The Book of Evil

Hello everyone!

Recently I've self published my young adult short story on the kindle store.

The Book of Evil follows Ben and Max through an exciting night at home. They get bored after a while and decide to go snooping around... and find something that was best left hidden.

Anyone who wants to check it out can go and see it here!

It should be going on sale for a very reasonable $0 soon. The sale will last about 5 days and then the price will increase to $0.99, which is the minimum amount I can sell it for.

I have a number of ideas for my next story, but I'm not sure which one I'll take on first. I'm working on a fantasy story for international talk like a pirate day, but it might be a day or two late. Planning is more difficult than I thought.

OK, so that's it for now. I have a tennis game scheduled for this afternoon, so I'm heading off.

See you soon, Internet!

Nothing to do with David Guetta

Just sitting here in my second story bedroom with the windows open pondering what to write about I noticed a really nice smell coming in through my window. The kind of smell that bring back memories (hence the title of the post. If you don't get this hilarious joke, then BAM!). This got me thinking about the various smells and sounds that bring back a flood of memories of times in your life, perhaps your childhood or even a certain night which you remember. Allow me to share 3 such things with you.

• The smell of night tinged with smoke

Back when I was younger, my parents used to take my sister and me down to Yalingup. We would sit around the fire with some of our friends that we made down there and toast marshmallows and play (as little kids do) and basically enjoy each other's company. Now the smell of smoke at night reminds me of those awesome times.

• This song

This song was my dad's favourite song for a while. One night my parents invited my friend's parents over for a barbeque and, having just gotten Halo 2, my friend and I played it in my bedroom. My dad was playing his favourite song VERY loudly while we played. Now, whenever I hear that song, I remember that night.

• This undervalued song right here.

Ok, so back in Year 10 when I had to give an oral presentation on a music video, I heard this song and instantly loved it. Of course, back when I did the presentation I was writing it on the original music video which, in my opinion, was FAR better than the new one. Unfortunately, I couldn't find it on youtube anymore. Saaadfaaace. Anyway, that was a great presentation and an even better time I had researching and writing it. English was always my favourite subject, so the memories are enhanced tenfold.

So those are just a few of the things that bring back memories for me. I'd love to hear what brings back memories for you in the comments section. Well, I've said all that I wanted to say. Time for the big bang theory.

See you soon, internet.

Looking for a reason to hate

I recently came across a rather interesting article on COLLEGETIMES which was written by someone who I can only guess uses a PC. The article which you can read here is called "Top 10 Reasons Why Mac Sucks". After having a good laugh at it and reading some of the comments that ridiculed it, I decided to blog about it here, commenting on all of the points.

Ok so... Number one..

"1. The only business model for Apple is narcissism."

Narcissism is common among Apple products, but it isn't the ONLY business model. Everyone I know who uses a Mac does so because of the simplicity. For people who need to use a computer for work but can't be bothered learning the ins and outs of a PC, Mac is a good alternative.

"2. Macs are ridiculously overpriced."

Ok, well, I admit that Macs are a bit expensive. However, this article compares a $2500 17" Macbook pro to a $600 17" PC. I've used a 17" PC, and I had nothing but trouble with it. However, I'm sure there are brilliant $600 PCs out there, but, based on personal experience, I'm going to have to disagree with this point or, at least, the evidence being used.

"3. Macs regularly ignore mainstream industry trends."

Ok, fair enough. I'll give you that one. Steve Jobs refusing to have certain software based only on personal quarrels with the CEOs of companies is ridiculous.

"4. Mac OS X is merely a locked down version of open-source Linux."

I've never used Linux, therefore I cannot comment on this point.

"5. There is no right-f*cking-click!"

It's called control+click. It seems that the writer is basing his opinions of Macs on photos of them he found on the internet. Then again, I could be wrong. Tl;dr being that there is a right-click.

"6. The Dock, and general screen layout, is retarded."

Ok, so this is made up of many sub-sections, being:

"The clock doesn’t display a date."

Well, the calendar icon does. You don't even need to open the app. Also, clicking on the time displays the date.

"The Dock concept is cute, yet still, retarded. You not only can’t see any of the windows that you have minimized, but you also can’t truly adjust the way The Dock behaves or appears."

Umm, you CAN see downsized windows. Furthermore, you can arrange the icons, make it smaller, larger, appear on a different edge of the screen and also hide it when not in use. I like it more than the windows layout, but that's just me.

"Trying to “X” out of a program doesn’t close it, it simply minimizes it. Just like the minimize button. Except it begins to kill your CPU after you’ve done it a few times by keeping programs running as ghosts."

Ok, yeah. I was actually thinking that myself. It's pretty weird in my opinion.

"Trying to alt-tab through your windows cycles through every single window of every single application one at a time instead of cycling between alternative applications"

No, it doesn't. I don't know when this article was written, but as of at least 6 years ago, it doesn't.

"Maximizing a window doesn’t actually maximize it."

I have found that annoying, so yeah.

"Opening 100 images in the Mac image viewer opens 100 separate windows."

No it doesn't. At least, not anymore (again, 6 years At least).

"You can’t drag files around to new destinations such as applications on The Dock or other directories without first preparing both source and destination windows so they are both visible."

I've never tried this, so I really can't say anything.

Ok, back to the main points.

"7. “It just… doesn’t work.” (Macs crash, freeze, and have evil viruses.)"

My Mac does freeze, but so do all computers. As for the spiralling rainbow ball, thats pretty much the same as the hourglass icon on PCs.

"8. Software and hardware options for Mac are lame, or slim at best."

This point basically says the programs such as Garageband and iMovie suck. I love all the iLife apps, so I really have to disagree with that. It would be nice to use some of the PC apps, but most mainstream programs like Photoshop and Final Cut are available on Mac, so I really don't see the problem.

"9. Gaming, and graphics in general, suck on Macs."

Ok, I do agree that Gaming is harder on a Mac. However, with many Valve games coming out on Mac the same day on Mac as they do on PC, and with software like Crossover and Bootcamp, it is possible. Also, I can't say much about the graphics sucking because I place gameplay over graphics. PCs are probably better for gaming though, I agree. However, just because Macs aren't as good doesn't mean that they suck.

"10. Macs are not flexible or customizable."

Flexible? A tiny bit. Customizable? Past upgrading your ram, not really.

Ok, so after debunking almost all of the main points of this article, I must say that it truly seems to me that it was written by somebody who knows almost nothing about the topic they're writing about. If anyone has any other opinions, I'd love to hear them.

See you soon, internet!

Hello, world!

I hope those of you who understand perl are happy with the title of my first post ;)

Well, this is my new blog. I'm a geek, I'm a writer and I'm a gamer. I'm also many other things, but I guess you'll have to keep visiting my blog to find out what they are.

Anyway, I'm going to write each new post with the goal of informing and entertaining my readers, so I hope you like reading my writing as much as I enjoy writing what you'll read.

See you soon, internet.