Ah .... Spring

Like a phoenix from the ashes, Gaia's sleep is ended

her rebirth achieved

the dead branches are alive

once more with the bearing of the leaves

the return of life, to the land that slept in the cocoon of winter

is transformed once more

From the womb of Earth

the Green of Spring is birthed

reminders of a cheerful infant

are evident in the bird songs

as brown gives way to green

and cold gives way to warmth

Spring is the time to remove the death of winter,

To prepare for the summer,

To sew new beginnings to achieve before the next sleep

For out of death, out of winter, comes new life

It is the promise of the Great Cycle evident in every season

Summer is the prime of life

Fall is the ending

Winter is the death

but ahhh Spring is the promise that we shall be born again

Wow, sometimes real life can get busy.

I've been real busy in my life.  As such expect to see a content shift in this blog and my "story" blog.  Although you will still see some pictures that I create, you will likely see less.  My story blog will instead have more frequent add ons to the story with less frequent pictures.

As for on this one?  Well, this is still my "everything" blog.  Expect to see short stories, articles on computers, articles on games, articles on mind building, and yes, a few pictures, just to name a few subjects.

Likely also is some occasional talk about Rocksmith, DC Universe, and perhaps a few more choice games.  As well as an occasional diversion into movies.

Up soon is a short story from my personal archives and probably one or two computing articles as well.

Also, we are hosting a carnival in my building around Junish (hmm, I wonder if that is an appropriate spelling of a make-believe word), so, I'd love to hear any ideas for cheap carnival type games.

Meanwhile, I got to get back to my happily hectic life, but, I will try to post the short story before next week.

Rock On!

-JameDawg

Ice Bike and next up

Well, I've been a bit ill and my "real life" got me a bit busy.  I've been goofing around with a bunch of little things having to do with audio and playing a couple of new games as well as taking a few out of mothballs.  I'll probably blog about that stuff soon.

The next installment for The Crossroads of Legends on The Adventure Chronicles is on my calendar for next week.  However, it will likely be pushed back at least one week, as it is a bit behind schedule.  I've also got significant challenges for the picture after that as it is an imaginary city in an imaginary land.  That's tougher than I thought, but, I'll get it done.

I was inspired the other day to create the following picture.  It was inspired by a few things.  First, I have more than a few biker friends, and second it's winter around these parts.  I figured a picture of an ice sculptured motorcycle would be pretty cool.

While I can't make an ice sculpture in the real world, I can make one digitally.  I'm not completely satisfied with how it turned out.  But, it's not bad.

So, without further adieu...

"Ice Bike" by JameDawg is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

 You may find other sizes for this work (uploaded in 1080p HD) as well as some of my other pictures on my Flikr stream:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamedawg

You may find my "story only" blog at:  The Adventure Chronicles

Hope your day is excellent!

The Crossroads of Legend - Chapter 2 - The Death of A Father

There was a knock at the tent. The Leanora's mother answered. The man (a barbarian fighter of some renown) is apologetic and confers the news of her husband's death. He looked over to Leanora.

“Child, I'm sorry to inform you of your father's death.”

Leanora was dumbfounded. She barley knew her father, but, he had always returned from his battles. Sure he had wounds and scars, but, he always returned.

“I promised him I would deliver the news, and conduct his will.”

“His will?” asked the mother.

“Yes,” the man continued. “he asked that I give you this treasure,” he pointed, “and give his daughter this treasure,” he pointed again.

Two small chests were there. The first, for the mother contained various coins and objects, the value of which would keep her out of poverty for her life. The second chest contained some armor, a sword, and a small amount of coins and various objects.

Leanora looked at the treasure. She picked up the sword and it mesmerized her.

"A Father's Legacy" By: JameDawg

 

“A beauty, eh?” The man asked.

“Yes, it is beautiful.” Leanora replied.

“That sword was not meant to be sold, nor stay at home,” said the man. “Your father meant for you to follow in his footsteps. I promised to prepare you if you were willing.”

Leanora looked at the man with seriousness, “I am,” she said, without hesitation.

The man's name was Tarik The Bold. He was from a different, allied tribe. He completed her training. Leanora was a good student. This time she was taking it quite serious. She really did want to walk in her father's footsteps.

Within less then a month Tarik said, “That is all you need to know for now. Now it is up to you to find your place. I hear there are some caverns nearby. Perhaps you can go to Aldehuela [a small “civilized” village nearby] and pick up some companions to explore with you. I suggest you find a healer. A mage could be useful too. Of course a rouge as well. Even if they are often unsavory, they can help out a lot when exploring. One more thing, your father had that chest piece made special for you. I don't really know all the details, but, I know he went through a lot of trouble to make sure these things got to you. I leave you now, to your destiny.” and with that he left the village.

 "A Father's Legacy" by JameDawg is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

You can find other sizes at "A Father's Legacy" on Flickr



You may find the "story only" version of my blog at The Adventure Chronicles

Organic Creativity

One of the main reasons I started The Adventure Chronicles was to give a tiny bit of focus to my creative side.  I have what I like to refer to as "Organic Creativity".  Some people, including many of my friends, refer to this as ADD (or ADHD).  While that's the technical name most simply would say, "You lack focus".

Maybe that's somewhat true.  My moments of true focus are indeed fleeting.  However, as a side-effect, I often engage my "Organic Creativity".  I was working on posting something for Rocksmith.  I started playing the game, and I was messing around with the sound on my computer.  I wound up engineering and writing a few tunes (not the guitar type either, lol).

My ability to come up with lyrics is pretty solid.  My ability to create a good beat isn't bad either.  My ability to rap is so-so, and my singing generally is not good (doesn't stop me from singing at the top of my lungs occasionally though). 

I do want to post my new song(s).  I feel the beat is very good, and the lyrics are solid.  However, generally I'm a one man operation, so I had to sing/rap the song myself.  In order to tell the story I'm going to post it, probably as a video.  But, I wish I could sing a bit better (or at least find a cheap autotune that works on my windows system, not that I encourage autotune).  However, I'm thinking I may post the beat (without the vocals) separately, as I feel the beat is quite good.

After I constructed it (and a few more), I brought my keyboard out of mothballs and started playing around ("Organic Creativity", lol).  I'm probably going to be constructing quite a few more beats.  That puts the Rocksmith post kinda on the back-burner for now.

The next installment of The Adventure Chronicles is on my calender for upload on Monday the 28th.  I have the story and picture made.  But, I have to go through each for the final draft yet.  I think the story will be fine, and the picture will need some minor post processing, so, I'll probably make my (self-imposed) deadline.  If not I shouldn't be much more then a day or two late.

I'm kinda looking around for the best place to upload my music to.  I need one that can hold both CC work and that which is copyrighted (just in case) and they have to be linkable to my blog.  I've looked at a few places, I haven't settled on one yet.  Linkable video sites and likable picture sites are actually a bit easier to choose.

I have an idea for the video for my new song.  The song is called "Dragon Slayer".  I may rerecord parts of the performance, not sure yet.  I'll have to make a few more pics for the vid too.  It likely will be a moving picture video, not an animation or performance video.

My "Organic Creativity" is calling......

Welcome to the Jungle

As you can see, the last post regarding my ongoing chronicle was posted well ahead of schedule.  The next composition is coming together with some alacrity as well.

But, I've been thinking about the other stuff I'm going to post here in my "everything" blog (as opposed to The Adventure Chronicles which is more of my "story" blog).

So, I do play some counsel games on the PS3.  Currently, my top rotation is Battlefield 3, Call of Duty Black Ops II, and Rocksmith.  I also include DC Universe Online some months, and other titles not really worth mentioning.

I'm not particularly skilled in Black Ops II or Battlefield 3.  I'd say I'm better than average, but, comparing my stats with those on my friends list, I'd have to admit I'm below average.  I'm better at Battlefield 3 than Black Ops II, but, I can't stop myself from playing Black Ops II more often.  I may or may not post a vid or two featuring these two games, but, I really have to post one on Rocksmith.  I'll probably come back to the other three games from time-to-time in other posts.

Rocksmith is, hands down, the best way I've found to learn guitar for me.  You hook a real guitar into the PS3 and play it, very similarly (at it's most basic level) like guitar hero or rock band.  It impressed me so much I actually started looking for other titles by Ubisoft.  Not that hard, on average a gamer probably owns a few of these games.  I was on the fence about getting into the Assassin's Creed games and decided to buy the first one, pushed over the edge by how impressed I was by Rocksmith.

Not to mention I let my nephews play it.  The youngest had never picked up a guitar (as far as I know) and he was playing decently in under an hour.  I had a similar experience.

I tried to learn guitar briefly when I was younger.  It didn't work out.  I took some lessons and gave up in under a month.  I bought a guitar, when I got a bit older, got some books and a video.  Tried to play.  Didn't really work.  Main reason:  Learning the guitar was too dry and the learning curve was rough. 

I played guitar hero, rock band, etc.  Mostly at friend's houses and mostly as a band set up.  It was fun enough, and many people found/find it a lot of fun, but, I was not overly interested in it.

Then I saw Rocksmith.  I thought "Wow".  They had a demo running in a local store, I gave it a whirl and was mesmerized.  I realized I could finally learn to play.  Which was cool.  Because, my guitar was sitting in my closet for around 10 years, maybe more. 

I dusted it off and loaded the game and, no joke, was playing a tune in less then 30 minutes.  Not with awesome perfection, but, it was further than I got in all the other time trying to learn it combined.

The game has lots of nuances that really make it fun and a good learning tool.  I plan to post a vid or two and spend some more time talking about it.

I'm also probably going to do a short animation or two that may or may not be related to my story. 

Probably some pictures that are not related to "The Adventure Chronicles" at all, as well. 

But, the next section of "The Adventure Chronicles" is ready for post production, and I'll probably be posting it soon.  I have quite a bit of the story and the composition notes for the next few pics, so, they may pop out quicker than expected.

You can expect some conversations about my two regular RPGs as well.  I'm running one, which is a "Modern D20" / "D&D 3.5" semi-hybrid.  I'm playing in the other, a game I'm rather new to, but is quickly growing on me called Rifts.  But more about that another time.....

It's likely that I'll publish some of the articles I've written too, and some of the short stories.  No real plan there.

In the short term... Expect the next installment of "The Adventure Chronicles" and some stuff on Rocksmith.

Hope your day is ROCKEN!

-JameDawg

The Adventures Chronicles - The Crossroads of Legend - Meet Leanora

Leanora's life was simple and carefree. She lived in the forest with her tribe, The Arbaro, and more specifically her mother. She spent her youth learning the ways of the tribe. When her father returned from adventuring from time-to-time, he would educate her in the art of combat.

She was a natural in that department. But, she didn't really focus on it. She loved her tribe. She learned to make things from the forest, and how to hunt. Although womanly duties generally included making things, usually it was the males who did the hunting. However, it was the norm, not a requirement. Besides, she could keep up with any of the males her age, and she excelled at combat, even if she didn't take the training very seriously.

She was born with a natural wanderlust. But, she never ventured more than a few hours away from the village, ok, perhaps a half day. Actually, she knew how far she could go and be back before sunset.

Her life was uncomplicated and happy, until ….

Leanora Near The Arbaro Village

 

"Leanora Near The Arbaro Village" by JameDawg is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

You can find other sizes at Leanora Near The Arbaro Village on flickr



You may find the "story only" version of my blog at The Adventure Chronicles