Today I estimated on how long it's been since my last post. With a guess of 8 months I was nearly right on the money. I hadn't intended to give up on my blog. In fact, I'm not sure what made me stop posting for such a long time anyway. Part of me didn't think there was much of interest to share. Another part of me realized that most likely none of my readers paid any attention to this anymore anyway.
Then there's the part of me that hopes and dreams that maybe something in this internet gig will be significant enough to be worthwhile. Could my writing or videos give me some fun and interesting direction for my life? Could it impact others? Two guys who made it doing something as nothing more than a pasttime are the creators of XKCD and Questionable Content. I commend these guys for doing something they enjoy creating, I enjoy reading, and they can actually make a living off of it. Plus I like their webcomics. Check them out.
I think what I was about to hint at was that in order for this blog to snare any kind of following it needs to have focus. I don't see too many people taking up reading my blog on a regular basis unless they know me personally or have identical interests as myself. Oh, and my quality should probably need to improve. Especially on the videos. Sorry, but my camera is crap.
NEW TOPIC
In other words, if you started zoning out, this paragraph is different and therefore offers new prospects at being interesting. I recently bought a violin for the cheap, bringing my instrument count up to 7 (2 trumpets, a cornet, clarinet, piano, guitar, and now violin). After practicing on it for a few days I've come to the conclusion that it's a really fun instrument to play.
At first I was daunted by the 4 strings, comparing it to the guitar. I started on trumpet, so I'm used to treble cleff, one note at a time sheet music. Sure, I'm able to wrap my mind around chords and song tabs, but it hasn't been quite so easy for me to implement. Despite the 4 strings, my practice material for the violin only has me playing one note at a time. It's actually one of the easiest instruments I've played also; not needing to know how to blow into the mouthpiece or remember tricky fingering positions.
It's a much more visual instrument; I can see what note I will play based on where my fingers are positioned, whereas on a trumpet multiple notes can take the same fingerings. And unlike the guitar, the sheet music is presented on a staff which is much more familiar to me and I can more easily relate those notes to positions on the fretboard of the violin.
On a completely unrelated note, I tried out Disney's Epic Mickey last night, and was really disappointed. It's been some time since I've tried an action/adventure/platformer like this. Does my memory fail me or are they usually this bad? The graphics are as typical as you can expect from Wii/PS2 type of graphics. Also, I'll admit that the game is supposed to take place in a "dark world" of sorts, but it just wasn't fun to look at.
The paint/thinner concept of painting in or removing certain items in the environment is an interesting gimmick. But while I wanted to run loose exploring this quirky gift, the story presentation or annoying guide character kept tripping me up to explain something that I either already knew or would have figured out eventually.
The last thing I'll complain about is the story. This game takes place in a Disney "mirror world" of sorts. In a nutshell, a land where all of Disney's rejected ideas come to live. Rejected, meaning that most of the characters are unknown. The only reason I picked up the game in the first place was because it featured a character I knew well and I was interested in where the game might take the Disney universe. In fact, that's why I play most over-hyped games, like Zelda, Mario, and Donkey Kong (don't get me started on DKC Returns!).
Play the game if you want. Tell me what you think by leaving a comment. Play the violin!
