Radiant Comics

Ahhh… pondering the imponderables of life. That’s my game. A past time in which I like to indulge. Today’s imponderable is, “Why do I write better at night than during the day?”. What makes that an imponderable is that I’m a morning person. Always have been. I’ve been working at home the last couple of years and I get up at 7 AM and am working by 8 AM. I get the most done in the morning. That’s when I’m the freshest. That’s when I’m the peppiest. That’s when I’m my most productive.

When I’m working on some piece of artwork I make most of my big creative decisions in the morning.That leaves the day for their execution. When I’m working on an oil painting I always mix my colors in the morning. Works best for me. The light is better and so is my concentration. The morning is when I think straight. So why is it that I write better at night?

Now certainly I don’t write better late at night. And by late at night I mean an hour before or anytime past my bedtime. I’m useless when I’m tired. My mind gets all jumbled up and nothing makes sense. But I’m not speaking of that time. The time I mean is before bedtime when the sun goes down and the world quiets down a bit. Maybe that’s the key. A little quiet.

As I’m working on the computer, easel, or drawing board I don’t like it quiet. I work by myself so I need some noise to keep me company. I usually have on movies, music, TV shows, documentaries, or the Stern show. I don’t actually watch the TV but I do listen to it. That’s why I like shows that are dialogue based rather than action based. I find it easy to concentrate on my work while listening to something. As a matter of fact the noise helps me concentrate because I find silence distracting as my mind will wander into it searching for its edges. Of course there is really not much silence here in this world. Just sounds you have to concentrate a little more to hear. And as I’m drawing in the quite I strain to hear those sounds. Ruins my focus. When I’m writing the complete opposite is true.

I need things a little quieter when I’m writing. TV, music, talking, it’s all a distraction when I’m trying to concentrate on words. I have to shut it all off or shut it all out. Writing with the TV on in a near impossibility. Things are a little quieter around here at night so maybe that’s why it’s easier to write.

Then there’s the fact that I usually work standing up. My drawing table, easel, and even my desktop computer are all at standing height. But I’ve always had trouble writing while standing. It hurts to write standing for some reason. I can’t block out the little aches and pains of the day when writing. I have to sit down. I started writing with a lot more regularity once I got this laptop back in ’04 (time flies). I can sit down with it. Night is my time for sitting so sitting during the daytime and writing is a bit strange to me. The day is my time for standing and working. It’s all so ephemeral. Who knows why these things are as they are?

So there is my pondering the imponderable for the day. I don’t know if I’m any closer to a real answer but what the hell, examining the small things in life is what gets me through. And by the way, I’m writing this in the morning as a change of pace and it sure is hard. I’ll have to look it over when the sun goes down.

I just picked up Call of Duty 2 for the XBox 360. A used copy for only twelve bucks. That’s how I prefer my video games. Cheap. My days of getting the newest games hot off the shelves are over. Video games ceased being worth fifty bucks a pop to me a long time ago. And now they’re sixty bucks a pop. Thirty bucks is my upper limit now. I usually only spend that on spend that on certain new Nintendo DS games that I like a lot and I know are guaranteed to please. Otherwise I have no need to be on the video game cutting edge anymore.

I’ve been playing Call of Duty 3 for a little while now. That one was twenty bucks used. Since playing number three I’ve read that number two is supposed to be better so I’ll give it a go. I’ve been enjoying number three but I’ve reached a point where I’m bored with it. That’s because of the repetition of not being able to get past a certain point.

I have many pet peeves with video games and one of the biggest is “Saving”. That’s when you want to put the game down, do something else, and then come back to pick up where you left off. Some games do that perfectly well. But in others you have to find a “Save point” or reach the end of a level in order to save a game. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t. In Call of Duty 3 it’s become a problem.

First of all I never play video games on the default “Normal” level of difficulty. I usually crank things up a notch to “Hard”. On some games there is a “Really, really hard” setting but I don’t go there. That’s for the hardcore crazy skilled players. I’ve played a lot of video games over the years and “Normal” is just too easy for me.

In Call of Duty 3 you go on “Missions” (the game is a WW2 combat game) and sometimes there are save points in the middle of the missions and sometimes not. Either way I can’t just hit “Save” and come back latter to my exact spot. This leads to a lot of repetitive game play. I had to do a couple of missions over and over. Not just the hard spots but all the things leading up to the hard spots too. Since this only happened once or twice in the game it wasn’t too annoying. But now I’ve had to try and complete this last mission I’m on too many times in a row. Boredom has set in.

It’s longer than the other missions, deadly as hell, and kind of unclear. I understand what to do up to a certain point but then I just die in a hail of German gunfire. And have to start over again and spend five to ten minutes getting back to where I just was. After half an hour of that I’m bored. If I could save my progress up until the point I get killed I could figure things out but that’s not how the game is made. Instead the repetition make me stop playing. “Saving” should never be the challenge of the game. But in plenty of games it is. I was enjoying myself most of the game. Otherwise I wouldn’t have purchased In Call of Duty 2 but Call of Duty 3 is still a disappointment in the end.

One of the things I like about Call of Duty 3 is the fact that there are no “Health packs”. In a lot of video games you have a “Health meter” (it’s a cliché now). As you get hit the meter goes down. When it reaches zero you die. You can refill your meter with “health packs” or some such. This works in some games, like Zelda, but in a lot of these modern “realistic” type games it’s out of place. The game makers create a highly rendered well thought out environment filled with imagination and once again you’re forced to spend half of your time looking for health packs. Never again for me. I prefer games like Halo or Call of Duty 3 where you are either dead or alive. In Call of Duty 3 you could take a few minor hits but one bullet can kill you. No searching for “Health packs” ever. I like that.

We finally got some snow around here this winter. Well, it has snowed a bit but less than the average winter. It’s been pretty cold out but it has warmed up just enough for rain to fall most times when we’ve had precipitation. We got about eight inches of snow which is a pretty good February storm. I’d call one to four inches a small storm, five to eight inches a good size snowfall, and nine to twelve a whole lot of snow. Anything bigger than that and we probably have a blizzard going on.

The supermarkets the night before a predicted snow storm are a sight to behold. Everybody goes shopping and you’d think it was the end of the world. A snow storm rarely lasts more than a day here in downstate NY but by the people shopping for food you’d think everyone was going to be housebound for a month. I try to avoid shopping on those days but I happened to be at the store the night before. I’ve seen it crazier but it was still a bit of a madhouse. There was a guy with his mother in front of me buying a million cans of soda. He was trying to get his mom to hurry along a little because he was parked in a no parking area. I had no idea why he was parked there. I had just come from the lot and there were spots fairly close. His wanting to rush did add to the crazy atmosphere. Maybe he parked there for the ambiance.

Cleaning up after a snow storm is always a chore. My John Deere riding mower has a plow for pushing snow but the walks need to be shoveled. I got out there shoveling in the middle of the storm because I’d rather clear four inches of snow off of the path twice than eight inches once. I probably cleared five inches than three but who knew when the storm would end? Luckily it was light fluffy snow and shoveling was fairly easy. The second time I cleared the walks the snow was starting to get less fluffy so I’m glad I got to it right away.

Starting the John Deere in the winter can be tricky. The cold drains the battery so I have a charger that plugs in to an outlet and charges the thing. Still I find it tricky to start. It usually takes me three tries with ten minutes of charging in between. I’m mechanically inclined, know how to build things, can take things apart and put them back together, am good with gadgets, but I have no feel for starting up engines. I don’t apply enough choke, apply too much, pump one too many times, and I don’t know what else. For some reason that part of machinery escapes me.

When I went to start up the tractor to plow the battery wouldn’t give me more than one crank. That’s unusual. I put the charger on and left it for an hour. Then it again gave me one crank. I put the charger back on for a couple more hours and it again only gave me one crank. Really odd. I put the charger back on and began to test it every ten minutes. It gave me two cranks, then three, and the battery began to hold a charge after another few times. Finally the thing started. Once the battery began to hold a charge I knew it would start but I have no idea why the thing wouldn’t hold a charge to begin with.

The snow was the most perfect snow for plowing I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t as powdery as it was a few hours earlier but it was still light yet held together well. Plowing powdery snow gets messy as it flies everywhere and you can only push so much of it as it doesn’t stick to itself. It spills around the plow blade. Pushing heavy wet snow is also tough. It sticks together but can quickly build up more weight than the plow can push. Wheels start spinning. But this snow was light and held together well. I could clear it in two passes rather than four. Nice.

The plowing was especially good on the top of my driveway. That’s the part where it’s steepest and the snow from the road is heaviest. I’ve gotten stuck up there before in heavy snow less deep than this so it was nice to be able to easily push it aside. All in all the driveway and walks were cleared more quickly with less effort than usual. Not bad I say. I’m still not going out to play in the snow though. I wonder what the Eskimos call that type of snow?

Hey! They closed my go to supermarket! My number one place! That’s progress for you. I live in the suburbs where there are lots of supermarkets but they just closed the one that was closest to me. It was also the one I liked the best. It’s problem was that it was the smallest supermarket around. That didn’t mean it was small but the trend for the last ten years around here has been to build “super” supermarkets. When one “super” is not enough you know we’re headed for trouble. Those double super stores are way too big. Getting in and getting out becomes a chore.

The supermarket that closed was a Stop and Shop and they opened a Super Stop and Shop down the street when they closed my store. Ironically the Super Stop and Shop is in the same location where they closed a Shop Rite a year ago because they built a Super Shop Rite on the other side of town. One store’s regular became another store’s super. Go figure.

I can see why Stop and Shop wanted a super store because the Super Shop Rite does a lot of business. That store is always crowded. Crazy crowded. That’s one of the reasons it wasn’t my favorite. Another reason is it’s sheer size. I’m only shopping for one so I usually pop in for a few items and hit the express line. That’s how I roll. It takes a lot more walking around to find things in those huge super stores than it does in a regular super market. Plus when I go to a second store I have to learn new locations for things. Sure things are generally grouped the same in every store but the specifics of walking around are always different. They always hide the apple sauce. Confusion reigns.

Of course traffic plays a part in going to the store too. The store that just closed was easiest for me to drive to. I head down my street, make a right, and in a couple of miles I’m in the parking lot. Piece of pie. The location of the new Super Stop and Shop is not much further away but to get to it I have to go through a busy intersection. A busy pain in the ass intersection I might add. Some intersections are just a matter of waiting your turn but with some you have to wait your turn twice and watch for idiots. This is a watch for idiots intersection. The road was built two hundred years ago (there is a plaque commemorating that this was the intersection where Washington divided his troops after the battle of New York) and even with all the modern improvements it’s a pain in the ass. Sight lines are bad, one of the roads is a hill, and the other is a busy stretch of 9W. Who wants to deal with that when you’re Jonesing for some clementines?

The Super Shop Rite is a little further away but it’s easier to get to. There is a back way and a front way to choose from. Choice rules. The back way takes a bit more time but if there is traffic the front way it’s well worth it. If it’s anywhere near five o’clock there will be traffic the front way. Last week I attempted to leave the store the front way but had to double back as cars were stacked up at the light ten deep. But at least I could double back. At the 9W intersection there is no choice. You’re stuck or you’re not.

So now the my number two store is my number one store. They don’t get the brand of milk that I like but they make some good cookies in their bakery. Life’s a tradeoff. It’s a bit of a madhouse in there and I used to like the smaller and quieter nature of my old number one store but time marches on. Maybe someone will open a new un-super supermarket where my old number one store used to be. You never know. But that would be progress.

I’ve been sick all week. My head is still spinning. I didn’t even get to go to the comic shop. Good thing I wrote most of this before I went down.

I’m going to continue my story about the worst “out of the box” experience ever for an electronic item that I’ve purchased. My new Sony Playstation Portable (PSP) Star Wars Special Edition hand held game console.

The first problem I noticed upon opening the package was this: no memory stick. When I first put the PSP on my Amazon wish list, back in September, it was a special edition because it came with a game and a one gig memory stick. My friend had purchased the Daxter special edition PSP before Christmas and it indeed came with a one gig memory stick. I went back and checked the Amazon description and a memory stick was no longer mentioned in the rather lengthy write up. Damn! Fooled me. They must have taken the memory stick away after Christmas.

The problem with having no memory stick is that I couldn’t save a game. I could start all the games I wanted to but I could only play as far as I could get in one sitting. That’s not how games are designed these days. Even the original PSP came with a little memory stick for just that purpose. I already dropped $200 bucks on this thing and now I needed to spend more. Annoying.

I checked around some local stores and the cheapest price I could find was at Staples. About $35 for a two gig stick. Fairly pricey. You see the PSP uses a Sony proprietary “Memory Stick” that is more expensive than SD or flash memory. I thought I could do better than that and went home to check the internet. Turns out that Staples had a pretty good price on that stick. But luckily with a little looking around on Ebay I was able to score a four gig card on Ebay for $45 shipping included. Much better but it was a week until I got my stick.

The second problem was that, despite some nice reviews, I really didn’t care for the Star Wars game. I had read, but forgotten, that the PSP didn’t do first person shooters (FPS) very well. This is because modern console video game controllers have two analog joysticks. In FPS games one analog stick controls where you go and the second controls where you aim your gun. The PSP only has one analog stick. In the Star Wars game it controlled where you went but you could only shoot in the middle of the screen. There is no joystick available to aim with. They tried to get around this by using another button as a “lock on target” button but I didn’t find that very satisfying. Couple that with not being able to save the game and it make for a bad video game experience.

The third problem was the software interface and such. The PSP was made to display pictures, video, and surf the web. I’m a Mac guy and have been working on Apple computers for well over a decade. Apple makes nice user friendly software and recently I bought an iPod Touch that is a joy to use. Not so the PSP. The software is a bit clunky and not very intuitive. I had problems getting it onto my wireless network but I worked it out in the end but just try to get video working on this thing.

I’m no novice when it come to video and computers. I have all sorts of programs, codecs, and add ons to make video play on my Mac. I’ve got an El Gato Turbo hardware add on that just makes Mpeg4s. I regularly use four software programs that format and compress video. They all have settings for the PSP and still all the test video I converted didn’t play on the thing. Some did and some didn’t. Why? Who knows?

The PSP is also supposed to display photos. That shouldn’t be too hard, right? I dropped about a hundred jpegs onto it and it displayed about ten of them. The rest were a no go. Turns out that if the photos are too big it won’t display them. It would have been nice if that was documented somewhere in the manual. Even Sony’s website was little help. I finally found the jpeg info I needed on some unofficial PSP site. Bad support and I had to get things going on my own.

I have no real reason to surf the web on my PSP and it’s a good thing I don’t. The web browser is clunky and viewing web pages is a chore. Sites aren’t really modified for the PSP so it’s not a particularly good experience. My iPod Touch does web browsing a whole lot better.

Here is an interesting thing. I haven’t bought a case for my PSP yet. I’m not planning on bringing it anywhere and just want to keep the screen clean as it sits on the end table next to me. I was putting a micro fiber cloth on top of the screen as it sat there but it still had dust on its screen every time I picked it up. Recently I bought some lint free white gloves for handling photo negatives. I now put the PSP inside one of the gloves as it sits there. It works great. There is no dust on the screen when I pick it up.

All in all the PSP was such a frustrating out of the box experience that I almost returned it. But I kept calm, spent more money, found a couple of cheap (and better) games, and now I’m happy with it. I still haven’t figure out the video end but who cares. My iPod Touch does that better anyway.