*Pyro-Sith

Four-Eyed Freckle-Face Geek-Nerd

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College Chaos

Journal Entry: Tue Dec 8, 2009, 1:48 PM

Mood: Excited

How is school going, one might ask?

I get asked that all the time, actually. Not online, but in person. Seems like all older people think I care about is school or work, depending on which I'm imprisoned in at the time. Why can't people ask about something that I'd want to talk about, like hobbies or events or whatnot? But, to be fair, nobody on dA bothers me about school. So, to celebrate irony, I'm going to tell you guys.

I recently dropped my program and switched into another one - from General Business to Administrative Accounting. The reason being that I find some parts of business (Marketing, Advertising, etc.)just aren't my thing, while other parts (Accounting, Bookkeeping, etc.) are just awesome. Plus, the careers earned after this program are much better and higher paying than the previous. So booyah in that department too.

But I didn't come here to weigh the pros and cons of business courses. No, I'm here to do as any respectable online writer or blogger comes on to do: RANT.

What has got me perturbed over my usual limit is not the course or material, it's those presenting it. I knew it was well established that college professors needn't have as much experience or education as other teachers, but there are limits! There is a general feel of apathy from them, and many seem to not know much about the material, like they never cracked the textbook open or understood the course goals. A prime example is my mathematics teacher, whom we'll call Matt. He writes formulas on the board and has us copy them, but never explains any of them. One time, I checked the answer in the back of the book, and found out he was WAY off. After finding this problem several times, I dared to challenge him in class. He asserted that it could be a rounding problem, or that the book might be wrong. After this, a few others challenged him as well, and he gave equally vague answers. Once he even said "I know it's different; this is the way we're doing it". So, we're working against our own material?

Another thing, about checking on those answers. Out of 20-30 question assignments, he picks 6-8 random ones and does them on the board. Only the odd-numbered questions have answers in the back of the book. Now, since the day I challenged him, I noticed something: he stopped doing odd-numbered questions, altogether - I have it in my notes to prove it! He used to do a lot of odd-numbered, and now he does none, so we cannot verify that he is right. Even as we are doing equations on the board, little arguments break out in class about the answer. And guess what? Matt does not know the actual answer. He just says "that sounds close" and leave it at that. He never bothered to calculate it, and find out what is right? He isn't using the answer guide provided to professors?

Well, what are the results? We had a test a few weeks ago - 50 questions. Guess what the class average was? 44%. That is very bad. To save his skin, Matt did a "Bell Curve". That is, he gave 10 free points to everyone, to bring the average up, so it isn't a fail. Why did he do this? Because when a few people fail, it's their own fault. When more than half of a class fails, there must be some sort of fault with the material or the teacher. So, it seems that Matt is covering for himself. What's worse is that nothing about the lessons has changed, at all. He's just continuing as we were, as if the bell curve covered up the poor average and we can go on our merry way. That, to me, is pathetic.

I know college is entirely necessary in order to get a good career - or, at least, the papers you earn at the end are - but, it is very disappointing how downhill some of it has gone. Anybody else here in college (or even high school) with a similar experience?

18 Comments

Tagged, I have been!

Journal Entry: Wed Oct 28, 2009, 11:06 AM

Mood: Excited

For those of you who, like me, watch ~SuperPrincessAngela, you may know that she just did a tag journal listing her top ten favourite games. And now, I aim to do the same! (Mostly because I was tagged to do so!)

Most of these, I imagine, won't surprise anyone... anyway, to the point:

#1- Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
- One of the most anticipated Mario games... at least at that time.
- Established so many things for Mario's world that are now staple material.
- Can't deny the nostalgia. Sure, it's not the best Mario game, I know, but for those who were there when it happened...
- I cried when I beat this game. CRIED, man! It was one of the best days of my LIFE!!

#2- Super Mario Bros. (NES)
- The first game I ever saw. I was entranced. It's what got me into games!
- The simplicity and fluidity of the game's physics and appearance make it a work of art.

#3- Super Mario 64 (N64)
- It was a game I could really get engrossed in.
- The visuals were amazing, and the music really complimented the feel of the game.

#4- Tetris (GB, keychain, DS, NES, cell phone)
- Yeah... I have a half dozen ways to play it. Tetris is just that game I can pick up anytime and play. I started with the original GB version when I was about 7, and never really stopped playing.
- I play it a lot with ~SuperPrincessAngela, though she beats me a lot now!

#5- Super Mario World (SNES)
- Such a great expansion on the series.
- Great game mechanics and an excellent learning curve/challenge.
- Again, very immersive.

#6- Super Mario Bros 2 (NES)
- I put hours into this game,
- Felt like such a different turn from the original (Since we had no idea it wasn't really a Mario game).
- Regardless, many elements of this game came back later as established Mario enemies.

#7- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)
- Do I really need the reasons? It's considered one of the best games of all time.
- You can play through it, and then start over, and it is still fun!
- I do love the whole series, notably LoZ:LttP, and Loz:LA, not to mention the NES ones, but this one is by far, my favourite.

#8- Super Mario Kart (SNES)
- Such a different and innovative racing game, unlike any others of its time.
- Multiplayer was great. Simple to learn, but hard to truly master.
- Again, I do love the whole series, notably MKDS, and MK64, but this one is by far, my favourite.

#9- Super Metroid (SNES)
- Took the original formula and improved or added so much.
- Again, I do love the whole series, notably the NES Metroid, and Fusion on GBA, but this one is by far, my favourite.

#10- Kirby's Adventure (NES)
- It was pretty long for an NES game, and provided a fair challenge.
- Very colourful, with nicely established world themes.
- A lot of variety in backgrounds, music, and bosses.
- Again, I do love the whole series, notably the KSS/KSSU; KD 1,2 & 3; K64; spinoffs like Avalanche and Dream Course; and many others, but this one was probably my favourite.

And there we have it. Keep in mind, these are my favourites of all time. If I were asked what my current favourites were, I'd have to say Kirby 64, Super Mario Galaxy, and Oblivion on PC (Reiterating what Angela said - the game is huge, with almost endless quests, and the visuals are beautiful). Of course, these are current obsessions. Perhaps in a year, I'd say something completely different. But, these 10 listed here will always hold their places as my favourites.

NOW, as for tagging... Angela already did tag some of my own watchers, who I'm sure will love to do this sometime (I'm looking at you, Artemendo, Atticus and Faye!), but I'd like to add:

...and anyone else who wants to do it!

21 Comments

Missing in Education

Journal Entry: Mon Sep 28, 2009, 8:44 AM

Mood: Excited

Time for a break, once again. No, I'm not going to go missing from dA again for a long while - this time it is not my choice. I just moved into a new place, and now have to go without Internet at home for quite a while - until the phone company can come and install the lines.

I can access the Net at my college, but there are also plenty of projects to work on, so I have to be careful to use my now limited Internet time wisely.

I need to head out now, for a waste-of-time Marketing class. But you can expect some small updates from me here and there, and I will try to keep up with comments and such as well. Hopefully my weekly polls will spawn some interesting discussions in comments.

Anyway, back to the grind!

...
Wait...
...

Ecco the Dolphin? In my CSS??
It's more likely than you think.

14 Comments

Renewal

Journal Entry: Tue Sep 15, 2009, 9:18 AM

Mood: Excited

Well hello! Salutations, good morrow and how d'you do?

Hope nobody missed me too much while I was basically absent from dA for about two friggin' months. So, I suppose I have some explaining to do... or at least plenty of news.

Firstly, I am no longer employed. At all. Got away from that lousy job at that oh so Canadian doughnut and coffee shop named after a hockey player who killed himself whilst driving drunk and high on meds in the heart of Toronto yet we revere his name nonetheless due to the general public's addiction to the lousy but brain-washing sludge they affectionately refer to as coffee, which shall remain nameless. *Ahem* I feel a tremendous amount of relief now and am generally a lot happier and stress-free. That in itself is big news to me.

...but wait, there's more...

You may ask "But Pyro! Now zat you are uneemployed, what iz eet you are doing?" (If you're from France). Well, I decided to leave the lowly life of customer service and minimum wage jobs (No offence to those who still work at such, I've just had enough) and have decided to seek a higher ground. A college education. In fact, I'm sitting in the library of the Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario as I type, and sure am glad to be back in the learning atmosphere. I'm enrolled for a general business and co-op course. The co-ops themselves - two of them - are fully paid, and 90% of the time, at least one of them offers full time employment after the course is over. So in other words, my college course will most likely find my career for me, with a decent salary to boot. At that point, ~SuperPrincessAngela and I will buy a home and start really livin'. Seems like everything is going alright.

...but wait, there's more...

Speaking of family in general, everything is going fantastic as of late. For my own family... well, there was a huge problem going on for the last 8 months, which got progressively worse. I'll keep the details private, but it involved one big idiot, some unhealthy decisions, a biker gang, a potential sibling, the police, and a watermelon. It all culminated just last week, and had me doing a lot of extra driving around to help the problem, but it all turned out for the best. Now everyone is safe, no one is dead or injured, and the real troublemaker is behind bars. Now we're on the healing track, and everything is going well so far.

...butt weight, their smore...

I am ailing and exasperated by the friggin' closet of a room I live in. There are five other men I have to share the kitchen and bathroom with. One of them just got evicted for arguing with other tenants and apparently stealing items. And now that he is gone, I am noticing items going missing from my own room - first some slightly valuable coins, then some food from my portion of the freezer. So I've decided that adequate is adequate, and told my landlord I am out. I found a "small" bachelor apartment ("small" is still about four times the size of my crappy room, including my own kitchen and bathroom) for $120 more than what I pay now. Definitely worth it. And if all goes well, I will be living there in a week.

...and to conclude...

You may be saying "This isn't Oprah, Pyro! You aren't on dA to blab on with your petty life! Get on with the artworks!" Well, I doubt anyone is saying that. You're all too kind. Most of you. BUT, now that many things are out of the way, I will have a little more time to work on art and related items - so long as school doesn't take up TOO much time. I do have a number of things to submit now, anyway. Not much for drawing, but that will come - I'm in school again, for the first time in four years. So obviously I'm going to start doodling again! On top of that, I am in the midst of updating ~TheKoopaClub, which some of my members have noticed. It isn't done yet, as there are at least 10 more submissions to go over, but I will have it done this week. And, I do plan to get more active on dA - I renewed my subscription, so I'm going to do weekly random polls, mostly about random Nintendo-related items that I and ~SuperPrincessAngela come up with.

Anyway, hope this was all fascinating. I need to head out pretty soon for "Mathematics of Finance" class - wish me luck. We'll keep in touch, dA. Oh, I do have a few deviations yet to comment on... sixty-seven, actually. So, I may not comment on all of them, but some day I will clear the ol' inbox out. Bye for now!

18 Comments

Explanation of Music

Journal Entry: Mon Jun 22, 2009, 5:30 PM

Mood: Excited

Remember back when I asked about submitting some music, and if you guys would listen to it? Well, I'm finally ready to do so, after a few delays. Most notably my artwork folder deleting itself. But, now I am ready! But, I think some explanation is in order.

I used to like making RPGs a lot. In fact, I'd like to get back into it. The reason I never completed any is due to the work. I tried making EVERYTHING myself - graphics, enemy pics, stats, and even the music.
Now, remember these guys?

Yeah, thos- Oh, you don't remember them? Oh... uh, OK. They were some characters I used to make a newspaper-style comic about. But, I also used them as the main characters of a modern RPG I was working on, much in the style of Earthbound. Vending machines used like stores, telephones for save points, "dungeons" inside of a high school, fancy hotel, factory, and so on. It was pretty interesting. Heck, I may work on it again some day.

For now, however, I did make several songs for this game, too. So, I'd like to submit some of them. Now you know what they were intended for!

So, to start, I'll submit three songs that were meant as the boss battle themes.

12 Comments

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Journal History

Dec 8, 2009 College Chaos
Oct 28, 2009 Tagged, I have been!
Sep 28, 2009 Missing in Education
Sep 15, 2009 Renewal
Jun 22, 2009 Explanation of Music
Jun 8, 2009 Disgusting.
Jun 2, 2009 EEE! Mario News!
May 27, 2009 Mario Monster Meme
May 11, 2009 Old Pyro is Old
May 3, 2009 America's Funniest Bloopers

Mario's world is full of blocks, girders, pipes, etc. because...

38%

20 deviants said They are a natural phenomenon there.

32%

17 deviants said A mysterious carpenter places them all over the world every October 18th

19%

10 deviants said They are left over from an ancient civilization.

11%

6 deviants said They are all manufactured by a company and spread throughout the land.

20 comments, Previous Polls

Shoutbox

~SuperPrincessAngela: HI NERDS!!!
Thu Apr 30, 2009, 3:01 PM
=Fairy-red-hime: Hah, I still have the spazzing Dedede.
Thu Apr 9, 2009, 3:21 AM
~GeoPyro: OK, scratch that, I'm a Deku Scrub now.
Thu Feb 26, 2009, 1:43 PM
*Pyro-Sith: Now I'm a Ninji too! Temporarily...
Thu Feb 26, 2009, 8:23 AM
~GeoPyro: I'm a Ninji...! You can't see me!
Wed Feb 18, 2009, 4:38 PM
=Fairy-red-hime: I wish you two the best!
Tue Jan 6, 2009, 5:30 AM
~DarkPikachu: Evil Pikachu = me >:3
Sun Nov 16, 2008, 6:41 AM
~LuigisLover: Ohhhhh!... You are so dead!
Mon Sep 15, 2008, 6:17 PM
*Pyro-Sith: YOU go to BED!
Fri Aug 22, 2008, 12:29 PM
~LuigisLover: GO TO BED!
Mon Aug 18, 2008, 5:59 AM