Wake Me Up When September Ends

I don't agree with that song, cuz of my birthday and all, but I could understand why people would want to sleep through September. This is such a busy month for me, between school, my town's 375th anniversary, and confirmation classes, I don't have much time. Although I wouldn't want to sleep through the Big E. Teh Big E is awesome!

Anyway, I was thinking about the awesome song "Through the Fire and Flames" and how it relates to school. It's actually closer than you think. Read my analysis:

On a cold winter morning
we always have to wait for bus/carpool then
In the time before the light
when I have to wake up (before the sun rises)
In flames of death's eternal reign
We ride towards the fight
carpooling to school

When the darkness has fallen down
And the times are tough alright
The sound of evil laughter falls
Around the world tonight
that describes some of my teachers well

Fighting hard, fighting on for the steel
fighting to get through the hallway crowds
Through the wastelands evermore
The scattered souls will feel the hell
Bodies wasted on the shores
???

On the blackest waves in hell's domain
We watch them as they go
watching the new freshmen come next year
Through fire and pain and once again we know!
we will remember what it was like

So now we fly ever free
leaving at the end of the day
We're free before the thunderstorm
free before we have to start homework
On towards the wilderness
Our quest carries on
we still have to go back the next day

Far beyond the sundown
Far beyond the moonlight
that's how long I'm usually working on homework
Deep inside our hearts and all our souls!

So far away we wait for the day
For the light source so wasted and gone
We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days
Through the fire and the flames we carry on!
we still go back the next day

As the red day is dawning
And the lightning cracks the sky
They'll raise their hands to the heavens above
With resentment to their lies
not sure.....teachers maybe?

Running back through the midmorning light
There's a burning in my heart
worrying about a test
We're banished from the time in a foreign land
To a life beyond the stars
detention, maybe?

In your darkest dreams see to believe
Our destiny is time
And endlessly we'll all be free tonight!
we'll get out of there eventually

And on the wings of a dream
So far beyond reality
All alone in desperation
Now the time has gone

Lost inside you'll never find
Lost within my own mind
being confused about the subject
Day after day this misery must go on!
indeed

So far away we wait for the day
For the light source so wasted and gone
We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days
Through the fire and the flames we carry on!

Now here we stand with their blood on our hands
We fought so hard, now can we understand
at graduation, maybe?
I'll break the seal of this curse if I possibly can
For freedom of every man!
not sure

So far away we wait for the day
For the light source so wasted and gone
We feel the pain of a lifetime lost in a thousand days
Through the fire and the flames we carry on!

Okay, so there were a few imperfections, but I'd say it was pretty close.

See ya later!

Birthday

So......yeah. 14 years this time.

At the current point in time, I'm in school (you guessed it, scheduled post), and will probably come home and do homework. But I'm not sure. I'll edit this post if necessary.

Large Update

I have a feeling this is going to be the longest post I've ever made or ever will make on this blog. (written before I started)

So... a lot has happened since my last post. And I've been holding it in for the last two weeks, since I haven't had much time to get to this blog. For one thing, I started High School last Friday. Let's just say it's a LOT more work than I'm used to. And that's probably because I'm in all honors classes now. Except Spanish. So you can probably guess why I have so much work.

Part 1: Homework Rant
Each teacher says they give about a half hour to an hour's worth of work every night.Now let's think about that. I have nine periods in one day. Take out lunch and my two free periods. That leaves six classes. Now I'm not to great at maths (although I am in Honors Geometry, so maybe I am), but I think that calculates to about 6 hours of homework a night.

And the worst part is, that's about accurate. Say I get home at 3:00. I work til 5:00 (that's when The Simpsons are on), then start again 6:00, work til 7:00, have dinner, then work for another two hours, til I have to start getting ready for bed. If you paid attention, that's only five hours. And spending that much time on homework seems excessive already. So I've had busy nights. If you've noticed a lack of posts on the forum from me, that's probably why.

Part 2: Dance
Although High School isn't all bad. We had our first school dance for Freshmen only (and some Seniors there to help out) on Friday. At my old school, "dance" was just a name for it. Not many people really danced. It was mostly just hanging out, listening to the music, or talk about who likes who. Now, people actually do "dance". Including me (Note: if you're picturing me breakdancing, forget it :-P). They did a part where you randomly picked a person and danced with them. I'll just leave it at that for now. You don't need to know that many more details, heh heh.

No seriously, it wasn't that eventful.

Part 3: The Big E
If you remember that picture of me I posted on the forum a while back, I was wearing a shirt that said "The Big E". I think I told you this, but The Big E stands for "Eastern States Exposition" (Big E is much easier), and it's a fair that rolls around once a year. Despite the lack of time I've been having, my family was able to go there today. I think we had a pretty good time. They have a lot of cool rides, good food, etc. there, so I enjoy the visits we have.

If you remember the "Block Party" post a while back, and how I told you I had a vast variety of food there, it was pretty much the same for this. I don't remember everything now, but I had quite a variety of stuff in my stomach when I got home.

Part 4: This Blog
I've been thinking about this blog (although I don't have much time to think these days) and am considering changing it's layout a bit. If I make any more longs posts like these (and I'm sure I will), it's not gonna fit in this skinny column I have for content. I was looking at the "edit code" feature of Blogger, but I can't make much sense of it, even though I am a web designer. Not to mention, if I start making serious games, I'm gonna need a real blog to post stuff on.

And if the whole world's gonna be reading my blog, I won't post all this personal stuff on it, like this post. Funny, how I call it the "Andrew Animation Blog", then wind up talking all about my life. I think I would keep this one exclusive to my readers in the UK, Holland, and Sweden (sorry if I got your country wrong).
Note: I didn't say United States. Aside from maybe Brad or FO, I don't think anyone in the US reads this. I haven't told any of my friends, and the only link to it comes from the Forum. So enjoy your exclusivity.

I thought about installing Wordpress on my server, but I've worked with Wordpress before, and I don't particularly like it. It doesn't really offer the customizations that I would want as a web designer. Now, I probably could code my own blog. I know enough about PHP, mySQL, and all those fancy languages, but (remember what I said above) I don't have any time! If this were summer, I could code my own blog in a few days, but it isn't. I have to do it on weekends, when I'm already doing stuff I've pushed off during the week.

Part 5: New Engine
I fixed the gravity rotation bug! And a few other things. (AP, you haven't seen the gravity fixed, so try this engine). new engine!

Enjoy! XD

That about wraps up this long post. Man, I never thought I would use the "arg *head explodes* tag again. If you actually read this whole post, have a cake.

Looking back on it, I think my vacation post was the longest. But I did that over four days, so this is the longest thing I wrote in like, half an hour, or something.

And feel free to leave comments, as always.

End of Summer

I've been dreading the idea of making this post, but I think I will anyway.

Today's my last day of summer, and school begins tomorrow (even though I get Wednesday and Thursday off). Looking back on it, I think I had a pretty good summer. Here are some of the things I hoped to do, and what became of them.

1. Get 120 Stars in Super Mario 64

Done! Took me forever, though. My last two stars were in the clock level. If you've never heard of it, watch this vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg-YIIk5t0k . It's not me, but that was pretty much how it went. I kept almost falling, and I almost ran out of coins at the end. I actually got the 100-coin star while I was falling, so I had to keep climbing back up and trying to land on it.

Anyway, in return for finishing the game, you get to meet Yoshi. He gives you 100 lives, a wing cap to use (only outside of the castle), and then jumps off the castle (suicide, sortof). That's it. No new challenges, no Luigi, nothing. Just 100 lives to replay the whole game. Oh, and you get to race a fatter penguin in Cool, Cool Mountain. I was expecting more, honestly. Oh well.

2. Design 3 Web Sites

Done! Mostly. It was actually quite an interesting time designing these. One actually uses a database to store different items of jewelry, so I spend time learning how to do that. Only one is online so far, and the other two will be online soon. If you're interested, here are the links:
italiancornerrestaurant.com
hairnailgallery.com
dgbeaddesigns.com

Italian Corner was a redesign, and it's the only one up. Hair and Nail Gallery is actually next door to the Italian Corner, and D.G. Bead Designs is run out of HNG. So they were all referrals.

I also did maintenence on another site:
modskinlabs.com

I mainly just did the press page and the home page. I didn't design the whole site, but I did make some important changes for them.

3. Make a Flash Game

Done! I guess I wasn't thinking I would make a whole game, just learn how to, and make an engine for it. And I would say that came out good. My engine is pretty good, and can do a bunch of things. And since I'm in a good mood today, I'll update it. Here is my latest engine:

http://andrewanimation.biz/games/flash/engine5.html

New stuff includes walljumping, improved platform code, new spring code, and an air meter for underwater.

4. Make a Few More Videos

Not done! I don't know where the time went this summer, but I just never got around to doing this. I have a few videos I wanted to make, but I guess I was just too busy with my websites and stuff.

All in all, awesome summer.