Very busy week and a half since my last real update. I feel very drawn-out right now, like a man sentenced to be slowly pulled apart by heavy horses chained to each limb.
First off, my new job: 8 hours a day of testing a large application with 9 major parts. Each day we've been running full-scale tests on the entire application, trying to stretch it to the breaking point. All this is in preparation for a major update: kind of like extreme beta testing. Being the imaginative and resourceful people we are, we've broken it a lot. Unfortunately, every time we break it, we have to test it again. I think we get to slow down next week... but I'm not holding my breath.
School: this term I have my last 3 classes (wow, it feels weird saying that!) before graduation. Capstone will be the toughest: a sort of senior thesis fortechnical types. Our class (6 people, down from 13 originals, and a transfer in from another school to boot) must build an application from scratch, using only what we've learned. Our instructor has become our advisor; his job is to make sure we don't kill each other :lol: . The biggest drawback is, I'm the best coder we have: everyone else has a talent for something, but I'm the "lucky" soul who has to make this work... no pressure really, until you factor in work and home... oh well, only 3 months until that's over.
The other two are Web Scripting (HTML, JavaScript, XHTML, some XML) and Portfolio Development (how to write a decent resume). Easy stuff there... even if I've never touched HTML before I am a programmer: I live and die by proper syntax and hunting down my errors. As for the other, it looks more like fun than real work (the instructor is very cool: I've had her for two ****s, and even though Microeconomics was horrible, she still tried not to kill us with it).
Music: OK, I've seen Iced Earth in concert 3 years ago ("The Glorious Burden" tour; we were very fortunate, as Jon Schaeffer, the guitarist and leader of the band, had major back surgery soon after and had to cut it short several months early), and they are incredible. Their latest album is part 1 of a 2-part super-epic: "Something Wicked." It's a complex story: Earth was once the home of an advanced society called the Setians. They were almost totally massacred by... us (yes, you read that right!).
Just before the slaughter, 10,000 of their chosen went into hiding, disguised themselves as humans, and cast a cloud of confusion on humanity in order to keep themfrom profiting on the destruction of their race. For 10 millenia, they lay in wait, manipulating events and keeping us divided until their Chosen One is born to lead the world into self-destruction, and only the Setians are left.
In other words, they're waiting for our Anti-Christ. Part 2 is next year... I can't wait to see how this plays out.
(Embed isn't working, so...)
Musically, it's a very strong album. Schaeffer has used his time collaborating with Hansi Kursch of Blind Guardian to learn a lot of excellent new tricks, and there are orchestral sections that make me feel the tragedy of the Setians. If you like hard rock (even if you don't, for that matter!) do yourself a huge favor and give "Framing Armageddon" a listen... it won't disappoint you.
I hope I can give you a more regular update soon; until next time, stay safe and stay sane.