Keeping It Lite

 Okay, okay, okay!

Let's take a break from the heavy stuff. I have covered that all too well in these last few entries.. So, this time, I am going to talk about hobbies and yadda yadda Yoda. I'm going to try and keep this one on the lighthearted side. If you want the heavy stuff, there's plenty elsewhere in here. So. What are some things I like to do? First of all, I am an ancient computer nerd. I like piddling with old computers, software, and games. Since I am not exactly rich, I use emulation for most of it, both VirtualBox and DOSBOX. I use Linux Mint 21 as my main OS and other instances in virtual computers to keep some aspects of my browsing separate, such as Bill paying and anything where my bank is involved. Then, I have a Windows 7 virtual computer that I use for my favorite software. It is offline, of course. It would probably be crazy to connect it anyway. There's no point either. I browse in Linux and closely vett anything that goes on that VM. I have a Windows XP virtual computer for the sole purpose of using an ancient flatbed scanner that will not work on 7 or later. I even have a few VMs that were made from real computers, such as an old HP Pavilion Windows 98 machine. However, I rarely boot those up as it is mostly a nostalgia thing. Sometimes, it is fun to step through time. I absolutely love DOSBOX for my old games and menus. I can set it up under Linux just as easily as Windows and I don't have to really change a thing. I modeled my games menu after a computer I had in the early 1990s, my Laser 486. Some of the programs and games were actually from that computer. I also have an image of the original hard drive that miraculously survived nearly 30 years in a rusted chassis stored in a closet. It wasn't even the latest version of MS-DOS. It was actually v6.20 instead. The whole thing is now stored on an M-Disk for the ages. Speaking of that, storing and backing up my decades worth of stuff is another interest of mine. I have amassed roughly 7 terabytes of movies, music, games, software, text, Doom mods, you name it. There is also a lot of personal stuff like family pictures, old home movies, Marsha's stuff, things I don't want to see lost. So I have two formats I use. First are the M-Blu-rays, 566 of them so far, started in 2015. Second are 4 8Tb hard drives, divided between a safety deposit box at my bank, an old army footlocker, and over at my father's house. I hopefully have it set up in a way that even if I lost everything else through some kind of disaster, I would at least still have all of my digital stuff, especially my memories of loved ones. I hope my children will someday take an interest in preserving it after I am gone. I plan to do the same thing with all my father's files too. But I hope it is a very long time from now. I'd like to keep what family and friends I have left. Still, it does my heart good to imagine this Martian Data center, or this space station orbiting some extra-solar planet, with my mother's picture, my sister's beautiful countenance, my grandmother and grandfather, my Dad's MS-DOS batch files, stored somewhere in its data banks, or maybe all those 1s and 0s beaming through the vastness of the universe, ancient historical documents in the Galactic Imperial Library, granting immortality to the ones so dear to my heart. It's a daydream, a fantasy I'll never know may ever come true. But it sure makes for a pretty picture in my mind. So, that fairly much describes my first interest. What else? Well, computer games for one. 1990s first person shooters, 2000s and 2010's visual novels. In the first, I get to fight monsters. In the second, I get to date anime girls. Just don't get the two confused, right? Although there exists such things as Monster Girl 3D. A-wha?  I also happen to like some of those simulation games like Daigaku Gurashi, for which I even created my own custom characters. There was also Heartache 101, which I used to describe as electronic crack. It was an extremely addictive game! It was a combination board game and visual novel built in RPGmaker. People also made custom characters and stories. Basically the hours would fly by if I wasn't careful. It was an awesome game. 

I am a definite Futurama fan, and it's all because of my sister. She had sent me some recordings of the show on VHS tape many years ago, though the show had been out a good while. The first episode I saw was not Space Pilot 3000, but "The Cryonic Woman" in which Bender kept scaring that poor old dude in the freezer. That was the episode that got me hooked. I still laugh my ass off at that scene, "I'm a horrible robot!!!!". I also think of Marsha every time I watch Futurama. Episodes like "The Sting" and "Luck O The Fryish" kick even harder in the heart. Geesh... Didn't I promise to talk about lighter things? Beetlejuice, both the movie and the cartoon was something else we had in common. I had recorded a bunch of episodes on VHS tape and she'd come over and watch it with me. "Generally Hysterical Hospital" was one of our favorites. We'd also watch a lot of Star Trek, and the only Freddy movie I had at the time, part 4. I liked the Nightmare movies. I also really enjoy some of those weird movies like "Stay Tuned" and "Mom And Dad Save The World." I liked most of the Adam Sandler movies, and Chris Farley's "Beverly Hills Ninja" is freaking hilarious. Then there was Back To The Future, Bill And Ted, and of course the original Star Wars and Prequels. I went to watch Episode III at the theater in Tallahassee back in 2005, with Marsha. It's yet another memory. Another movie I absolutely love is Galaxy Quest. By Grabthar's Hammer, what a movie! Most of the stuff I love seems to be from the 20th century. Not only the 80s and 90s, like Gremlins, the Mad Max movies, and Ghostbusters, but also far older like Lon Cheney Jr's "Son Of Dracula" from 1943 or Rita Hayworth's Gilda from 1946. And hey, I have loved "The Wizard Of Oz" since I was a little kid. There is probably a lot of stuff I am missing. I love science fiction of all kinds. TV shows like Twilight Zone, Amazing Stories, And The Outer Limits.  Most forms of 20th century Trek except for Deep Space Nine, aside from really good episodes like "The Visitor" or anything Worf centric. The first two seasons of Miami Vice were awesome but the rest were so-so. The A-Team was kickass, and any episode of "Three's Company" that had the Ropers. Norman Fell was hilarious. My favorite Batman episodes were Two Face and Almost Got Em. I guess it is something about the evolution of Harvey's character. Then there is my favorite episode of The Justice League, Hereafter, where Superman is teleported to the far future where he meets a different Vandal Savage, humbled and changed by 30,000  years. Then there is "A Better World" where we find an alternate dimension of 'evil' versions of the Justice League. They themselves still believe they are doing good by ruling the Earth and stamping out crime. It illustrates that fine line between liberty and security that Ben Franklin spoke of. I like stuff that makes me think. As for music, I like a lot of genres, from the extremely early 21st century all the way back to the 1940s. My biggest love is old rock and roll, from 50s doo wop, 60s British Invasion, California Scene, and psychedelia, 80s New Wave, Hiphop and Hair Metal, to 1990s alternative and grunge. Old country is good too, and even a smattering of Big Band. Have you ever heard Marion Morgan's voice? It's so angelic. It would be easier to just list the music I don't like, such as most autotune crap, and modern country with all that rockabilly prissing and prancing. It annoys the piss outta me. Let me sum it up in a Guns N Roses lyric: "You ain't special, so who ya foolin'?"  Meanwhile, I have been stopping by my local Goodwill about once a week to find old records and CD's. I have surfaced quite a few gems. I think my CD collection may soon well surpass what I had in the 1990's, and I had a lot back then. Only this time they're only a couple dollars a piece, so that makes them much more affordable than back then. I am not a fan of streaming. First if all the internet speed where I live has never been the best, and I prefer owning records or CDs. Since most of what I like is decades old, they're fairly easy to find. Now where was I? Ah, Goodwill, right? I also look for old electronics and cool T shirts. It's like a little treasure hunt. I even find a cool movie once in a while. It's one of the highlights of my week that helps chase away those heavy thoughts. 

Now, let me talk about games. Before the original Doom swept me off my feet, I played games like King's Quest with all those riddles and puzzles of how to get past the monster. Then along came Doom where eliminating the monster was straight forward and a lot more satisfying. My interest soon spread to other FPS games like Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, and Shadow Warrior. I didn't discover Wolfenstein 3D until after I discovered Doom, even though it was older. Still I spent many hours roaming those halls, too. The old DOS version of Lemmings was another favorite of mine. I used to think they shouted another two word phrase instead of "Let's Go!" at the beginning of each level, to which I'd reply,"You too, buddy!". I never evolved to all of those Call Of Duty type games that came later. They just never were my cup of tea. I prefer fighting pixelated monsters and aliens instead. For the longest time, FPS games were mostly all I played. Then along came Katawa Shoujo that introduced me to visual novels, along with totally blowing my mind. That is a long story of its own. Let's just say that it changed me. My favorite visual novels are Katawa Shoujo, Princess Evangile, Kana Immouto, also School Days and Fruit Of Grisaia... Though I never cared for certain obligatory scenes present in most VNs, and the protagonists in the latter two were especially different than I would have been. Now, if you want to see something really messed up, try Nekomarudow's Yandere or the Song Of Saya. On second thought, you might want to stear clear of those two. In the first, be sure to pick the obvious lunatic. Shy and quiet does not mean safe. In the second, just take my advice and don't. The main menu song,  "Sabbath," is about the only soothing thing you will find in that game. The rest will scar you for life. No joke. There were also a couple of flash games I really liked, such as Nanaca Crash and Werewolf Tycoon, Haroooooooooo!  Okay, so I have covered movies, music, and games. Okay, how about books and audiobooks? I have an extensive collection of Star Wars and Star Trek audiobooks. Despite its age, H.G. Wells, The Time Machine is really enjoyable. Issac Asimov's books, especially his robot and foundation series. The Robots of Dawn being my favorite of the first and Prelude To Foundation being my favorite of the second. As for print books, nothing beats Stephen King's The Stand. I especially like Larry's story. That miniseries didn't do him justice. In addition to books, I read (or have my robot read for me) a lot of fan fiction. There are quite a few Star Wars stories where Episode III played out differently, like Anakin not turning, but Obi-Wan or Ahsoka did. There was also one where Vader figured out Leia was his daughter and saved both her and Alderaan from the Death Star. My favorite is where Anakin got sent 20 years into the future. People write some cool stuff, you know.  Another cool time travel fan fiction involved a redeemed Count Dooku. Sadly, the writer never finished that one. I can lose myself in a good story. It's perfect for chasing those heavy thoughts away.

So what else am I into? I tried gardening for a couple of years and was doing awesomely until the damned deer destroyed my perfect little rows. Man, I was upset. For that reason, I do not mind the hunters, even if I don't hunt, myself. If you ever see me out there hunting, you can bet the apocalypse happened. Otherwise I do my best hunting at the gwocery store, wabbits. hahahahaha. I used to be into radios and antennas long ago, but the good stations have all gone away, and I am just not sociable enough to use my amateur license very much anymore. Really, that part of it was more about being a part of my father's hobby than for me, as he was very much more into answering the net and exchanging QSL cards. It seems the internet has supplanted so many things. Surfing the web and archiving my favorite web pages is something I still enjoy, but the cool stuff out there these days is getting pretty few and far between, such as 1990's Doom websites, or fan pages for my favorite celebrities, games, and Yadda yadda Yoda. My advice is that If you see something you like out there in cyberspace, save it immediately. The internet, even simple fan pages, has always been here today, gone tomorrow kinda thing. You may be lucky and find it on the internet archive, but even then, there will still be missing images and dead links. See it, like it, even bookmark it.... But save it too. Years ago I used a browser addon by Gomita, known as Scrapbook. I could save pages one or two links deep, so long as I limited them to a narrow category. Later I started using Singlefile that just does one page at a time, which works for most things. Then I also screengrab the same page as a PNG. Between those two methods, I can preserve most anything. See it, like it, save it. That's what I do. I once read that the average lifespan for a web page on the internet is about 100 days. Not cool, my friend. Not cool at all. Suffice to say my html collection so far is upwards of 200 gigabytes. See it, like it, save it. 

I have also created a few amateurish HTML pages locally based on my limited knowledge of the language. They will never see the internet proper. I did make a tribute page for my baby sister that I may have hosted somewhere, someday. It may look like it's from the 1990s, but I would also that it expresses my undying love for her, even if its messy background of Hubble galaxies interposed with here writings, articles, and pictures doesn't look exactly professional. Right now it exists as part of my homepage, locally stored on my computer, and as a compressed backup in my files. It is part of that digital pyramid that I hope worthy of far more than an Egyptian Queen. For it is my wish for her to be long remembered as if she were Cleopatra herself. Here I go again. Didn't I say I was going to keep this entry on the lighthearted side? 

So, Computers, Movies, Games, Music, Programming, internet, Radio, and Gardening, huh? What else? I am fairly proficient at Audacity. Although the way I use it, it might as well be called Yarrrrrdacity arrrrr! If ya land lubbers know what I mean. Another program I am good at is one my boss from a decade back taught me how to use: Ultraedit. I learned it for work, but quickly realized how great it is for programming, be it BASIC, Batch Files, or HTML. Ultraedit is awesome So was my boss. Wherever you are in the universe, my friend, thank you for that knowledge. Even 10 years later, I use it most everyday. So there you have it, a blog entry where I stay away from most of those heavy thoughts, Also a rundown of all the various things I like. I really should get back into those, or even better, find something new. I guess I'll still love the old things as I always have. Marsha and I had this in common, too. We did not jump from fashion or fad to fashion or fad. With us, once a fan, always a fan. Still, I sometimes think I'd be better off breaking away from the computer box, maybe, just maybe get out into the world a bit. There is so much more out there. At the same time, I realize all too well that I am no longer young. Watching your baby graduate high school will do that to you. I really don't know what to do. I sure ain't skydiving. Who in their right mind jumps out of a perfectly good airplane? I'm not bungee jumping either. I prefer my drawers to be clean, thank-ya-very-much. I already said you won't see me hunting unless in an apocalyptic cataclysm where I also have to either fight or join Lord Humongous and his gang. That would be gravely disappointing. I have never liked sports, just not my thing. I am an old fashioned nerd after all.  I do like to write, as you may have guessed, but I might even consider taking a step back from that. It may be good to vent, but returning to that world, time and time again, probably ain't the most healthy thing in the world. I really need a new perspective, maybe something I have never seen before, even in all this time.  I have been through some times, kept my promise, and have seen so many changes. I wonder if now is the time to start fresh, new life, clean slate? Could this be the moment? Could it really be now. It's that familiar question about where to go from here. Could possibilities remain? Could this be more of a beginning than an ending? Who knows. Stay Tuned, my friends.