Digital Dave

So, I took an extended break away from the blog and away from, almost, everything else.  I decided to spend some time playing games while I have that luxury during school breaks.  During the semester, I rarely play anything.  This was a good time to relax and fiddle around.

One game that I played, and that I highly recommend is called ‘Peggle.’   It is a really simple game.  Pretty darn good design.  It will have you laughing for the first couple of boards.  The presentation had me rolling.  I showed it to Megan, and she was laughing pretty hard, too.  The game actually reminded me of Plinko from the Price is Right, which is still my favorite game on that show.  The objective of Peggle is to fire your ball into a maze of blue, red, pink, and green pegs.  Once all of the red pegs have been hit, then that level is complete.  Also, any peg that you hit is removed after each turn.  There are really interesting power ups for each stage that adds some flare to the game.  My favorite is the dragon ball. >;oD

But, yeah… Go try the trial.

So, my schedule for this semester is finalized.  I have the hardest time coming up with a legit schedule.  I hate taking simplistic classes for an easy A, and I don’t like classes that will not benefit me in any way. I attend classes with an open mind, and I am willing to learn about anything, which I couldn’t say while I was growing up.  I took education for granted growing up in a family where graduating high school was a rarity in itself.  I’ll write more about this later.

• General Psychology
• Intro to Operation Management
• Enterprise Information Systems (Database Class. PHP, MySQL, MS Access, Web Design)
• Interactive Computer Graphics (OpenGL)
• IS Project

Snowball Fight has been thrown to the side.  I had fun, and the project was something decent to introduce me to network coding, but I just don’t have the time (or desire at this time) to direct toward it.  The game is nearly playable 1 vs. 1.  My hopes is to get that working, and call it good.  I have a semester game project starting, and that will get my full attention…….

If I could decide what, exactly, I want to do. ;|

I must have thought about 50 different things through the break TRYING to come up with a semester project that is A) Not out of reach, and B) Something fun.  I keep running around in circles, thinking that I should just ‘clone’ something that is out there.  Or remix it somehow.  I have one unique idea that would be feasible, but it needs a lot more thought put into it.

I’ve thought about doing a 3D Bomberman that would get me introduced to the world of 3D.  In addition, I also thought about doing a 2D clone type game of Harvest Moon (a favorite of mine).  I also thought about taking a board game, and developing a computer game based off of it –  Khet, Ticket to Ride.  The interesting aspect of porting a board game is that I could code a networked portion of the game.  That is purely for fun.  These games would definitely be better implemented online and distributed through something like Facebook.  That is, if you could avoid getting sued (see: scrabulous)…  I also thought about doing a casual game, like Bejeweled.

GDC is a little more than 4 weeks away! Woofa, time is flying. O_O! *bites nails*

I did find somebody to stay with.  So that should help a lot on the finance side of things.

I’ve selected the business card that I will be distributing, and it’s off to the printing presses now.  I’m getting 250 cards, which will be way more than enough, but I don’t need to risk NOT having any since I’ll be there the entire week. Thanks Darius, and all the other individuals whom gave me feedback on my card designs.

How about the Stock Market? Cup of Recession, anyone?

*equips -The Ak’na Plate of Recession- armor* Hope I can heal myself from this one.  Good luck, if you are in the market.  The market is already down 9%, and it’s only been 17 days… ;|

I couldn’t forget to blog about the wedding.  We have our location booked, and our photographer booked.  We have set the date of July 25th, 2009.  Yes… That’s right… 18 months from now.  We have this ball rolling already.  That does mean that I might be moving to California alone while she gets everything ready.  Oh well, at least I’ll be able to give full attention to my new job.

Seven years ago I sat on my couch in my living room at my mothers house.  Across the room, in my moms rocking chair, a girl sat.  Her and several of my friends used to hang out at my house, and, secretly, I thought this girl was very cute.  Though, being a single little computer guy who had never once felt a kiss, I never thought that I would actually get my first girlfriend soon after her eyes caught me secretly looking at her.  To this day, I’m still amazed that she is still with me.  Two completely opposite people, being attracted by pure passion, dedication, and the will to succeed in life — with each other.

That is pretty much how it must be, especially if your new found relationship was about to be incredibly burdened a month later.  I had enlisted in the Marine Corps nearly a year before we met.  She knew that I would be going off into the Marines, and that we would need to keep this relationship alive, even though it was going to take 1200+ miles, a lot of telephone minutes, and very few visits to each other.

While time flied for me, I am willing to bet that it crawled for her, which is just a testament for how dedicated she was to this relationship.

It was a pure rarity for us to not communicate through those 4 years that I was in the Marines.  Every night, for hours, we would talk to each other — even if it was just to listen to each other breathe.  In 2003, it got a bit tougher.  I was deployed to Kuwait, in preparation for the liberation of Iraq.  Communication was extremely limited, naturally.  Once the liberation had succeed, I had also been burdened by  an adventure at sea that crippled our communication.

After the active duty portion of my contract had expired for the Marines, I moved to the reserve side and bolted for Kansas State University to move in with her.

A couple years later…

She graduated last May, and moved back down where we are from to start her career, while I continue to work on my B.S. degree.

On Christmas Eve of 2007, 7 years after we first started dating, It was time.

We went to dinner at P.F. Chang’s for our 7 year anniversary, and we even had our favorite waiter.

After the dinner, we took a stroll back behind the restaurant to a ‘Water Walk’ that lines the lake.  Several trees lit up with bright white Christmas lights, with a background of streaming jets of water flying out of an area within the lake.  I handed her a Christmas present that was a rhinestone covered fortune cookie. Within the fortune cookie, held a plate that had been engraved with the words, ‘Will You?‘ Once she recognized what it stated, I dropped to a knee, watching her break down in tears, hyperventilating, to ask, “Will you marry me?”

She said Yes, and thank God she didn’t pass out, falling into that cold lake.