Halo vs. COD

Alright, a whole lot of people seem to be going on about the topic of "Which is better, Halo or COD?" Frankly, this debate is highly unsubstantial, seeing as how fanboys(and girls, but mostly guys) seem to be deathly loyal to their selected game. As a result of this loyalty I imagine that these people would play the other game with little interest and an atmosphere of total rejection. However, I believe that there is a lot more towards this squabble than the contemporary "X game sucks, Y is so much better", where X is the opposing game and Y is the subject of fan-dom.

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First let's take a look at the mechanics. The Halo games puts the players in the shoes of a Spartan(or Elite or ODST, depending on the game), a larger-than-life supersoldier capable of meting out pain to all who stand in his way. Call of Duty, however, leaves the players in the middle of a more realistic war as a soldier. Immediately, there is a difference in how the game mechanics work. Halo's players have shields that must be depleted before damage to the body can be made. Especially in multiplayer, this aspect makes it necessary for opponents to chuck a few extra shots in order to bring down the shields. COD, on the other hand, has more true-to-life gameplay where even two or three shots can kill a player.

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Now let's move on to customization ability. Both games offer some form of player customization. In Halo, this comes in two flavors. First, players can unlock different armor permutations through the campaign and use them in multiplayer. In addition they can set identification codes to their gamertag, simplifying communications during play. Second, different custom game modes and maps can be created. This provides virtually unlimited possibilities in regard to custom games that players can have.

COD provides its players with less custom game oriented features, but more standard gameplay customizations. Similar to Halo's ID code, clan tags can be attached to a player's name and can ease identification of groups of players in-game. COD also allows players to customize which weapon and equipment sets(dubbed classes) that they can take into battle. This ultimately gives the players unlimited choices on how they play the game.

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These are all the aspects I want to emphasize as of this moment. The sheer length of this post shows the different similarities and differences that the two games have. However, it is totally up to the players themselves which game they can place their favor upon. I myself have been a fan of Halo games from Halo 3 onwards. That, however, does not mean that I hate Call of Duty. In fact, I enjoy playing it with my friends here and there. I just feel that Halo 3's custom game capabilities(forge to be more specific) are aspects that degrade CoD's overall appeal.

In this post...

...I shall acknowledge my nerdiness =P
If the previous posts have not made it blatantly clear, I am in fact(at least I think I am) somewhat of a nerd. Now, I don't mean this in the typical way that nerds are depicted in the traditional sense. I mean that I've got a whole lot of interests that most "average" people(at least from my experience) don't have the drive to pursue.

For example, I enjoy yo-yo play. Not to say that playing yo-yo's isn't a typical hobby for an average teen(which really it isn't), but I guess you can say that I take it rather seriously. What I mean is that while a typical teen might pick up a yo-yo and do a few tricks with it(AKA rock the baby, around the world, etc.), I prefer to take my game to the next level by learning new tricks and never being satisfied by my current level of play.
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I honestly don't understand why I am alone in my interests at school. I've never met anyone who displays the same interest in my interests, save for a select group of friends, and even they don't demonstrate a lasting interest. Perhaps it's because these things that I do seem childish at best(especially Lego bricks, which I unfortunately have had little occasion to use).

I also wonder why I enjoy writing blog posts when I am positive nobody reads them(if there IS someone, please kindly comment). I guess it's just a great way to express my thoughts without the hassle of paper and pen. I gave up writing in my journal long ago. Even if I did revert back to that old custom, I would certainly not be able to write as much due to overall lack of interest.

Spring Break!

Awesome! I get to stay home and do absolutely nothing for 9 days! Repeat: 9 days!

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Spring break isn't actually THAT big of a deal. I mean, it's just a week that us students aren't allowed to go to school because of religious obligations. Really, without religious holidays, there would be at least a month more of school in the school year. Then again, they might just add that extra month into summer...

Soooo..... What does Spring break mean to me? Nothing really, save for the extra time I have to do whatever I want. Of course, this year I have more time than I expected; I basically only have reading for ELA in terms of homework. I guess that means that I'll have to find something else to cram for.

Anyway, I have not posted anything for over a month now. It's not that I don't post because I'm pretty sure that nobody ever reads my blog. It's more because I had a whole lot of school work to do the past few weeks. Also, I've gotten back into yo-yo'ing full time, which meant that large chunks of my free time was spent practicing moves, inventing new ones, and of course removing knots from the axle...

On the subject of yo-yo's, I recently bought one of my friends a Kickside CP. You see, normally I would let my friend purchase his own gear. But since I received a generous reward for Pi Day(which I extremely wanted to write about, but didn't get around to), I decided to give an aspiring yo-yoer a yo-yo good enough until he grasps the basics. When that time comes, I'll leave him to choosing which yo-yo he wants. After that, maybe we can put on entire shows for the cafeteria.

Snow days...

Today is the day that marks the day that was not yesterday but the day two weeks ago on Thursday. If you followed that, you would know that the day I was referring to was Thursday the week before Winter Break. If you were paying attention to the title, and you also happen to be living in or around the same area I am, then you'd know that that Thursday(and Wednesday) were also snow days. So, what does that mean?

First off, I have a three-day weekend(whoopee). However, that three-day weekend couldn't have possibly occurred at a worse time. You see, and if you are in the same class as I am you'd know, this snow day will also postpone our Science Midterm. Already that test has been postponed for maybe one or two weeks due to the snow days prior to the Winter Break. I know what you're probably thinking: "Isn't that a good thing?" Well, I'd imagine all the parties my classmates are having right now due to the snow. Myself? I shouted in despair when I woke up and my mom told me that school's canceled. I know, I know; you probably think I'm nuts because I actually want school to be open. But I do have a good reason: next week we were supposed to start a new Science project. Along with the assignment, we were supposed to receive an older project that we submitted at the start of the year. I was anxious to find out how I fared with it, but this snow day will likely push that back till Wednesday or Friday while we take our Midterm on Monday or Wednesday. Not so much of a "whoopee" now, huh?

And another thing, today is Friday. That means that today I was supposed to have music lessons. During today's session my group was to take a singing test. Thanks to the snow day, I'm gonna have to sacrifice one of my free periods next week just to make up that lesson day.

So yeah, that's my rant on today's snow day. Hopefully this would be the last snow that we'll get for winter. I'm getting tired of shoveling out my mom's car in the morning so that she could get to work.

Like, like yeah...

What's up with the word "like"? It's as if everywhere I go I hear at least one person saying "like" after every few words. What does it really mean when you say "like" the same way you would use an interjection?

Well, I did a bit of research(Wikipedia) and found this bit of info:
"These uses of like are commonly associated with Valley girls in pop culture. . ."

Hm... Valley girl? Interesting...

Alright, enough of the history mumbo-jumbo. The main reason I brought this up is that I've already had two teachers call out people who use "like" after every few words. Of course, this frustrated quite a few people; similar to how some teachers ask, "I don't know, can you?" when a student asks, "Can I go to the bathroom?" Seriously though, how on earth does "like" help anyone get his/her point across? Speaking with the clutter of "like" is much easier to understand. Just look at this entire post. Did I use the word "like" as I described above? Nope, not at all.

Don't take this the wrong way. I have nothing against people sprinkling "like" all over their sentences. It's just irritating to hear someone say it over and over again when he/she pauses to think about something.

"So, Albert Einstein was like... like... like... like sitting on a bench when he, like, came up with like the Theory of Relativity."
*facepalm*

Lego Mania

So, a few days ago I decided to purchase some Lego bricks. I went to Walmart and headed for the Lego section and searched for a suitable set to start with. I specifically was looking for one of those buckets that included a base plate, a minifig, and some bricks. Walmart was out of the large blue ones and only had pink, girly versions. Naturally I kept my distance from those and instead looked for a decent alternative. I came across a Builders of Tomorrow box and, after seeing no better set that I can start with, bought and brought it home.

When I got home, I found my other Starwars Lego sets(had them for a year now) and started building. Of course, I couldn't build what I wanted to without the base plate that I so wanted to purchase because Walmart had none. That night I went online and searched Ebay and the Lego website for a base plate and other pieces. Seeing no inexpensive ones to buy, I turned to the Toys r Us website. I checked the availability of what I wanted at their nearest outlet and found that they were in stock. A few days later, I convinced my mom to take me to the Toys r Us. There I picked it up, paid at the cashier(using a 1-year old gift card), and got back home. That night I started stop motion animating.

Here's the fruit of that labor:


You might be asking, "why are you telling me all this?" Well, first I think it's an interesting story(kinda). Second...well...there is no second. Still, it's a good way to bring up the reason for this post. I've gotten into stop motion animating recently(as you could probably tell from the video). So, like everything else I've gotten into(yo-yo's, rubik's cube, etc.) I'll be spending quite a bit of my spare time animating and playing around with my little bricks. I've already made a few models on the Lego Digital Designer that I downloaded from the Lego site. I don't know about everyone else at my age, but playing with little bricks helps bring out the best of a person's imagination. That said, I think I've gotten quite a bit of inspiration from my bricks that I can implement into the little story that I've started to write... but that's for another day's post. =)

Openings, Pleasantries, etc...

So... I guess this is the first day of my brand-new blog. How to start?

Well, I guess I can tell you about myself. My name's John, and I'm a limited protean. No, I can't act. No, I can't shape-shift. No, I'm not some sort of amoeba. And no, I'm not related to Proteus in any way, shape, or form. If you've been following what I've been saying, you'd know that I've been looking at Dictionary.com's definition of a "protean". And you should look it up too.

Hooray, you learned a new vocabulary word! Make sure you use it well, okay? =)

Anyway, back to what I was saying, "limited protean" basically sums me up. I'm versatile(I think): capable of adapting to whatever activity that I find interesting. I'm not gonna bother listing examples right here. Who'd wanna read when you could just see? Just check out my YouTube channel.

I'll let you imagine what the "limited" part of the name means. It's pretty much what you think it means. If you think that I chose that word to create an oxymoron, then there you go, that's what it means. If you think that I have a much bigger reason for the choice, then feel free to make up theories(just not anything against me, k?).

So, yeah. I hope you enjoy the (hopefully)thousands of entries that I'll be creating over the course of the year, two years, five years, etc...