today, and noticed that all those city shots are of Toronto (Keep an eye out at the start - when the truck with the little girl in it gets in an accident, you can see the CN Tower in the background). It was nice seeing the CIBC logo behind the Helicopter before one of the crew dives out to whip some zombie-ass. Sah-weeeet!

I don't really have all that much to input about the American Election right now. All I'm going to say is that I'm honestly not the least bit surprised.

Emperor Vengeance X side view (There's another X on the other side of his face.) 

Emperor Vengeance X front view. 

This is Pinkin... RIP my old friend.  

Well, hope everyone had a good weekend and an enjoyable Halloween! (Or Samhain as some prefer to call it :) ) I carved up a pumpkin today, and I call him Emperor Vengeance X! The face is a little bit more intricate than last years effort - Pinkin, but we loved Pinkin for his simplicity because that's what made him great. I've posted some pics for everyone to admire.