Would you like a fully automated life?

So I read this article about a practice perfect city in New Mexico. It sounds pretty cool, all perfect streets with self-driving cars and what-not. A city where water turns on, toilets flush, and technology communicates device to device, all without human interference.

This almost sounds like The Jetsons! Who else is fond of the moving platforms in airports? They really speed up all of that pesky walking we have to do. Why aren't all sidewalks like this?

Oh, right, it's because people are lazy and just stand there. Source.

But seriously, I think this perfect town is cool. It opens the door to the question that I always have regarding technological advancement: how will it work in conjunction with our current city structure? 

It's not feasible to tear down and reconstruct whole towns and cities, is it? And what about the Old World, the amazing first-person account of life before the modern age over in Europe? It would be an absolute travesty to demolish the cobblestone streets in order to make way for a self-driving car. 

Meanwhile there are plenty of these throughout the US, so feel free to demolish.

I'm joking. Kind of. Source.

I don't imagine anyone over there would take any issue with improved water pipes. Everyone can use fresher, more delicious water. Also, too many people forget to flush the toilet, so I believe that is a no-brainer.

Back to those self-driving cars!

Sounds to me like the cars need to just be incredibly smart. It looks like Google has things under control though, considering that they just approved the first automated vehicle in Nevada.

The self-driving car situation is pretty exciting to me. I mean, it would really make road trips a lot shorter, right? Just drive until you're tired, make sure your GPS is set, and then take a little snooze! I guess Google doesn't intend for the automated aspect to replace drivers though, simply help them. But I know the car can drive on its own.

Given the funds, I would totally be first in line for a Google car! Especially since it's an apparatus that would work with any car, well, then I get to keep my currently awesome car and add more functionality. 

Strap this bad boy to my car and I'll never side-swipe another telephone poll again.

What? I was sixteen, give me a break! Source.

This sounds like an exciting win to me.

Are you excited?

-MJ

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I'm back, and I missed you!

My brain feels all spongy and my fingers are flopping all over this keyboard. You’d think that using technology would be like riding a bike, but after two and a half weeks I’m feeling very out of touch. The first few days were great: open space, no technology, and freedom. 

Pretty, but completely unhelpful in terms of technological wonderings.

Then I started to wonder what everyone else in the world was doing. Had anyone posted new cat pictures to Instagram? Was I missing any exciting updates in the video game world? How many new Doctor Who gifs had appeared on Tumblr?

The open night sky and brightly burning stars couldn’t answer these questions. Instead, I learned the answers to a whole new set of questions that I didn’t realize I had.

-I learned that bees won’t investigate empty soda cans on overcast days or cloudy days, but on sunny ones a whole swarm will appear. Just so you know, they really do hate smoke and will fairly promptly leave an area once said area is filled with campfire smoke.

-I learned that a rattlesnake can totally look like a discarded bungee cord. And in conjunction with this, I learned that I am completely OK with running over bungee cords. No, I didn’t run over the snake, but I totally almost did since I thought it was a bungee cord, and we've already established that I don't mind running those things over.

Hyper zoomed in, for proof reasons!

-I finally figured out how to pee in the wilderness without ruining my pants. This is something I’ve been working on for about eighteen years.

-I learned that running (or rather, wildly scrambling away) from a bee while on a decline of boulders is easily in the top ten stupid ways to die. I sat for a long time afterward and had a serious conversation with myself about the pain of a bee sting versus falling down a hill of giant rocks.

Pro tip: falling down this will not be better than a bee sting.

-I learned that not all oasises (oasi?) have water. That was disappointing. 

-I learned that road runners are teeny, tiny birds. They are fast though!

-I learned that every single thing in the desert is out to kill us. Did you know that some cacti even jump at innocent passers-by? Lock up your children and pets, people.

 These may look pretty, but they will mess you up. Go talk to some scientists about 

this enormous static electricity problem, and then get back to me.

Also? This looks incredibly painful.

-I learned that even while in the desert, I’ll still find a tree to run into while drunk. The only tree at the campsite, mind you.

If you’re ever thinking about camping in the desert, just don’t. It is a harsh, unrelenting environment. You’ll be on sand covered granite, there will be no cover from the sun. Your nose? It will burn! If you incur a wound and use a band aid, you’ll end up with a weird tan line. 

Kind of like I ran out of band aids, so I put a slug on it.

While romping about in Joshua Tree I discovered the origins for Voldemort's face.

"Skull Rock"? More like "Voldemort Nose"

I'm so clever.

Also, how long has it been since you’ve gone five days without a shower? I have to say that this camping trip was a first for me and wow, people get shockingly filthy after five days with no shower. I ended up clipping off my nails to try and keep the dirt out from under them (I can't stand dirty fingernails), but it didn’t help. I ended up with a tan, but after I finally bathed it turned out that I wasn’t quite as tan as I initially thought. How gross is that?

For good measure, here's a coyote!

And lastly, proof that I was actually out in the desert.

Now that I'm home and have regular access to showering facilities, which after camping don't seem as dirty as I remember, I'm really happy to be back to my website and scouring the internet for data to share with you all!

Thanks for your patience while I was on vacation, and I hope that my throw-back posts were of sufficient entertainment value :D

-MJ

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Completing New Super Mario Bros. Wii was an enormous triumph.

This is the last post for my strangely long vacation. Please tell me that I didn't lose readers in the mean time. You all mean so much to me! Don't leave!! I really love this post for today, just so you know. Have you read it before? It's all about playing New Super Mario Bros for the Wii!


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August 2011

Our house of many mushrooms.

11:59 AM  MIRANDA EUBANKS  NO COMMENTS

Before I left for Washington in the middle of June, Andrew and I were on a steady schedule of playing New Super Mario Bros. Wii and/or watching an episode of True Blood every night before we went to bed. I quite enjoyed this seeing as it was fun and fulfilling and best of all he and I are excellent cooperative players at Mario.

With all of the insane hopping, jumping, flying, floating and stomping that goes on in a multiplayer side scroller, it is unfortunately easy to accidentally take all of the items out of the classic question mark block, or to bump into your co-pilot and send them screaming into a pit of lava. Some even call it 'marriage poison'.

It would appear that some relationship duos don't play quite as

harmoniously as Andrew and I do. I consider us very lucky!

When I first brought up playing Mario together, he had some reservations. Apparently he wasn't terribly well versed in the Mario universe while he was growing up, and as a result felt that he possessed inadequate experience to be able to play alongside me, Mario lover extraordinaire* since age five.

I quelled this concern, stating I didn't care how good or bad he was and that I simply wanted us to play together. I am sorely lacking in the co-op/multiplayer gaming department, seeing as I rarely had anyone to play with. I have a sister who greatly enjoyed gaming when she was younger (and does now again many years later) but that's really another subject. The point here is that when I have had a multiplayer game (that was co-op!) I always enjoyed the experience and I wished that I had more. So anyway, he finally agreed to play with me.

It has been a truly fantastic experience to play alongside him and watch him improve. He started out like anyone else did as a new player; uncertain, overly-cautious and accident prone. It was like watching myself so many years ago, and it was great. I've never been present for someone's first experience with Mario (other than my own, of course). I recall my sister being great at Mario and I repeatedly died, feeling forever like an extremely poor player. Andrew is now really quite skilled!

Currently, I am very pleased to say, we are at Bowser's castle at the end of the game! This is insanely thrilling to me because, and don't judge me here, I've never been able to finish any of the traditional side-scrolling Mario games! I know I know, it's absolutely shameful! And it certainly isn't for lack of trying. I have played Mario and Mario 3 so many times, but my goodness are they difficult. The original one I've warped to World 8 with all the tanks and just, no. No no no. As for Mario 3 I always always always get stuck on World 5 in the clouds. I simply cannot get past the cloud portion. Someday I would love to complete them both.

To my delight, the cloud levels in New Super Mario Bros. Wii are

actually extremely fun! I wonder what the creatures are called...

The level designs are absolutely superb. It's very much a 'just right' situation for me. The worlds follow the classic pattern of grass, sand, ocean/ice, etc. It is completely nostalgic while being very new at the same time. The presence of Blooper swimming dangerously in the ocean thrills me to no end and I personally believe that he doesn't have a strong enough showing in the series. 

One aspect of gaming that I've never quite indulged in is the secrets/side quests. I'm not sure if I've just never noticed them before, or if I didn't care, or if I thought the main story was too time-consuming or what. I've become aware, however, that I am missing out on a huge portion of the great gaming experience! To my good fortune, Andrew is very into secrets and side quests. This has made it a very easy transition. 

Between jaw-clenching, hand-cramping, eye-twitching sessions of the later levels that brought me dangerously close to screaming, we've been going back to previous worlds and collecting the star coins that are hiding in each level. It eases the tension of the more difficult stages and allows us to continue playing and keep having fun! Good on Nintendo for that feature. Of course the star coins are actually used for unlocking helpful hint content, but they keep me playing even when I'm feeling fed up so I'm happy for their existence. 

I can't wait to complete the final battle. What we've seen of it so far has been nothing short of epic. Nintendo pulled out all the stops to make it an enjoyable and exciting experience, even including some hyper satisfying throw-backs to the original final Mario-Bowser battle. The presence of real-time destructible environments really piqued Andrew's involvement levels and, quite frankly, made me feel 100% panicked and frantic.

I don't do well in the event of being chased by something that takes up half of the 

screen. I keep dying from jumping erratically. I wouldn't recommend this tactic.

Hopefully next week I'll have some screenshots of my own and an accompanying 'Success!' post to inform you all that we've finally finished the game. And to anyone that owns a Wii and hasn't played it yet, I strongly urge you to pick up a copy! It's so much fun but really does require patience and understanding, especially when your co-player butt-bounces you into oblivion right next to the flagpole. You have to accept that that sort of thing is just going to happen.

-MJ

*I kid. I love Mario very much but I'm definitely not an extraordinary player :)

(Comic strip from Penny Arcade, cloud stage image taken from Nintendo's NSMB website and final Bowser screenshot borrowed with love from Gamespot)

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An unending love for Harry Potter.

This is one of my favorite entries. It's sappy, it doesn't have any pictures, and I wish that more people had seen it. Harry Potter was and is a huge part of my life. I love it. So much.


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July 15th, 2011

The Story That Lives

3:49 AM  MIRANDA EUBANKS  3 COMMENTS

Harry Potter.

Book releases. Movie premieres. Friends, chats, dressing up. Speculation, anticipation, discussion. Age thirteen to twenty-five.

I've been up at 4am to line up at 6am to get bracelets to be first in line for midnight book releases. I know well staying up into the next day, reading frantically with a group of fellow Potter fans. Gasping, crying, laughing; eating up every word and remaining famished for the next installment. Waking up early and staring out my bedroom window waiting for the mail to deliver the newest book. Intriguing to remember a time when I couldn't attend a midnight release and I was at the mercy of the post office.

I've spent a total of twenty-five hours in theatres just waiting for midnight to roll around. Starting with the fourth release I have arrived at 7pm, plopping myself down with company and entertainment, anxious to be first in line, a dedicated fan, and to get a good seat in the theatre.

Each release has seen many things. Goblet of Fire spurred my highest ever test score in a biology class; I spent my five hours of waiting in the theatre studying. Order of the Phoenix involved intense discussions with my Grandmother, while Half-Blood Prince saw lengthy video game sessions in the hallways. Deathly Hallows part 1 included adamant talk about the pros and cons of a two part release, and July 14th 2011 left me silent, nervous and patient.

Through Deathly Hallows part 2 I played with my wand the entire time. Twirling, rolling, touching the detailing with my fingertips. I fidgeted and shifted, flipping it end over end. While waiting in line in the hallway I spun my time-turner restlessly, separating the layers and rotating the hourglass over and over again. It was hot in the theatre, so many people at rapt attention, hearts and bodies overflowing with emotion and tears; I kept my Gryffindor scarf on, checking it frequently to make sure it was straight.

Before I left the house for this final venture, I unbuckled and re-buckled the clasps on my Harry Potter leather bag, repeatedly checking that my wand was safe against my usual assembly of wallet and phone. I carried it carefully, admiring the Hogwarts Crest inset on the front. It's the nicest bag that I own.

I remember dressing up for the Deathly Hallows book release; I donned scarf, wand and time-turner, as well as a white shirt/dark skirt uniform. I recall the excitement and dread mingled together, the looming sense of something huge and important coming to a close as I milled around the bookstore with friends. And then suddenly it was midnight. I had the book. I was driving home. All of that waiting and I had the final book. It was like that at Deathly Hallows part 2: sudden, wonderful, startling in its peculiar yet incomplete finality. Even though it is finished it will never be over. It's a strange feeling.

All of this time. Memories, friends I've shared with, time I've waited, speculation and fan fiction that I've read; concluded but not done. I left the theatre feeling full but not satisfied. Or perhaps satisfied but not full. A respectable close. Magnificent and carefully done. I am pleased. And yet I have room for more. I will always have room for more Harry Potter.

-MJ

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The day finally came when I hated Farmville.

Is it Wednesday? I think I'm still away from computers and internet. Are you worried about me yet? Are you enjoying my mean-time posts? Have I lost all my readers? I promise some really exciting stuff when I get back, really! Will this post about me disliking Farmville make up for it?


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August 10th, 2010

The infatuation has ended and now it's just stupid.

8:46 AM  MIRANDA EUBANKS  3 COMMENTS

I think I may be finished with facebook games. I still accept and "return the favor" with regards to Farmville gifts, but I haven't tended to my farm in well over a month. I was enthusiastically playing Frontierville for about two months and now I just feel irritated every time I check on my land. Is it really necessary for five new trees to sprout in a two hour period? Is that really fair? Oh right, they don't want their players to have an semblance of a life.

Every time I check on my frontier lately I heave a deep sigh and think "what's the point? I'm not actually making any sort of progress". Unless I am on that game every hour (which I can't do, nor do I want to do it) then I am literally chopping down the same tree every single day. It's like the Greek king that has to roll the boulder up the hill for eternity. Just depressing.

I read an interesting article on cracked.com the other day about how and why Farmville (and other facebook games like it) is so successful. Reading the secrets unraveled the whole experience for me, which is a good thing. It gave me that extra push to realize I don't even enjoy playing those "games".

They were certainly addictive and fun at first, especially Farmville. You leveled up so easily, it was exciting. Saving money to expand your farm and finally getting that last nail to complete your barn. Now your horses have a place to life! Great. Well, I have reached the cap. My farm is just bursting with livestock and tilled land. It became mundane internet labor to harvest crops and animals. I'd log in after tending to my real life for a few days and I'd see all those freaking pink icons and feel stressed about how long it would take me to click on each horse, chicken, pig, etc. No thank you.

In a way I'm very proud of myself. I have a tendency to create some very serious emotional attachments to inanimate objects, virtual ones included. Those sheep can stay there, ready to be shaved, I don't even care anymore.

So now what do I do with my free internet time? I could be enriching myself, researching and learning. I was doing that a bit the other day, cruising through wikipedia and learning some new things on a basic level. My issue seems to be I don't know what to search for! A wealth of knowledge at my fingertips and I can't even type a word into the search box. Somebody help me! Any topics that are particularly good to read about when you're feeling bored? Or just looking for some mental enrichment?

I have also taken to listening to music on youtube. Had never even thought of this as a viable option before, but turns out it's a good one. I like to read though. Suggestions are welcome.

-MJ

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It's always exciting to play Dungeons and Dragons.

There's a chance that I still don't have computer or internet access. If that's the case then I'm really sorry, but more importantly I really miss all of you! How's it going? Has anything exciting been happening in my absence? We should be talking again soon. To pass the time, here's a favorite entry of mine about playing Dungeons and Dragons!


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June 26th, 2010

It finally happened!

12:19 PM  MIRANDA EUBANKS  1 COMMENT

The stars have finally aligned because Dungeons and Dragons is back in my life! I have wanted to play for over four years, ever since my original campaign was dissolved. My friends have never been interested in playing and even if they were I don't know how to DM. My friend Andrew is in town from California and he plays DnD, he knows that I'd like to get a campaign going. Too bad he lives in LA or else the two of us would be able to get something going. He suggested that while he's here we play as many times as we can, and I am all for that.

On Thursday night we started up a game with his brother and some of his brother's friends. It was fantastic fun! I played my human barbarian, a character that I rolled four years ago after my original character, an elf rouge, was murdered by a giant. I don't play a rouge well at all but I think I'm doing alright with my barbarian so far. We played for a good four and a half hours and I am anxious to play again!

Last night Andrew and I, with our powers combined, convinced Jake to join us for DnD adventures! We didn't play but we did make characters. I rolled one for our friend James just in case he can pop in and play with us. We spent a good two hours just making some characters and I had a pretty good time. Jake has never made it past the character making phase so I'm really excited to actually get to the campaign.

On Thursday night I found myself in a party of adventurers setting toward the forest. A blight had settled onto the forest via the magical water source, causing all flora to wither and all fauna to become deranged and violent.

We trekked toward the center of the forest, aiming for the main tree of life and the magical water's source. As we moved along we encountered an Owlbear, a black bear, a Tree Ent, and an unnamed evil vine being. Our evening wrapped up as we finally approached the main tree and we laid eyes upon the source: goblins!

Dun dun dunnnnn.

Most likely this campaign will not be continued, which is sad, but I'm hopeful that a new one will begin this very evening!

I have more that I want to say but my mind is incredibly scattered right now.

-MJ

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I've talked about this 'geek' thing before, apparently.

So long as I haven't been bitten by a snake, stabbed by a scorpion, or run into the cold desert night and gotten lost after encountering a tarantula during a late night pee session, then I'm still camping in Joshua Tree! Please pray for my safe return, and in the meantime enjoy this entry that I wrote a few years ago about the whole 'fake geek' thing. You can read my most current thoughts on the subject over here.


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June 5th, 2010

What's in a name? (That was lame)

2:14 PM  MIRANDA EUBANKS  11 COMMENTS

I realize that this blog is called "a bit of geek" and therefore what I'm about to write may seem hypocritical or counter-intuitive. This is a rant, a pet peeve irritation of mine. I do have a few specific people in mind but my "thoughts" have been applied to many situations so I'm being extremely general here. I think it's also worth noting that sometimes I myself do what irritates me in other places/people/things. Hopefully this is a sufficient enough disclaimer.

I cannot stand it when someone decidedly non-geeky declares themselves to be a geek, nerd, dork or what have you, especially when what they're "doing" that apparently calls for just such a label isn't even that fitting. I like what I do, this was covered in a previous post. If someone wants to call me a geek/nerd/dork because of my hobbies and lifestyle then whatever, fine. To my knowledge though, I don't run around declaring that everything I do is "so geeky" or, "I am just such a dork" or, "this is a nerdy thing to do". In general terms I try to just say what it is that I like or what I'm doing.

Right now I'm listening to the Ocarina of Time soundtrack.

I still haven't gotten dressed for the day because I want to keep reading the Penny Arcade archives.

Even though I'm finished with classes and I'll be graduating in just about a week, I still have final evaluations to write. I'd really rather play WoW and I've been wrestling all morning over whether or not I should do the right thing or the fun thing.

Yesterday I talked with a friend and classmate about how exciting it was to learn website coding.

This is my second or third post today on my dedicated "geeky" stuff blog. This is one of those situations where I can be called a hypocrite because I used the word geek in reference to myself. I accept that geek, along with dork/nerd, are viable words in many situations. In this case it acts as a very adequate catch-all for my delicious hobbies.

I don't want to qualify any of these statements by prefacing them with a phrase such as, "I know this is really dorky but..." and I don't want to end them with, "I'm such a nerd I know".

I will happily call my friends dorks and nerds and geeks when the situation warrants it. I have a great friend who is the president (and creator) of the Star Trek club at her University. What a dork, but man I love her and I think she's awesome. She does not go around screaming to the damn rooftops that she's a dork or whatever. She is who she is and she's awesome. It should also be noted that her boyfriend is president and creator of the Pokemon club at the same University. :D

My best friend does many nerdy things on a regular basis and I love when she tells me about it. She's in bed with her boyfriend and they're both playing Pokemon? She went to a convention dressed as Chun Li? They have more comic books than I can even count and she frequently goes "huurrr hurrrr"? I LOVE HER. I love telling her how much of a dork she is when these things occur.

These two great friends of mine are fine with who they are and they love their hobbies. Neither of them run around proclaiming their nerdiness.

It makes me happy to be able to crown these words on my beloved friends. I personally take pride when someone christens me as such. Again, I love my hobbies; it just feels wrong to self title.

When I was in junior high I was talking to a friend of mine, I forget the context of the conversation, and I said that I was a nice person. He looked at me for a second and then told me I couldn't really make that assertion, that it had to come from someone else. I could think I was nice, but until other people believed or agreed that I was a nice person, it didn't really mean anything. I remember thinking that this was extremely strange because I really did believe that I was a nice person. I still think I'm a nice person, even though I certainly have my not-so-nice moments. I'm pretty sure I see his angle though: Do self-proclaimed people have the same genuinity (that's not a word) as people that have been dubbed something by other people? This all is dependent on how that specific person feels about these labels though. I'm perfectly OK with someone saying that I have a lot of geeky hobbies or that I'm a total nerd about some things. That's fine, I would agree with that statement, in fact it makes me happy to think about someone saying it.

I am aware, though, that there are many many people who far surpass me in the geeky realm.

Did you ever know that random guy in junior high or high school who always talked about how "crazy" he was? No one ever told him he was crazy or wacky, but he sure liked to tell others that he was. He would do stupid shit and be like, "I'm so crazy I know". Everytime I see those shirts that have a computer wearing glasses with the words "Talk nerdy to me" I just want to scream.

Am I being elitist here? I'm not trying to be and now I find of feel bad. These thoughts are infecting me though, they need to be purged.

Mainly I get all riled up when I meet one person who has no hobbies related to this except for maybe they play Pokemon. Then they proceed to talk about how they're such a dork because they play Pokemon. Not that dorky, really. Or perhaps they really enjoy watching Youtube videos so suddenly they're a total computer nerd. No, no you really aren't.

Am I worried about posers? Geek posers? Yikes.

Maybe I can liken it to music enthusiasts. They're very particular about their bands and their scenes. They don't take very well to over rambunctious newcomers who claim their "title" right off the bat.

I think that's how I feel here. I think I feel a little better too. I could really use some feedback, if anyone would like to provide.

EDIT***

If someone just is a huge fucking dork, it doesn't bother me if they call themselves a dork. It's legitimate and it's true. It's not like people need my permission anyway, this is a rant afterall.

EDIT2**

I keep thinking of more things. I WANT to be a huge nerd, I just want to earn it. Does that make sense?

-MJ

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