Last Post Before California

Sadly, this is the last blog post I will be writing until I move to California this Sunday. Upon publishing this, I will have completed my first tenlist goal for the summer, which is to update this blog weekly until I move in.

I’ve decided to dedicate this post as what I see as “A Frame In Time.” In other words, this is simply a snapshot of my life, my thoughts, and my feelings as of today. Maybe someday in the future I will look back upon this post and think about how things have changed.

Tenlist Completion… So Far

As mentioned above, this blog post will complete my first tenlist goal.

My second goal is to commission the following designs for the Zems project: Card Back/Logo, Card Front Templates, Index Page, Splash Page, vBulletin 4 forum skin. As of right now, all but the card front templates have been commissioned and fully paid for. I hope to have a deal for the card fronts finalized within the next few weeks.

My third goal is to finalize all card texts for the launch of Zems. This comes to be a total of 92 cards I have to come up with. So far I have come up with 58, so I am a little over halfway done.

My fourth goal is to organize and conduct my Eagle Scout ceremony. That has been done, and I think it went smoothly.

My fifth goal is to acquire an Alienware M11x laptop for college. My main reasons for getting this when I already had a laptop was because the M11x is very portable, more powerful than a lot of other laptops that are larger, and is built to handle gaming, which is virtually unheard of for a laptop that is only slightly larger than a netbook. This goal was completed a few weeks ago. I was able to secure some special savings deals because I ordered before July 15, which is when the Dell promotions for the laptop ended.

My sixth goal is to complete a P90x routine. As of today I am on week 10, day 2. There are 14 weeks in the program. If I am able to assemble the necessary equipment quickly enough after I move in, I should be able to finish before August officially starts.

My seventh goal is to read Eve: The Empyrean Age. This was completed about a month ago, and the book was very, very, comprehensive. I wouldn’t exactly recommend it to people, but there are some very unique and interesting characters in that book I have not seen elsewhere. Overall, the book astonished me because I am generally let down by books that are based on video games or movies.

My eighth goal is to hire artists to paint the artwork for the Zems Origins Set. This set consists of the 92 cards, 6 player powers, 20 favors, and 4 shrine cards that will be included in the initial launch of the game. As of right now, I have set up deals to have all of them painted by some very good artists, but only 51 cards are actually fully paid for at the moment. Frankly, this goal is the most expensive of all my goals for this tenlist, as it comprises a little over $6000 in commission payments.

My ninth goal is to complete 10 photoshop tutorials. To be frank, I have pretty much lost interest in this goal. I want to learn how to design for the web, I really do, but I just haven’t had the motivation. I believe I will carry this goal over to the next tenlist.

My tenth goal is to get Sudden League up and running. Right now, the site is fully functional, although parts of the homepage simply need content. Since content is pretty much being handled by one of my staff members, I consider my portion (coding the website) and this goal, to be complete.

What’s On My Mind

To be totally honest, I am quite nervous to be heading off to California. For a school that is supposed to be the top in the nation, I have been quite let down in terms of housing assignment mix-ups and I am a bit wary of the nerd culture that seems to be the norm there. While I realize I’m a pretty nerdy person, I try not to bring it out too much because I don’t particularly want “geek” to be my public image. Maybe I just care too much about my public perception.

One thing that has occupied my mind is nightly hangouts, especially tag. I absolutely love playing tag – it’s an awesome full-body workout (see my previous week’s post “Intense Play” to read about it). I just hope I will be able to find a group at Cal who are willing to play it with me. Did I mention I am very, very, serious about tag?

Another thing is P90x. As soon as I get there, I need to order a chin-up bar and some free weights. I don’t plan on getting a gym membership. Besides, P90x is harder than what most people do in gyms anyway. With friends, it becomes absolutely hilarious because in all honesty, a lot of the workouts are really silly-looking (besides being very strenuous).

Overall, I believe I made the right decision to commit to Berkeley. The education will be tough and rewarding, and having a degree from the top public university will definitely pay off in later years.

Oh, and last night I had a meeting at Starbucks with my favorite Catholic. Just so I don’t forget.