Wednesday was a lot of firsts for me. My first IV. My first surgery. My first time getting high.

It was all an interesting experience. One of the anesthesiologists was a gamer, so we had a brief conversation about games like World of Warcraft and Age of Conan before I crashed. He of course lied to me and said we'd talk more after the surgery. When I woke up, a nurse asked me about how much pain I felt and such, and then they gave me some morphine. This is where the fun began.

As bad as I feel about saying this, being on morphine was one of the greatest experiences I ever had, and it helps you understand a little more about why people destroy their lives to get high. I'm not going to ruin my life to get my hands on more morphine, but it felt great while I was on it. I was happy, the pain didn't bother me, everything was great. Now that the drugs have worn off, I'm not in such a great mood. I have to take two different painkillers and an antibiotic several times a day, and they don't really help much. I have to ice the cut every so often. I had to remove the bandage on the cut yesterday, which was a painful experience in its own right. It's almost enough to make me envy my friend who was prescribed morphine after his surgery.

So while I'm missing my high, I've been playing more on my freshly repaired Xbox 360. The 360 is finally quiet like it's supposed to be, and it seems to be running games better too. For example, some matches on Halo 3 had blood and some didn't before the repairs. Now, they all do. Yay!

Yesterday, I went to Family Video to pick up a couple games and movies. If you've looked at my gamertag being displayed on the page here, you may have realized that the games I rented were Deadliest Catch: Alaskan Storm and Battlefield: Bad Company. Deadliest Catch is surprisingly deep, but has bland graphics and some minor bugs. It's more of a boat management sim than anything, so a lot of people might get turned off by it's slow pacing. Bad Company, on the other hand, its surprisingly good. It's fast, fun, and you can blow up almost anything. The destructible environments carry over to the multiplayer quite well, allowing you to blow enemies out of cover inside a building rather than going in after them. Wall in your way? Instead of going around it, blow a hole through it! I also rented Pan's Labyrinth and American Gangster, but I haven't watched either yet.

That's about all I've got to go over for now. Thanks for reading.

-infect999

SONG OF THE POST: Green Day - Welcome to Paradise

I apologize in advance to anyone who happens to live in or around the state of Massachusetts. You may find this blog to be offensive. Most of the things I will be covering are generalizations and may not apply to every last living person in the location. Thank you for understanding, and enjoy.

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A year ago after my fishing trip to Canada, I wrote a little entry about what I had learned during my journey. I decided that since I learned quite a few things (and confirmed several things I already knew), I'd write this successor of sorts. So, without further delay, here is what I learned in Massachusetts.

1. Massachusetts is, indeed, the Gate to Hell
At first, I thought it was just Salem. But as I journeyed, I learned that the entire state is almost literally a doorway for the demons of Hell. Salem is the home of many a pagan and practicing witch, with stores full of "witch balls", pentagrams, and copies of the Book of Shadows. After taking a "ghost" tour of Plymouth, I was shown the town's quite large activity of demons, which includes one who manifests himself as a famous Native American (and even killed a police officer by pushing him down the stairs, no lie.) And Boston...I'll get to that later.

2. Plymouth Rock is a lie
After taking a historical tour of the town of Plymouth as well, I learned that Plymouth Rock is a load of crap. Apparently, a 90+ year old man told some people to not construct by the harbor at a spot because that's where the pilgrims landed. He claimed to know the spot because his father (or grandfather) was on the Mayflower. Skeptical, they carried the old man out to the shore and asked him to point out the first rock they touched. He pointed to Plymouth Rock, and everyone believed him. By the way, his ancestors were not on the Mayflower.

3. Boston really sucks
I'll be straightforward: I did not like Boston or it's surrounding area. Not being a fan of big cities in the first place, Boston further convinced me that heavily populated areas are the most awful places in civilization. The people are rude (most noticably when behind the wheel), and apparently on the east coast, generally downright stupid. They can't even speak English correctly! (I heard a man say "where do you go?" instead of "where are you going?", and the only reason I understood what he meant is because his wife responded with "I'm going this way".) While walking the "freedom trail" sequence of historical attractions in the city, my family was caught up in a large crowd of people standing on either side of a closed off street. After seeing a...diverse, if you will...group of people, many in rainbow-colored attire, I figured out what was going on, but I wasn't sure if my parents had. After leaving the group, my mother asked about what was going on. My instincts were right: we had passed through just a few minutes ahead of a gay pride parade. No offense to anyone of that sexual orientation who may be reading, but I don't agree with homosexuality...and gay pride parades can be downright scary. Not a place I wanted to be. Boston had a bad first impression, and never got any better. It's still the trouble-making locale it was famed for being during the American Revolution.

4. People in Massachusetts fail at building roads
Heavily used roads in very poor condition. Exit ramps that require you to slow to 20mph while still on the freeway (unless you're some sort of masochist who loves totaling your car and inflicting yourself with hefty medical and auto repair bills). Incoming ramps that have stop signs at the end. Seriously, it's hard enough with the bad drivers in the state. They're asking for some massive wrecks and slow traffic.

5. People around there must really love Dunkin' Donuts
Because there's about three per square mile in the small area I was in. And that's hardly an exaggeration. Until this little trip, I had completely forgotten about the existence of Dunkin' Donuts, due to the significant lack of any being within 300 square miles of my home. Of course, I ate there three times, the last time while in the airport, forced to eat there with lack of other options. Don't get me wrong, the donuts were fine, but it really wasn't that amazing of a restaraunt. Which makes me wonder why there's such a dense population of them in eastern Mass. and Rhode Island. TV commercials (and the little paper bags) claim that "America runs on Dunkin'". Something tells me they haven't realized that America has grown a bit in the past 300 years.

6. Hotels in Massachusetts are ripoffs
$110 a night for two adults and an average size room with a small TV and 20 channels, half of which are local channels, and a continental breakfast if you're lucky. Seriously, around here $110 for a hotel room gets you into a nice hotel with a big room, super comfy beds, good TVs with tons of channels, an awesome pool, and guaranteed breakfast. We could've gotten several of the rooms we stayed in for $50 a night if it weren't around there.

7. Whale watching = awesomeness
Whale watching is pure awesomeness, and anyone who thinks otherwise can go on a whale watching tour and jump off the boat after you're 10 miles away from the coast.

Don't get the wrong idea, this trip wasn't horrible. In fact, there were many enjoyable moments. Learning about the witch trials in Salem was cool, hearing the ghost stories of Plymouth was chilling, and seeing Stephen Colbert chew out the Cookie Monster for eating fruit last night was fantastic. It's just that Massachusetts has so many issues, it was sometimes hard to enjoy myself. All said and done, I won't be returning to Massachusetts any time soon.

IN OTHER NEWS:

I came home expecting to find a box containing my freshly repaired Xbox 360. Instead, I found emptiness and a note from UPS. Apparently, you have to sign for the package. After efforts to try to get the package tonight were met with failure, I'm forced to wait until Monday. I guess you can't have a red ring of death without at least a week's worth of suffering, eh?

I guess there isn't much else to say tonight, so thanks for reading.

-infect999

SONG OF THE POST: Daughtry - Home

This both pisses me off and makes me rejoice. The fan was incredibly loud, so hopefully it'll be replaced, and I get an extended warranty and free month of XBL gold. Plus, my summer vacation is starting off with a trip to Boston (we got free plane tickets to anywhere in the continental US), which I'm leaving for this Thursday, so the 360 should be back by the time I get home. The bad news: I'll miss the Halo 3 community game night that I was really looking forward to. Sorry Kevin, I'll be sitting this one out.

Anyway, last night was quite a wild one. Severe weather was all over the midwest, with some tornadoes even touching down between Chicago, IL and Gary, IN. My town didn't get hit too hard, but basically everyone south of us got bombed. Even Milwaukee had a tornado warning! I've been interested in this site www.tornadovideos.net after seeing some sick videos on the youtube. What's cool is they actually do live feed of their stormchasing, in which you can watch some video and track them with a google maps aplication. The feed is a bit choppy and cuts out, so I haven't seen much, but maybe one of these days I'll see a tornado unfolding live on my computer.

I've got just one more exam tomorrow, and then I'm free for the summer. Except my plans are a little messed up now. After visiting a doctor last week, I discovered that I needed a surgery done. I'm not going into details about the condition on here, since I'm not sure it's exactly an appropriate topic, but I can say that it's not a life-or-death situation that I'm in, just something that needs attention quickly. So I'll basically be on downtime for a month. Not only does this disrupt my football training, but it prevents me from getting a much-needed job, and the surgery will be done during the week of my church's VBC, so I'll be missing part of that too.

It's a semi-depressing situation, but I'm at least getting a taste of those lazy summers that I miss.

I gotta go now, since there's another T-storm rolling through. Hopefully I'll post an update while I'm in Massachusetts.

-infect999

SONG OF THE POST: 3 Doors Down - Train

Artwork:

Genre(s):
Heavy Metal
Hard Rock

Track Listing:
1. "Indestructible" - 4:38
2. "Inside the Fire" - 3:51
3. "Deceiver" - 3:49
4. "The Night" - 4:46
5. "Perfect Insanity" - 3:56
6. "Haunted" - 4:42
7. "Enough" - 4:19
8. "The Curse" - 3:24
9. "Torn" - 4:09
10. "Criminal" - 4:15
11. "Divide" - 3:36
12. "Façade" - 3:47

Length:
49:15

Released:
June 3, 2008 (US)
June 2, 2008 (Everywhere Else)

The Review:
It's been a long three years since Disturbed's 2005 hit Ten Thousand Fists. The band entertained the ears of it's loyal fans with a steady stream of popular singles almost into 2007, but it didn't quench the thirst for new, and better, material. And finally in 2008, Disturbed delivers a treat that meets the needs of the fans...and beyond.

Disturbed started out as little more than a Nu-metal band, debuting their music to the world with 2000's The Sickness. What seperated them from the pack were some fantastic, well-crafted singles that were catchy and fun to listen to. Since then, the band has slowly tried to move further from the Nu-metal genre, and came pretty close with Ten Thousand Fists. With Indestructible, the band finally hits that mark, maturing into more of a core heavy metal band. It feels like almost like a whole new $tyle compared to the albums of old, featuring more complicated guitar parts, solos on several songs, and an overall composition that is more mature, if anything.

That's all great, but there's another major issue that needed attention with this album. Each of Disturbed's first three releases suffered greatly from second halves that just couldn't compare to their outstanding starts. Luckily, the problem is absent in Indestructible. The second half feels just as strong as the first in this effort, if not stronger. This is a fantastic improvement, as it makes the entire album that much more enjoyable.

The album has more areas where vast improvements are noticable, but there is one point in which the album feels lesser than it's predecessors, and it's one of the worst possible places: the opening track. One of the best parts of Disturbed albums has been fantastic album openers that really pump you up for what's to come, and are even some of the best tracks on their respective albums. As for Indestructible's opener, cleverly named "Indestructible", not so much. While it's a solid track on it's own rights, it would've fit much better towards the middle of the album. Second track (and lead single) "Inside the Fire" or the fast-paced, grinding "Divide" would've made for a much better opener.

With that said, the rest of the album is simply wonderful ear candy, and an obvious step in the right direction for the band. As stated before, Indestructible feels like a true heavy metal album now. Draiman and co. have stepped up and tested not only their ability to play, but to compose, creating much more intricate pieces than previously heard. Draiman does his part as well, and expands his vocals in a smart manner, noticably but not to a point where avid listeners become uneasy. As a whole, the album sounds quite improved and different, yet manages to keep from straying too far from their old sound, which is also a smart move, keeping fans from feeling betrayed by experimentation.

Surprisingly, one of the band's big focuses on this album was, in fact, returning to old $tyle, at least in a lyrical manner. It was stated that they wanted to return to the darker lyrical stylings of The Sickness, and they achieve this as well. This is especially apparent in said lead single "Inside the Fire", which tells the tale of a man who takes his life in order to be with his dead wife/girlfriend and ends up alongside her in Hell ("Devon/Won't go to Heaven...Take your place inside the fire with her"). But the album isn't all depression and death, as several tracks mix in positive elements of hope and overcoming pain and sorrow, giving the lyrics a solid mix of the two sides of life. Now, Disturbed's lyrics have always ranged from poetic masterpieces ("Prayer") to pathetic excuses for lyrics ("Droppin' Plates"), and luckily, Indestructible's lyrics are almost always in the former, straying merely in a few lines here and there. This serves to vastly improve the album over its predecessors, as better lyrics add greatly to the overall sound.

It's really hard to describe how I feel about this album, other than its remarkable and went beyond my expectations for it. It's seemingly small improvements add up to create a vastly better album. One of the best things that the band does right is they manage to take a huge step forward while looking backward, in that they made numerous improvements in their music without betraying their old sound. It's packed with powerful, varied songs, solid lyrics, great instrumental parts, and undeniably awesome cover art (featuring their apparent new mascot, Big Hooded Man With Glowing Eyes and Teeth). Sure, it isn't perfect. As stated, the introduction feels weak in comparison to previous efforts, and it has its hiccups (the beginning of "Criminal", an otherwise great track, had me worried for a moment), but these are quite easily forgiveable. In all honesty, it really feels like they've finally evolved into a real heavy metal band. Indestructible is a must-listen.

SCORE: 10/10

TOP TRACKS: "Inside the Fire", "The Night", "The Curse", "Divide"

-infect999

SONG OF THE POST: Disturbed - Inside the Fire

Just three more school days, then three exam days. I finished three month's worth of Biology homework that I've been putting off this week, so it's great to have that weight off my shoulders. The lines have been repainted on the football field, indicating that it's almost time for football season. I'm done with Geometry assignments for the rest of the year. And, I know this sounds incredibly cruel and cold-hearted, but my horrible English teacher had to have an emergency surgery last weekend and wasn't at school all week, hopefully for the rest of the remaining days. Life is good.

When summer starts, I'll almost immediately be going to Boston for a week for a family vacation (that I'd prefer not to go on...no offense to anyone in the area, but I have little interest in the east coast of the United States) followed by working at VBC (Vacation Bible Camp) for a week, then finding a job and working myself to near-death in preperation for the upcoming football season. It'll be my busiest summer yet, and it makes me miss the lazy summers I used to have.

IN OTHER NEWS:

I rented GTA IV, and so far it's fan-freaking-tastic. The game almost directly addresses the problems I had with previous iterations of the series, making a far more enjoyable experience. Multiplayer is interesting too, although I've only tried four modes (Race, GTA Race, Deathmatch, and Cops n' Crooks).

The latest season of American Idol ended recently. I do not watch the show, since I think it's truly awful, but I was intrigued when I learned that the winner was a "rocker". Since I like to think of myself as an expert of the rock genre, I decided to weigh in briefly on whether this winner will actually be good:

Looking at the series' track record, we run into a major problem, being that the only truly solid artists it has produced are Kelly Clarkson and DAUGHTRY, the former being the only winner. What's worse is once the winner is chosen, they're placed on a contract and have to sing whatever they write. They don't play instruments. They don't compose. They just sing. This keeps them from having creative freedom, and the lyrics that pop writers spit out are generally vile, and poor excuses for poetry. This alone could weigh him down. Also, assuming that he's like most people, by the time he's broken his contract, he may succumb and turn into a simple pop-rock artist, which are generally no better than the majority of the pop crop.

In other words, it doesn't look good.

My sister is having a slumber party tonight, so I will be forced away from all that is enjoyable for over 12 hours. Unless I can figure something out. Let's hope I can.

The new Disturbed album drops on Tuesday. Expect a review soon after.

That's all I have for now, thanks for reading.

-infect999

SONG OF THE POST: Metallica - The Four Horsemen

It's been awhile since I've posted a proper update, mostly because I've been incredibly busy playing the last game I ever thought I'd get addicted to. After a week of playtime on Halo 3, I managed to get my rank to Captain and my highest skill to 20 (on Lone Wolves). I've improved quite a bit despite how much I've always hated dual-analog on FPS. My 360 has been working perfectly since I got the new cables, other than that the fans are incredibly loud.

On May 7th I attended a concert featuring As I Lay Dying. It was a fantastic show. All four of the bands (Evergreen Terrace, Misery Signals, and August Burns Red opened up) put on great performances, especially the surprisingly good no-name band Misery Signals. I also witnessed some of the hugest pits I've ever seen. I took some pics and uploaded a video of As I Lay Dying's first song on Youtube earlier today. Check it out here.

I was injured potentially seriously a couple times recently, both during gym class. On one occasion, a kid was screwing around in the locker room and tried to shut my locker, so I kicked him. I wasn't wearing my shoes and I hit him right in the knee, so I did some damage to my foot. A couple days later I had it X-rayed (my first X-ray ever that wasn't on my teeth!) and they said it wasn't displaced, but they couldn't tell if there was a fracture due to the swelling. On Thursday I will be getting it X-rayed again. The pain has almost completely disappeared, but there is a faint amount left, so I don't know if it's fractured or not.

The other time, we were playing Ultimate Frisbee, and my teammate threw the frisbee towards me, except right into the Sun. I was blinded and ran into someone, and the next thing I knew, my knee hurt. A lot. My mother happens to be a physical therapist, so she taped it up. Thursday night I had the tape removed, and my knee feels a lot better now, in fact, better than before it was injured.

It's almost time for football training. w00t!

I performed at my last school band concert for the rest of my life. As I stated before in this blog, I absolutely despise my band teacher, so I'm dropping the class next year. I played well, but the rest of the band (by that, I mean mainly the trumpets) didn't really get it, so it was a little messed up (that's being nice). Our teacher told us the theme of the Homecoming marching show next year would be "Pirates of the Caribbean". This has me more excited for it, and I'm strongly considering doing the show even though I won't be in band next year. The fact that it's being written and directed by a professional Drum & Bugle Corps. team is an incredibly opprotunity.

I learned that Games for Windows magazine (formerly Computer Gaming World) will no longer be in print, which really sucks, since I don't have a print source for PC gaming info anymore. Any recommendations for PC gaming magazines that are decent would be helpful.

School is winding down, and things are starting to toughen up. I lucked out on the big Biology test (I failed by two points on the original scale, but the teacher dropped it since so many people failed and gave opprotunities to up the score by 70+ points), but it just makes me think that the final exam is going to be a beast. My Geometry grade has dropped to a B, so I need to bring that up as well. I was called down to guidance earlier this week because there were some issues with fitting classes in my schedule.

Apparently, Advanced Language Arts 10 and German 1 can only be taken during certain hours that conflict with two of the most important electives I intended to take next year, so I had to drop them and pick new ones. I had intended to take Web Design 2 and 3D Animation/Game Design (the latter being very important due to the fact that, as of now, I plan on getting a job in the gaming industry, most likely as a developer), but I traded them for a Study Hall (which I had originally opted not to take, but ended up being forced to due to the lack of available classes in the given period) and Digital Media, in which you work with photoshop and film editing. At least I got an early look at my schedule for next year. My last two periods will be a living hell though. Algebra 2 followed by Chemistry = TOO MUCH MATH.

I haven't got much else to say, so thanks for reading.

-infect999

SONG OF THE POST: 10 Years - Wasteland