Ow

If someone ever says to you 'Hey, buddy, I'm gonna go take a walk in the woods while blindfolded in hopes of finding something'...  Please stop them.

Thank goodness I wrapped up those hedge clippers.  Nasty little tumble down a hill.  Just kind of bruised.  Few cuts.

Painkillers kicking in now.  Going to bed early.  More tomorrow.

Dumb Plan

I'm starting to get fed up with all the bullshit everyone seems to be pulling now.  Seems like everyone wants to either be a goddamn martyr or murder everyone or hell maybe even both.

Whatever, fuck it.

I've got my blindfold.  I've got my hedge clippers wrapped up in a towel.  Got my GPS.  Got my first aid kit just in case.  Long pants and long-sleeved shirt to avoid scraping up my arms and legs.  Hiking boots.  Walking stick.  Cell phone.  Apartment key.  I think that's all I'll need.

Maybe someday I'll listen to my own advise.  Until then, I'm going on a nature walk, and looking forward to a nice cup of tea this evening.

Take care guys.

The Game

You just lost it.

Strangely enough, this relates strongly to what we're doing here.  Let me explain.

A game can be broken down into two components: rules and players.  For now, I'm looking at the rules.

The rules can, likewise, be broken down into three sub-components: entry conditions, terms, and exit conditions.

Entry conditions are the ways in which you enter a game.  To a game of poker, it's being dealt chips and cards.  In chess, it's sitting on the opposite end of a chessboard and deciding who goes first.

Terms are the rules of the game.  Poker has a complex series of bids, counter bids, dealing processes, and rearrangement of chips.  Chess has specific moves for each of the pieces, as well as certain special moves (castling, pawn advancement).

Exit conditions are how you know when the game is over, whether someone wins or you just lose.  Poker's is when you leave or lose all your chips.  Chess' is when you get checkmated, or when a stalemate occurs.

The Game has a very clear cut set of rules.  Let me spell them out for you.

Players: Everyone who has heard of it.

Entry conditions: Learning about The Game.

Terms
-If you think about The Game, you lose.
-If you lose The Game, you are to announce it out loud.

Exit Conditions:
To never hear about The Game again.
To never have heard about the Game in the first place.

Sound familiar, anyone?

Excuse me.  These hedge clippers aren't going to find themselves, and this blindfold is being quite unhelpful at the time.

Take care, guys.

Introduction [New Start]

...

Originally, I wanted to keep this blog as me-free as possible.  I wanted to stay mostly anonymous, as some guys who just rambled on and on about different theories and ideas that ultimately lead nowhere.  I... guess that doesn't matter so much anymore.  The few people in the world who I didn't want to know about me already do.  Where I live.  Where my family lives.  What I do...

So, I guess, while I still want to ramble on and on about theory, there's no reason not to tell you guys about myself, a little.

You guys have the jist of what I study, where I go to school and such from previous posts, but I guess making this the new start to my blog will be as good as anything.

I live in Kentucky, and I'm studying to become a high school teacher for math and sciences (primarily physics).  I'm 20 and my birthday is actually coming up here in October.  I'm a pretty big guy in all ways sans muscles.  I try to keep my hair short and out of the way and I'm a huge fan of nerdy reference t-shirts.  I love playing games (of any kind: board, card, video, etc), sampling new foods, puzzles, logic, reading, comedy...  Few things actually make me happier than dressing up as a hipster, going to a 'hipster' type restaurant, ordering a good cup of tea, and sitting and reading a ridiculously out of place book.  Like George Dubya Bush's autobiography.  I get some hilarious looks.

I guess I'm mostly a nice guy, but I tend to have some temper problems...  I guess my last post kind of showed that off.  I usually try not to let this sort of stuff bother me, since I'm not really a stranger to bullying, but...  When someone takes someone you love and desecrates them...

no no.  Not gonna think about that.

Uhm...  I guess there's plenty more I can say about myself, but I'd rather if you guys asked.  I'm not really sure what else to say...

Oh.  Yeah, right.

I guess I've been infected for a while now.  I saw Marble Hornets back when it first came out, thought nothing of it, watched it the whole way through, spent a few nights in terror, and then promptly forgot about it.  I got back into it a few months back with EMH and TT, and my curiosity spread to the blogs.  I guess there's no turning back now, huh?

Alright, take care guys.

-Matthew Duncan

A Missed Opportunity

Me: 6' physics/education major at some college in Kentucky, hoping to someday go into education maybe.  Husky, short hair, blue eyes.  Often wearing a t-shirt with a nerdy reference on it and jean shorts.

You: Some asshole who I can only assume is a proxy who, while I was at home, snuck to my near-campus apartment, chucked a brick through the window, and lay the rotting remains of my beloved pet on my fucking bed.  The Operator Symbol was a nice fucking touch.

Allow me to make myself perfectly clear right now.

I'm going to find you.

I'm going to get my hands on you.

I'm going to slit your throat and strangle you from the inside.

Still at home

Something...

Or someone...

...dug up Whisker's grave over the weekend.

I...

This...

Fucking A.

My parents buried her in our backyard, near my dad's garden, just like we did to Cookie a few years back.

We were gone for the weekend, and the person watching over our house said she didn't see anyone come by, other than the usual (people passing by, walking dogs, playing, etc).  The neighbors didn't see anything either.

The thing getting me here is apparently our neighbor's dog didn't bark.  I... I guess I figured dogs kind of made a safe zone.  Apparently not?  I'm just kind of hoping that it was a dog that did it, then.  Or some other sort of animal.  I mean, it couldn't have been a shovel that dug her up.  The hole wasn't... neat enough, I guess?  My dad grew up on a farm, and apparently there's a method of telling the difference between digging something up and clawing up the earth.  I couldn't see it, but if our dog didn't go apeshit (which she does), I guess it would have had to been an animal.

My mom kind of burst into hysterics and my dad and brother are trying to calm her down, so I'm staying here for a few more days and helping with that.  We'd call the police, but, well...  What are we gonna say?  Someone stole our dead rabbit?

Gotta think about something else...

Uh, right.  Magic the Gathering.  Not sure if anyone plays, but they banned JtMS and Stoneforge from Standard today.  Greatest thing I've heard in a while.  Finally, Grand Architect will stand at the top of the meta!  ...once it overcomes Hawkward, Splinter Twin, and RDW.

Rambling, yeah.  OK, so I kind of already said this on Maduin's blog a while back, but I'm not sure if anyone saw it and I'm an attention whore.  The Eldrazi are a race of beings from the Blind Eternities, which is pretty much the space between planes of existence.  They have no physical form.  There are three big ones: Emrakul (the Aeons Torn), Kozilek (Butcher of Truth), and Ulamog (the Infinite Gyre).  They basically went around devouring planes of existence (from what I can remember, the mythos is something I'm just getting into) for a while, until they were stopped.

The people who stopped them were Ugin the Spirit Dragon, Sorin Markov, and some (as of yet) unnamed third guy.  They...  OK, hold on, getting ahead of myself.  In the MtG universe, there are beings called planeswalkers that can hop around the planes of existence (provided they know where they're going).  These three were planeswalkers dedicated to stopping the Eldrazi.  However, in order to do so, they needed the right stuff.

First, the Eldrazi had to be contained in a plane with powerful mana.  The plane of Zendikar was a perfect choice, as mana there is ridiculously crazy and casting spells can have weird side effects.  So basically, they lured the Eldrazi to Zendikar, and then the three planeswalkers dropped a train on them.  Sorin Markov, a vampire specializing in life-draining magic, was somehow able to force the Eldrazi into a physical form, and then Ugin used his invisible fire breath (I feel like I'm losing some of you at this point) to hold off the Eldrazi.  The third guy used magic dealing with gems and minerals, and was able to create a gem (names the Eye of Ugin) that sealed the Eldrazi in the Blind Eternities.

Cut forward an untold amount of time.  Nicol Bolas, one of the meanest, baddest dudes (read: dragon) in the multiverse begins manipulating events to free the Eldrazi (I'm remembering this stuff as best I can, and don't feel like looking it up).  He uses his minion, Sarkan Vol (a planeswalker who specializes in dragony magics) to guard the Eye of Ugin and try and figure out it's mysteries.  Chadra Nalar, planeswalker and pyromancer extraordinaire, finds a map to the Eye of Ugin by stealing it from some shmucks, and for some reason unknown to me decides to follow it.  Cue Jace Beleren, planeswalker and mind mage.  He was the one originally in possession of the map, and goes to hunt Chadra.  Shenanigans happen and other bullshit, which culminates in Chadra and Jace fighting Sarkan Vol.  Sarkan takes a dragon form and begins whipping Jace and Chadra's asses (metaphorically), and Jace, who had figured out bits and pieces about the chamber, told Chadra to summon a colorless fire.  She finds she is able to do so, and they beat Sarkan... and blow open the Eye.  Cue Eldrazi rush.

Jace and Chadra leave and don't look back, more or less.  Sorin is hanging around Zendikar and saves Nissa, an elfen planeswalker, from some Eldrazi.  He then basically tells her the gist of the situation and she comes along to help repair the Eye.  Adventures happen, and they find their way into the chamber.  Sorin decides to look around, and it's in this instance that Nissa decides that completely destroying the Eye is the best way to get the Eldrazi out of Zendikar.  she completely destroys it, Sorin says 'Fuck this, I'm out', and Nissa quickly discovers she was a giant moron and goes to track down Sorin to get him to help fix this mess... again.

Lots of holes, but I can't remember a lot of it and, frankly, I can't be assed to do more right now.

Heading back to campus tomorrow.

Take care guys.

Gone for the weekend

I went home yesterday as, today, my family and I have traveled to a family reunion.  I'll be here until Sunday, and then I'll be back to work Monday.

I guess, at Maurice's request...

My rabbit's name was Whiskers (once again, she was adopted, so the name was not ours).  She was... I believe the term was a Dutch rabbit.  She had a white streak down the top of her head and around the front of her torso, and the rest was an odd mismash of brown, gray, and white.  She lived to be about 14, according to my mom (who honestly knows better than I do).  We originally adopted her to keep our other rabbit, Cookie, company.  I remember how, at the beginning, they hated eachother.  They'd always get into a fight and cause a ruckus, so one of them had to be kept in the cage while one got to hop around the room.  It didn't take a long time for the two of them to bond, though.  It would become a habit of theirs to sleep on top of eachother.  It was adorable.

And then Cookie died.

We were out when it happened.  Someone who was watching our home had apparently heard her scream.  Apparently rabbits scream when they die?  Regardless, Cookie screamed and died, and we got back a day later.  We boxed her up and buried her in the back yard.

Whiskers...  She knew, I think.  Eventually.  The two of them had a ritual where one would thump theirs feet against the ground to alert the other, and we would sometimes thump against the grounds, and Whiskers would come running.  I think... she wanted to see Cookie one more time.  I'd like to think that.  Eventually, this reaction faded away, and she seemed to get a lot more withdrawn.

When I was younger, I loved to get down on the ground in front of them and watch them eat and give them Eskimo kisses (where you rub noses together, you know?) and I guess that's a little juvenile, but it was a symbol of my love for them, and I always tried to do that at least once per visit.

...I think I've thoroughly embarrassed myself now.  I'm heading to bed.