Diablo thy name be Diabolo...

Challenge: Learn some basic tricks on the DIABOLO...

Difficulty: 5/5

Skills Developed: A devout unrelenting hatred for the diabolo.

Overview/Rant: Firstly- I would have saved hours (days) of timewasting had I correctly learned how to spell the diabolo... my research did bring me back to the original Diablo game, which quite frankly, is better in so many ways than the diabolo. I mean- it had FIREWALL (see below) an entire WALL of FIRE (the writers had a tough day coming up with a name for that spell)... but, seriously, how awesome is that?! Does Diabolo have FIREWALL?! I think not.

The diabolo is also known as 'the devil on two sticks.' I attempted with great gusto to accomplish one single trick on the diabolo... I failed... miserably... I WAS going to record what I'd learned but the video would have only lasted about 2 seconds... including set up time. It was frustrating and soul destroying. Anyone that attempts this should have there head examined. Never in the history of the world has anything as frustrating as the diabolo been invented.

Conclusion: Shit- I've already covered my conclusion in the Overview/Rant section... um... this challenge was challenging and hateful in so many ways. I almost cried. Happy?

Random shit: I finished my Post Graduate Diploma in Education! Fully qualified now (got a first!!!). I also got a JOB... in Kuwait (holy shit)... and I watched through all 21 current existing episodes of Glee -it was inevitable... which leads me too...

Challenge next week: Get a group of singers together. Rehearse and record a song 'Glee' style. Anyone wanna volunteer to join then just leave a comment. Any song ideas? Then leave a comment... and on that note...

The piano man

awww... look at the kitty playing piano...

Challenge: To be able to do my requirements for piano grade 3 exam in a week. 

Difficulty: 5/5.

Skills developed: Sight reading improvement. Increased piano dexterity. A renewed love for Meat Loaf.

Overview/Rant: Firstly I'll completely and honestly admit that I took this challenge out of fear of a certain Ms. Susan Bourke who has displayed infinite amount of patience at my lack of piano practice to date. The exam date is May but, as you will see, the pieces are quite difficult and need to be learned and rehearsed for months before the examination date. So I effectively used this blog as a study guide... [insert tongue sticking-out emoticon]

 Theory, scales, arpeggios and four-note-broken-chords make up for 20% of the test and are probably my strongest area at the moment. The other 20% is for sight tests and ear tests, all of which will come over time and practice. SO essentially my key area of concentration was my pieces...

So in order of difficulty...

EASY - Landler in A by Daniel Steibelt... which is unfortunately to available anywhere on youtube it seems. Well- imagine its easier than the other two... [insert smiley face emoticon]

MEDIUM - Wilder Reiter (Wild Horseman) by Robert Schumann... which I found played by what looks like a six year old... wow- how crap do I feel?

HARD - Prelude by Johann Sebastian Bach... okay... now they're taking the p*ss...

Hardest Parts: The left hand section in Wild Horseman and the entirety of Prelude. Also- watching kids a quarter your age doing it better than you ever could is a bit of a ball buster too...

Result: Well... I think Meat Loaf said it best when he said... (and we'll ignore what Susan said about the whole thing... [insert oh-dearie-me emoticon]

Recommendation: Piano is awesome- difficult if you actually try to do the grades. I can't really recommend it to anyone if they haven't studied piano before... BUT to those that quit and say "oh I wish I'd never quit..." then GO BACK TO PIANO! I quit when I was 15 and only came back to it a few months ago and it's the best decision I've made in a while.

Conclusion: I totally underestimated how much work I had to do for this exam... [insert omfg smiley face emoticon]

Special Thanks: Susan Bourke for her patience and encouragement. [insert super smiley face emoticon]

Next Challenge: It's the beginning of MYSTERY MARCH... this is where I do challenges WITHOUT telling you what they are... until after... obviously... or else I'd just have done nothing... an example, but I won't be doing, is "trying to start as many conversations about butter as possible in a week"... the challenges are 'mostly' harmless fun... [insert evil grin smiley emoticon]

Random Thoughts: Meat Loaf is awesome.

This post was bought to you by emoticons... cus a picture speaks a thousand blah blah blah...

Rocket Propelled Grenade...

Challenge: To develop a video game in a week. I choose to use RPG Maker XP and develop my own adventure.

Difficulty: 5/5

Skills developed: Learned how to make my own RPG game and how to upload files on the net.

Get it here


The files needed to run it 
http://tkool.jp/products/rpgxp/eng/download.html


The game itself... (3 choices) 
http://rapidshare.com/files/336899263/Game.zip.html
http://www.box.net/shared/y4y2ssfskh
http://www.filefront.com/15374077/Game.zip




Steps involved


1.) Download RPG Maker XP and install it (sorry people- no idea if it runs on non-XP computers)
2.) Download the rapidshare file (post a comment if they're all gone- I'll re-upload it- check the comments section to see if there's a different link)
3.) UNZIP the rapidshare file (called game) and copy it into the INSTALLED DIRECTORY where you put RPG Maker.
4.) Click on GAME and it should run. Let me know if it doesn't! Thanks! 


Controls: x- menu. enter- action. arrow keys - walk. 

Overview/Rant: Holy f**k I'm exhausted. As you'll notice- I'm also two days late... DON'T CARE! I've managed to put off much IMPORTANT work to be done for college and school to do this... so, please ENJOY! Also- apologies for any glitches etc- let me know...  

Hardest Parts: The time taken to do everything. You have to be EXTREMELY careful when placing things as even one mistake can cause the complete game to glitch... for example- putting an enemy in a spot then forgetting to have him erased once you kill him... thus meaning infinite battles. Or building a switch that can only be activated via certain events... etc etc... MIND NUMBINGLY TECHNICAL! Seriously exhausting...

Recommendation: Glad I did it. I love RPG's so it was fun writing the dialogue and storyline (even if it is a super crap one). Do try this if you love RPG's. Don't try this if you like having a life... 

Conclusion: Dam hard challenge. As you can see I'm late by two days- but in my defense I did nothing Tuesday or Wednesday... so, yeah, whatever... ANYWAY- I hope it works- I've checked it a few times but hopefully it's fine. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU FIND ANYTHING WRONG SO I CAN FIX IT!!! Cheers

Special Thanks: Conor Lynch for the suggestion. Rebecca Gimblett for test running the game (Rebecca: "You're a nerd Stephen...")

Next Challenge: Was supposed to learn the unicycle in a week- but failed to get access to one so I will be learning the violin instead. I must learn one song by the end of the week.

Random Thoughts: It was one hell of a journey... (game hint: streetlight people...)