Seventeen

A new magazine subscription? I think not………. It is in fact my birthday tho!

If I had to sum it up in one word I think it would have to be: “AWESOME” lol

First off, I woke up and had a couple guys from the band over to do some recording for our debut album to be released this winter. We were actually very productive which is a major plus. Usually when we get more than 2 people in the studio nothing ever gets done. We got the basic tracks for about 3-4 songs done. Not near finished but great progress for one day. After that we had some pizza then both of them had to leave. I decided to get my hair cut afterwards cuz it was gettin a little on the longer side….

After that we went to an italian restuarant for dinner. They were extremely busy and the service was not exactly perfect, but I understood. So then my grandma spoke up and told our waitress it was my birthday…..(Just so you know I don;t enjoy when they all come out clappin and singin and shit. its kind of embarassing) The rest of the night she kept apologizing to me cuz she forgot I didn’t like that. haha I forgive her tho. She was just havin some fun. So we came home and had some cake and all that. I opened my gifts and I’m pretty happy with the stuff i got.

CDs:

-The Illusion of Progress by Staind

-The Fallout by Default

-The Sound of Madness by Shinedown

Misc:

-250GB external HD

-Special plated snare pad

Some friends and neighbors of mine are throwing me a party this weekend down at my lakehouse so I’ll prolly get a couple more things, but overall I had a pretty kickass day. Thanks everyone for all the “Happy Birthdays” and whatnot.

One more year of:

Life

RuneScape

Music

Friends

Family.

Here’s to SEVENTEEN. Here’s to a great year!

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This is SPARTA!!!

Ok, so today is pretty comparable to a day in the 10th ring of hell. First marching band competition of the year, and yes I bet you’re thinking “Oh boy, band how bad can that be?” lol I’m not really writing to be a douche and try to get defensive about marching band because you’ll think what you think and i can’t control that. Just thought I’d tell you about my “spectacular” day…lol

Call time is 9am so i get to school around 8:55. We end up sitting around for about an hour loading the trailer and getting everything on the buses. (4 buses btw, we have 140 kids in our band. 28 of which are in drumline.) Anyway we leave and head to the town of Sparta where the competition is. We get there and chill for a bit, then start warming up.

Just so you know, there are 2 parts to the competition. There’s the parade part and the field show part. Parade obviously being a parade, and the field show is pretty much like the halftime show at football games. The 3-4 songs with special marching that makes formations on the field.

So we suit up and start marching the parade. We get judged on our parade technique and all that fun crap or whatever. Little did we know, the parade route was 3 MILES LONG. For those of you who don’t know, thats a long fucking way to march with a drum… So were more than halfway done with this parade and we approch this large podium stand thing with a bunch of official looking people standing on it. I don’t think you realized how pissed we were when we saw this. We all thought there would be judges marching along side of us critiquing and whatnot. NO, there was only like 40 seconds total that was judged and here we all are playing our hearts out the whole parade in hopes to score high. Well by this point we are pretty much spent because its 2PM, the sun is blaring, our uniforms are maroon and black, and we’ve been playing constantly for the past 30 min….. Meanwhile my left arm is just short of completely numb because my carrier was digging into my shoulder and cutting off circulation. lol

3 miles later……we get back to the buses and have some lunch. I can honestly say food never tasted so gooood. In fact, I’ll brb I’m gonna go grab some Doritos. XD jk It was pretty nice after that tho cuz we just kinda hung around for the next 3 or so hours because we didn’t take the field for our show til 7:30. Of course, the time soon came and we suited up again and started to warm-up. There were these little piss-ass black gnats that kept biting us while practicing. Damn near drove us all nuts lol.

So we’re minutes from taking the field lined up on the track. My stomach starts getting all funky. Not really a nauseous feeling it was just weird. Anyway we play our show and march off the field and put our drums down. We end up standing around watching the rest of the bands perform. At this point, I’m thirsty as hell, and my friend goes over and gets me a diet coke (everything else was gone) I start drinking that to ease my stomach a little.

Finally awards are announced and turns out we got “1st place percussion” for the parade section in our class and “2nd place overall” in the field show for our class. Overall i think we did alright. Here comes the fun part……..we get our drums on and we start walking back towards the buses to pack up and head home. My stomach is really bothering me at this point. Not sure if it was the fact that we “lost” or what but my main goal at this point was to keep my mind off my stomach. We get to the buses and my throat gets all dry. I ask my friend to take my drum off cuz i feel sick and i ran over to a tree and a lost it… =/ I was really trying not to puke, but i couldn’t fight it any longer. I have to admit tho that I feel a lot better now that I did that.

So we loaded the trailer and headed home. It was a pretty good bus ride. I can say its my first ride on a school bus at night…haha. We get home and I realize i have some college history homework that I have to submit online before midnight. I got it done with 3 minutes to spare so I’m still kinda shaken up about that whole thing.

All I can really say about today is….WOW. lol It was fun yet brutal. It was a good experience nonetheless tho. One down, three more to go. BRRRINNNNG IT ONN! haha That is all.

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Total Levels Re-Thought

Ok, so I’ve been thinking recently about 99’s, and I noticed that a lot of players like to brag about how much better they are at the game because of their total level. As we all know, this can be easily raised with simple and non-complicated skills such as cooking and fletching. In my opinion, for example, a player with 80 summoning is a “better” player than one with 99 cooking or fletching etc.

While thinking about this, I started to develop a formula that would recalculate a total level and have it reflect upon the difficulty of the skills rather than just straight numbers. In other words, a maxed out cooking level would be somewhat even with a mid level construction or runecrafting.

I did some research and found the amount of people that have 99’s in each skill. (Yes I could be more accurate with times and cost, but this is just a rough idea and I think this way pretty much captures the main idea.)

Basically what you do is take each of your skills and multiply your level by the “difficulty rank”. We’ll call that total for each skill your “skill value”. Once you find all of your skill values, you add them all up and divide by 24.

The scale is as follows:   (All 1’s and 10 HP) = 14.375   (All 99’s) = 1237.5

Not a very uniform scale, but like I said its just a rough idea.

The difficulty ranks are based on the number of people who have 99. (24-Least People – 1-Most People)

Summoning – 24
Construction – 23
RuneCraft – 22
Herblore – 21
Mining – 20
Agility – 19
Farming 18
Slayer – 17
Smithing – 16
Crafting – 15
Hunter – 14
Prayer – 13
Thieving – 12
Fishing – 11
Firemaking – 10
Magic – 9
Woodcutting – 8
Range – 7
Defense – 6
Hitpoints – 5
Attack – 4
Fletching – 3
Cooking – 2
Strength – 1

Yes I realize this will take a bit of time, but keep in mind I just kinda came up with this, and its past 3AM so I’ll prolly improve on it more. Actually, I think I’m going to code a program to do all this for me, but thats another day.

Feel free to post you “new total levels” here and see how you compare. 

I’m 823.75 as of right now.

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Testing…1..2..3…

Alright, well it’s passed 1 AM and I “should’ve” been in bed a few hours ago because I do in fact have school tomorrow. It seems that I have, once again, wondered aimlessly into the vast land of Procrastination. This is a land of which I sit upon a high throne and spend most of my days pondering excuses and finding ways to postpone homework.

Ok, time to quit that analogy XD

Anyway, I’m just going to cut straight to the chase. You will see that the title coincides quite well with this paragraph, that is if you use your imagination a little. Basically, I’m not quite sure if my blog is being read by more than a few people. Why do I assume that? Well the only proof I really have of visitors is the hit counter on the side of the blog. I appreciate you guys taking time to read my stuff, and in no way am I complaining, but drop a comment every once in a while. Let me know what you think of the post, your insights, anything like that. Let me know that my time is not being wasted typing up long posts for only about 4 people to read. It sort of serves as my motivation to keep posting. I really don’t feel like posting anything anytime soon if i have a post that is like 8 paragraphs and a month old and virtually no comments.

And I don’t expect to get like 8 comments per post either. If ya like the post, tell me. If you agree with one of my rants, tell me etc. Most likely if you let me know what you think, chances are I’m gonna check out your latest entry and return the favor. Keep this ball a rollin’

I should be updating sometime within the next week on the start of school or whetever comes to mind when the time comes. Until then, take it easy.

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Gukes and Duts

Jul 19- 3 hr Drumline clinic

Jul 28- 4 hr Drumline auditions

Aug 1- Placement

Aug 4-8- 7 hr drumline practice

Ok, I seem to be getting pretty far ahead of myself already… As I mentioned in the recent post, drumline auditions and such were quickly approaching. On clinic day, we pretty much just got aquainted with each other and intrustors. Then the next week until auditions were pretty nerve racking. Auditions came and went, and I felt like I was pretty sloppy and a bit unprepared for what was expected of me. I drove home with modest thoughts about my skills and didn’t expect to get placed on anything mind-blowing. Btw, the spot I auditioned for was snare. (For those of you who don’t know what that is: If you’ve ever seen the movie drumline, it’s the type of drum that Nick Cannon plays) There were roughly 2-3 open spots for it out of 5 total. Like I said, I didn’t get my hopes up for anything.

The following few days were focused on marching techniques and warm-up drills. There are 5 different percussion instruments that the drumline consists of: Snares, Tenors (Quad Toms), Basses, Cymbals, and Bells (Pit). We each had our turn marching with and playing basic warm ups on each drum. Placement day finally came and snares were announced first. Jake, Shane, Tyler, Anthony, and………….Dave! Yes, I actually made it on snare. I couldn’t believe it. lol But anyway I’ve been extremely happy with that.

Full camp has started now and of course its 100 F+ degrees outside…ugh. Today was the first day and it was basically hell. That’s all I’m gonna say. Out on the field with a 50 some-odd pound drum on is no fun activity… Our show, field show, feature, and pre-game music were handed out today, and wow it was amazing how rusty all of us were. I, being 1 of 2 new guys on snare, was really havin to go thru rudiments and such to get the cadences right. I still got a lot to practice, but practice makes perfect right? It must be working because everything I’ve done today since ive got home has a tempo of some sort and I keep time. It gets a little old after a while tho. XD

Thats basically it. Kinda dreading the rest of the week and whats to come, but I’m gonna try to keep my head clear with some music and RS of course.

-And I bet youre wondering what the hell a “Guke” and a “Dut” is… Basically its drummer talk for counting off to begin playing. Just thought it would be interesting for a title. =P

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Summer So Far…

Ok, first of all holy shit it’s been AGES since I’ve updated this thing. I honestly had to have my password reset its been so long. Also, I want to apologize to Ryan and MQ, because I apparently have to approve comments for them to show up, but i fixed that now. And with both of their responses I agree with what they said and I’m glad to know I’m not the only one out there who sees that. If you have no idea what I’m talking about check out my previous post Idiots Incorporated.

Anyway, my summer so far has been quite decent i guess you could say. RuneScape wise its been great. Looks like last time I updated was near when Summoning was released. Since then theres been all kinds of updates. Most of which are the most memorable include Fist of Guthix. This is one of my favorite mini-games now. It tops my list up there with Pest Control. Im not a big CW guy, but thats just me. I really like all the different skill gloves you can get as rewards tho. They’ve helped me alot with fishing recently. RuneScape HD came out 2 weeks ago i guess it was, and thats fantastic! It’s a bit laggy on my computer now but i need to do some cleaning up and all that stuff anyway. Actually yesterday item lending and the new bank organization system was released. I really like the tabbed bank interface. It’ll be a  lot easier to organize items and such. Between then (last time I updated) and now ive done alot more quests, and i just hit 1630 total today. I usually take a 2-3 month break from rs over the summer and start back up when school does, but this is the first summer in almost 4 years now that ive played during the summer. Content Crew being one of the main reasons why im on a lot more now.

RSBANDB wise, I am now a proud member of the Content Crew, and actually will be doin a little work with that after I finish typin this. I really think we got a great group of people for it. Hard working and dedicated. I gotta give kudos to Southrend and Mike tho for organizing everything and keepin everything smooth. On another note, my post in RS General “Username Reference” has become far more popular than i thought it would be, so Im looking for a way to streamline the list a bit. The post on the thread where it is now is getting a little crowded tbh. Ideas are in the making but nothing has been decided yet. I think me and Kirby will work together on whatever comes about.

As for real life stuff, ive been keepin busy with my music and band stuff pretty much. I guess you could call me the unofficial manager. I organize all the practices and have the studio in my basement but thats all been keepin me pretty busy. Keepin in touch with 4 other guys with new lyrics and song ideas over the summer isnt the most easiest thing to do, but hey its my thing. Our first album should be comin this fall or winter. I spend most of my summer down at my lakehouse, and its been pretty nice down here this year. Im actually there atm lol as the matter of fact. Basically just been keepin busy with music, RS, and friends down here. Got drumline tryouts soon so that should be interesting…

I’d have to say that this summer is one of the best for music. There have been a lot of great songs and albums released this summer. One of my favorites would have to be DISTURBED’s newest one called: Indestructible. Overall there have been some great new bands (not literally new) I’ve discovered such as: The Bouncing Souls, Last Winter, Amber Pacific, etc.

Dam, i feel like i just typed a paper up for school…o well. Its off to do some CC business so i guess ill try to update this more often.

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Idiots Incorporated

Sorry its been so long since i last updated, but ive had all kinds of school projects and all that good stuff goin on. Im currently working on designing the floor plans for a house im building in drafting and a speech in English.

(The following might not pertain to you and if it doesnt just humor yourself and see if youve noticed this and if this does describe you then play close attn. and clean up your act.)

Anyway, thats all beside the point. Lately, ignorant morons have been showing their true colors lately; on RSBANDB and in real life and quite frankly I’m getting awfully sick of it. All i have to say is GROW THE HELL UP!!! They dont stop whining about things that don’t go their way and need to get over themselves. Also, they put other people down to make themselves look better. Honestly, go to hell! They think they are hot shit and really they are pathetic little morons that are unsecure about themselves. Then, they try to be “cute ” by spam posting topics in the sandbox. Get a life. Seriously. Youre not cute and you ruined it for everyone else. Grow the hell up, youre not 5. And if you are, you dont belong on the computer.

As for in real life, assholes just become a greater problem everyday. They are annoying as f*** and even worse, girls love them. This irritates the hell out of me and maybe its just me but idk. Mostly all of my female friends have asshole bf’s that treat them like shit. I always tell them to get rid of him because he’s bad news. And their response? “But i can’t. I love him!” Bullshit you love him he treats you like dirt. Anyway, i guess i just dont realize what girls see in those sorry excuses for human life. One of my female friend’s boyfriend (or so it seemed) randomly went thru her phone and saw my number and started txting me telling me to back off. I had enough and put his ass to the wall. One of his comebacks was “well maybe you should stfu…” What the hell?!?!?! Are you kidding me? Thats the best you got? Its mind-boggling to see this tragedy happen everyday, and ladies if youre in a relationship that doesnt seem right, Take a step back and look at the big picture. If hes an asshole, f***ing leave his ass. You’ll only end up getting hurt in the end.

 If you’re a pathetic asshole: get over yourself and start acting your own age you moron.

If you’re not a pathetic asshole: kudos to you and keep up the good work. the world needs more of people like you.

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Summoning, Etc.

Ok well as all of you know, the new summoning skill has been released, Tuesday January 15. It has been in the making for close to some 2-3 years, but Jagex just announced its release and progress back on Fall/Winter of 2007. In the time from announcing the release, they put out 4 development diaries documenting the progress and final stages of completing the skill. In these diaries they seemed to talk highly of the new skill and describe how vast and enormous it was going to be. (Since when dont they?! right?)haha

 Following the release on Tue, I came home from school, checked the RS main page to see if it was out yet. Since it was, I quickly finished some HW then logged on and headed to Taverly, and completed the quest. During the quest the whole skill seemed so confusing and i thought i would never fully grasp each element of it. After finishing the quest, i started doing some calculations to see how many chickens i would need to get to lvl 16 summoning.

After i got 16 it kinda hit me. Summoning isnt that big…….Don’t get me wrong i love the skill and think it is a great idea, but i dont think that its as big and helpful as they said it was gonna be. Another thing that i find rather odd is the exp gain. You get the majority of the experience from making pouches, not actually summoning the monster. Idk if its me but that kinda sounds like runecrafting. I personally think its, in essence, 3 already exsisting skills added together with a slight twist on them.

Prayer: You get a combat lvl for every 8 or so lvls you gain.

Herblore: You need an empty container (vial/pouch), a primary ingredient (herb/shards and charms), and you need a secondary ingredient (limps, newt eyes, etc./iron ore, raw chicken, etc. 

Runecrafting: You get experience for infusing a pouch but not for calling upon monsters to aid you in fighting and other skills (REMINDER: Summoning= a skill in which you call upon monsters to aid you in fighting and other skills.)

Due to these conditions I dub summoning to be:

“PRAYLORE CRAFTING”

…And don’t get me wrong, I love the skill and everything and enjoy training it i just thought that its not as big as they said it was going to be. Hopefully they will come back and surprise me in Feb. with the 2nd release of summoning. I have good feelings about the update because Abbysal and Tzhaar charms will be released from what i hear and that can only mean cooler creatures to summon and hopefully cooler speical attacks and abilities -.-

Well those are my mere thoughts of summoning so far. I’m currently lvl 24 atm and im still goin strong. Yes i agree that charms take a while to get, but you must realize that Jagex had to put some sort of restriction on it or ppl would have 99 already.

As of Sunday January 20, 2008 1:15AM CST Zezima is currently in 5th place in overall rank on the official RS highschores w/ lvl 63 summoning.

Ancace is currently the top summoner on RS atm with a lvl of 73 and xp count of 1,000,000 exactly.

If you have any questions and concerns about the summoning skill or if you have any info or advice you would like to share please visit: http://forums.rsbandb.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=62544

or: http://forums.rsbandb.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=62565 (discussion of charms such as locations, which is best for each lvl, and monsters that drop them.)

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English Class SUCKS!!!

Ok so we come back from Christmas break on the 3rd right? Right… The day goes by fine until 4th hour. What is 4th hour and why did it ruin my day you ask? 2 words: ENGLISH CLASS!!! I am not joking, we got 8 project/assisngments that day that are all due by at least Feb 4th. That includes 2 fregging speeches, and 2 article reports. We are currently doing book discussion groups and my group got The Kite Runner. Let me tell you, if you ever get the chance to read it………………..DON’T! It sucks. haha. Thats just my opinion tho, and i don’t enjoy reading for the most part. But anyway, I’ve been completely bogged down with english hw and I really don’t see how discussing books is going to help me later on down the road in life. O well, itll all be over in 2 years. I hope.lol

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New Blog!!!

Well guys here’s my new blog. I saw that everyone had one on RSBANDB so i figured id get one too. It was a little tricky finding the right theme for it but i guess this one will work for now. I dont know how often i will update , but usually i have something interesting to say every few days or so. It’s about 1:30 in the morning now and i have school tomorrow so i think i better get to bed so ill be able to get up tomorrow.

 Sorry Anubis about using the same theme, but its the only one i liked. I hope you don’t mind. =/

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