Smallhouse Log

third Sunday after Epiphany

I went looking on my wife's bookshelves for Alice in Wonderland, and ended up with Neurotic Distortion of the Creative Process. Hmm.

The overall thesis seems to be that the creative forces are not something inherently occluded by the mind, but rather that they can, and should be, brought under conscious control.

fourth day of Christmas

I planned to keep myself amused these twelve days by working on that set of projects codenamed "Teacup", the descendent of the bears/rabbits/genetics/ecosystem sim/games that I've been iterating for the past two years. The most recent iteration was begun in the early summer, with the intent that I would write very organized, well documented code.

Well, in that regard, it is half-successful. I recently hit a problem and had to go over old code. Unfortunately, the lack of documentation removed all the benefits of my rigorously organized code; Fortunately, the rigorous organization and clarity of my code compensated for my lack of documentation and comments.

Now that the roadblock is fixed, I find myself once more apathetic about the larger problem: lack of documentation.

Wednesday, third week of Advent

Irony: Knowing my computer is infected, I am googling for AVG anti-virus. One of the viruses present, however, has the delightful effect of redirecting hyperlinks (especially Google search results) to different pages, presumable for PPC ad revenue. The page the virus redirected me to? A purchase page for McAfee anti-virus.

That's right. McAfee has contracted ads with someone who uses viruses to up PPC traffic. Hilarious.

NB: I did, infact, get the AV I wanted and clear up Asbestos.

Monday

Employed, and started work. As a contractor (much computer professional work being on a contractor basis), I don't get paid for training, but I've managed to do some actual work. More exciting, I've been working more on my game project, the one with the bears and rabbits. I want to call it Teacup, for some reason. Right now I also think of it as the Cursed Fighter, not because of any bad luck —though the last two days have been a storm of (eventually successful) testing, debugging, and re-writing— but because I'm trying to switch from using standard out to curses. I also feel productive, because in a whirlwind of success, Claire and I knocked out the last two gold trophies that had been eluding us on 150cc in Double Dash, and then took the Gold in the All Cup on a more relaxed 100. Yeah, more video game blather.

But this morning, I'm thinking about all my old ZZT games, and giving them a new Internet home here at Smallhouse, or a subsite for Akim Productions. Maybe adding the prototype 'Terminal Fighter' game. (The name came after 'Cursed Fighter', I don't know what I'll do if I decide to switch to PyGame for display again.)

Wednesday, eighth week

In more Zelda news: now that Prills has beaten Wind Waker twice and Twilight Princess twice, once each to get through it and once each to get everything, I've pushed ZSNES and a Link to the Past ROM on her, along with my USB controller. After some initial swearing, she seems hooked. Victory for the bad influence that is me!

Myself, after reading five reviews saying Civ V is no better and in some ways worse than Civ IV, I figured "Well, I might as well play some Civ IV, then." So it's back, and Fall from Heaven II is back with it, though as yet unplayed.

I've been working very hard to become employed, you see. I can't tell you where because I signed an NDA, but I'm finishing up the aptitude test today, and am confident I will pass. And then I still won't be able to tell you where, but I'll be employed. Hoo-ray! Hedging my bets with some interviews at new restaurants today, though.

In either case, I hope to be gainfully employed by sundown tomorrow.

Tuesday, fourth week

So, Legend of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is one of the best video games ever made.

Tetris is also one of the best videogames ever made. Last night, I dreamed up a way to combine the two. Literally, as in I was asleep in bed, and it came to me in a dream.

I am impossibly excited about this.