Post 239 | Launch

PS4 Launch day has come and gone...

Exciting! Unless your PS4 comes broken from Amazon.

I preordered it the second I could during the press conference and lo and behold the thing comes busted. It started up after a few restarts, tried to update, then would just pulse the blue light over and over again endlessly. No matter how many times I took out and then put back in the HDD, nothing.

So, I spent a long time on hold with Sony, waiting and waiting, with their crackly waiting music. During that time I scrolled through the PS4 support forums. During that search I stumbled across a post from someone claiming something interesting. He claimed that he had gotten through to Sony, and they told him to take his PS4 to the Sony store and they would replace it on the spot for free.

I didn’t believe it.

Until someone else posted that they did the same thing. Or at least called and the Sony store confirmed this. So, I called my closest Sony store (an hour and a half away). The person was confused at first, but told me to hold on, and lo and behold I could bring it in no problem.

So, I rounded up some friends and hit the road. I got there and this is where it got interesting…

The person doing the exchange informed me that this is something Sony had foreseen coming and planned for. They realized there were units having problems and shipped extra units to some Sony stores for this purpose. But he also said they were not announcing this. People had to call the store and ask and find out. Curious? I think so.

If it were not for that one post in that one forum that I stumbled across, I would still have a dead PS4 instead of a brand new one that seems to be working wonderfully.

He also said he had five amazon dead PS4s, a Meijer one, and a WalMart one. So it doesn’t seem specific to any retailer.

When he brought out the new one it was in a special box that seemed to be rushed shipping to be specific for replacing dead ones. It made me wonder if was ensured to be working. I had him start up the thing at the store just to make sure. He had the cords already set up at the station to test it so I am assuming I wasn’t the only one who had requested it.

It seemed interesting to me that they had set up this fail safe without telling anyone. They probably didn’t want a rush of people getting replacements, instead limited it to those who cared the most to call the store.

They also had 10 systems still left for sale.

The sales rep was super awesome and understanding about it. I wish I had gotten his name so I could thank him. He was happy that Sony had taken care of this as well.

It may suck real bad that there are a bunch of bricked PS4s out there, but if you have one and can get to a Sony store it seems like they have the ability to replace them. Just call to make sure.

I’m just glad I have one and it’s been working great for a couple hours now. My friends and I are live streaming it here:http://www.twitch.tv/thebrokenhammer playing some games and talking in weird accents from time to time.

That’s my PS4 launch day adventure. I hope you all had a better one and are enjoying your PS4s.

Post 238 | Ride

I am ready to get off of this ride and jump onto the next one.

Those are my feelings on college right now. I absolutely cannot wait to be done here and get on. Get moving. I need to burst out of here and into the world. I need to get to the real world and not be in this place anymore. I love the people here but I no longer love the situation I am in here.

I engross myself so heavily into things that are not my schoolwork. I work on my book. I work on the paper. I go and work at the radio station. Those are things I want to be doing. Not my papers and research. I want to be out there in the real world!

I am done. Simple as that. I wanted this ride to be done the second I turned in my senior speech outline. I was so ready to fly the hell out of here and onto better things.

I want to learn bass. I want to drive my car to the east coast. Hell, right now I want to jump out of a plane. Which I've never wanted to do before in my life. So, let's get this over with! I both want these next six months or so to take as long as they need and to be over with.

I want these people in my life,  I just don't want this school in my life anymore. I am ready to be done here. I need to be done here. I need to work. I need to have a life without the boundaries of this school.

I am ready to get off of this ride and jump onto the next one.

Hell, the next ride could be terrible. I could get out of here and find out that I want the comfort of college back, but I need to know. I need to know what that next ride is like. I can see it, I am waiting in line for it, and I want to grab that fast pass and get ahead of everyone else. And I hate roller coasters.

So, time, when I wake up in the morning, please both have let me enjoyed the last few months I have with these people, and also stop keeping me in school. Thank you.

Post 237 | Relax

Why hello there. Been a while yes? What can I say? Life takes over sometimes!

I'm back at school, back to the grind of classes, back to working on the paper, and back to my friends here. Loving the apartment life (for the most part) and excited to be a senior. Which is really crazy to think about. But now is not the time for reflection. I have a different topic I want to talk about today, and that is one called relaxing.

Tonight we had a class competition which involved performances from groups from each class. One class used a song some deem inappropriate, Blurred Lines, and the other a parody of Miley Cyrus's performance at the VMAs.

Now, I go to one of those crazy conservative Christian schools, so them doing this was kind of a surprise, but hey, it's a bunch of people having fun so why worry about it?

They didn't even play Blurred Lines, they just played the beat to it, and wow is that a catchy beat. I just spent some time listening to some parodies and damn I like that beat.

The Miley Cyrus thing? It was a dude dressed as a girl but with shorts on and his wig fell off and he didn't even grind against his foam finger. They were just having fun! But nope, people had to get all worked up and angry about it. I am willing to bet that there will be quite the backlash from some of the crazies here.

People are totally entitled to their own opinions, and while I respect them, it does not mean I have to agree with them.

I like the idea that people here are willing to push the envelope a little and get some attention instead of being perfect little precious people all the time.

I honestly do not think it was a big deal. I think it was just people having a good time and everywhere I looked in the audience people were laughing. It was funny! It was good! I enjoyed it. Maybe I just hear from the people who get worked up about it because I work on the paper, but I think that the overarching response to it was positive.

People like to have fun, and if their image of fun isn't the same as yours, oh well. Sometimes you don't have to take life so seriously and just have to enjoy it. Relax a little friends, it'll all be ok, I promise.

Post 236 | Proud

Can I say I have never been more proud to be bisexual?

I went to the Chicago Pride Parade on Sunday with my sister and had a great time. Even if we didn't really talk to anyone else and no one really talked to us or anything it was still an amazing experience. There was just so much love everywhere. So so much.

Everyone was happy and having a great time and waving and so many high fives from the people in the parade it was awesome.

I am so glad I decided to come out last summer. Being able to go to that and just be myself was something amazing.

It's really hard to describe the feeling exactly. We got to the city after being on a train full of pride folks. Then we walked to a bus stop and the bus was sort of empty but the closer we got the more people started to crowd the bus. More and more people wearing more and more colors. At one point a girl yelled "I love everyone here!" and I knew I was in the right place.

My sister and I got hugged by someone in the parade and we were surrounded by happy, loving people. We stood there for probably three or so hours just enjoying the people around us. Felt like no time at all and I was very sad when it was over.

We did an hour and half walk back to the train station and headed home. It was an amazing day. Just being there was amazing. I am looking forward to going next year with more of my friends so it can be a bigger party and even more fun.

I am really proud of who I am. I am trying to be more proud of who I am. It's been interesting in my head trying to focus more on myself and what I want instead of just pleasing everyone all the time. I am still working on it and I am not there yet but I am getting better. I still like doing things for people I just need to do things for myself too instead of completely ignoring myself.

Also there were a lot of attractive people at the parade and we didn't mind that one bit.

Ok that is all. Thanks for reading as always. Stay awesome and be who you want to be!

Post 235 | Edited

Hey. You. Yes you. The people (or person) who reads this blog.

I just finished an enormous round of edits on the book I wrote last November. And damn. I am proud. So damn proud. Not just of the book but of myself.

I rarely am able to concentrate or work on a project for so long. Not only did I write the book but now I've edited it. I spent last semester going through it piece by piece with a professor and have spent the summer thus far editing it when I have gotten the chance. And now I've gone through the entire thing.

These weren't just small edits either. Some chapters are completely changed. Some completely gone. Some of it was just copyediting but a lot of it was reworking dialogue or adding or subtracting stuff. It was a tedious process that I am very glad to be on the other side of.

So what's next for my book? Well I am taking a class next semester where I will be meeting with that prof again every week to edit it some more. I'm going to keep sanding it until I get it just right. I know some of it can still be changed and improved.

I've been encouraged to try and publish it which I will be trying to do after I get it done right. If I can't get it published for reals maybe I'll just publish it online or something. We shall see!

People seem to really like it which is really rewarding. If these six or seven people have liked it maybe hundreds or thousands of people will like it. It's hard to tell if these people I know are just being nice or if they genuinely like it.

So, I will keep this blog informed on the goings on of my book.

Also summer is going fairly well. I had family in town a week and a half ago for my sister's high school graduation. It went fairly well, save for the dramatic grandmothers. I threw out my back really bad one night though. I don't know what being shot is like but that's what it felt like. This unending searing pain for about 36 hours. It was terrible. No painkillers could calm it. Thankfully it seems to have gone away and I'm alright now.

I came very close to telling my mom to take me to the ER but I was able to fall asleep with ice on my back instead so I didn't.

But the family was fun. Always nice to see everyone. Played with a few kids endlessly at my sister's party so that was fun.

After I finish The Last of Us I'll have to make a post on that game. I don't want to include it in this because that wouldn't do it justice. Just know it is a fantastic and fantastically hard game.

That's all for now that I can think of. Thanks as always for reading. Hope you are all having a wonderful summer thus far. Keep being awesome.

Pst 234 | Back

Finals are done. I went to a Cubs game. I got my hair cut. I went to a concert in Chicago. I unpacked my stuff. Had a bonfire. I went back to work. I cleaned my room back up. I may have gotten some sleep in there. That all happened over the course of about four days.

Finals are done! The school year is over! I am officially a senior! How incredibly scary is that? I have been writing on this blog for so long it is hard to believe that not just most of my high school career but now almost my entire college career is documented here. WEIRD. Finals went alright, not as well as I was hoping but I still wound up with the grades I expected to get in those classes so, yay?

I went to a Cubs game the Friday after I moved back. It was rainy and cold but still alright. I went with my dad and we don't talk much so it was a little awkward but still fun to go. Things are expensive as hell in there it kind of sucks. My family has season tickets, or half of a group of season tickets to be more precise, so hopefully I'll get to go to a game where the weather is good and they actually win!

I got my hair cut on Saturday and boy do I realize how uninteresting that is. It is much shorter now and much better than the bum-like look I had going on.

Went to a concert at Park West in Chicago with the girl Saturday night. It was a concert she wanted to go to so I bought the tickets a few months back. The headliner was Ben Rector who did a really great job but after that concert I am a new fan to the indie band Alpha Rev. I can't stop listening to their newest album Bloom. It's sooooo gooooooood. If you like alternative rock check them out HERE (it'll open in a new tab and seriously go listen to them). I really enjoyed the concert, probably the second best I have been to after Hugh Laurie. Or at least the second best on ones I really enjoyed.

Then on Sunday I spent nearly the entire day unpacking my dorm back into my room. It was kind of insane. I didn't get it all done either. Then Erin and Tasha came over for a bonfire that night and it was quite lovely catching back up with her. I very much look forward to our summer plans.

Then on Monday I came back to work. That's where I am sitting right now. Work. Back in the office for the third year in a row. Kind of weird how I keep leaving and coming back and things are mostly the same. I got my boss to gut this place last year and consolidate a crap ton of stuff and since then he's kind of moved the office around a bit, otherwise it's mostly the same. I see the same people in the hallways and Mark is the same he has always been.

That night I finished unpacking my room in like an hour and a half. It was a mad sprint to get it done. Which I did. Now I am back in my room. I only have to hook those two speakers back up and then I am good to go for the summer. I have two big video games I want to play this summer (The Last of Us and Fuse) so I'll need my room to be in prime gaming condition.

And so the summer begins. Four months of working and chilling with friends. I don't think it'll be as crazy as last year, ya know, the summer where I came out as bisexual and Tasha and I broke up for a while.

OH WAIT DIDN'T TELL YOU THAT YET DID I OH WELL JUST DID.

Yeah that's what happened last summer. Didn't blog about it much did I? Maybe you could kind of tell something was going on there? Probably. Anyways here I am a year later out of the metaphorical closet as bisexual. It's all good yo. Keep on being me as much as I can.

I am planning on editing my book this summer and getting some copies printed as part of my prize for completing NaNoWriMo last year. If you are still in school good luck with the end of the year and tests and stuff and if you are out already, ENJOY SUMMER AS MUCH AS YOU CAN. I used more caps in this post than originally intended. Oh well, didn't intend to really come out here just kind of feels right a little less than a year later.

Stay awesome everyone, thanks for reading!

Post 233 | Walks

For two weeks in a row now I have had the pleasure of walking down the street to a park/forest/farm area and just wander around a bit. These walks offer an opportunity for some of the most relaxing time during my day.

Something about walking around a wide open space or inside a forest relaxes me. Breathing in the fresh air and just being distracted by putting one foot in front of the other takes an enormous amount of weight off my shoulders.

Which is odd because a lot of the talks on these meanderings are about weighty subjects. But that does make me like them any less.

I also sat outside just reading for an hour and a half on a bench on Sunday and that was equally relaxing. Except for the part where my back was angry at me for doing so. Spring doesn't last terribly long, before we know it summer will be here in all it's ridiculously hot glory and we wont want to go outside as much.

So I implore you to go outside and enjoy the fresh air while you still want to. On sunny days where clouds billow through the skies like ships on the water, enjoy walking around and feeling the sunshine on your face.

Who knows, maybe that winter pastiness will even go away. But really, even if you don't want to go for a walk go outside and read or even sit on your computer outside, the fresh air really is quite great. I know a lot of people like to lay outside in the grass and peruse tumblr, and that is perfectly fine, just go outside!

I don't know what it is about the fresh air that calms my nerves, but it does. Right now it's raining otherwise I might be exploring late at night.

Thanks for reading as always, stay awesome! Almost done with the semester, woo!

Post 232 | Settled

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Settled, finally! Have roommates for next year! Thank goodness! Maybe I wont feel so alone next year eh? Maybe.

It's weird that I feel so alone even though I am in a relationship. I think it has to do with the fact that I wind up here in my room alone a lot. I think having three other guys who I actually like and I presume like me to interact with next year in an apartment wil be much better than life has been in these damn dorms.

Plus I wont have to deal with all the crap in the dorms and stuff. It really sucks in here. College living isn't that great! If I could live at home I probably would. My bed and all my stuff is there! This isn't like at the end of Toy Story 3 where Andy drives off with basically all of his crap, that doesn't happen.

But I am beyond happy to have people to live with next year and apparently some kind of reunion is going on where we're trying to get everyone from our freshman year dorm floor to move into the same apartment building which would be fantastic I love and miss those guys.

Alright, I should probably go to bed at some point, I was Skyping with someone but he had to meander off to the telephone.

Trying to be happier and stuff. Made some stop motion animation stuff which you can check out here: http://www.youtube.com/user/jneuman313

I'm gunna try and make one as often as I can with my different toys and stuff. It should be fun and keep me interested in stop motion animation which I can't believe I forgot my love for. Thank you mom for Frankenweenie for Easter, inspired me to get back into it.

Ok, that is all for now, talk to you all laterz. Thanks for reading! And thanks Jonathan for commenting! Now if only everyone who reads this would comment! Do it! Thanks!

Post 231 | Close

So close yet so far to securing roommates for next year.

Texted one of my friends who I knew they needed a fourth... Couple days later get a text back saying two of them are down just have to talk to the third... Two days later run into the guy I texted... Turns out they had another person lined up for the fourth and the third was the tie breaker between me and this other guy and he chose the other guy. Odd because I thought he and I were pretty good friends. Oh well, suppose not.

Needless to say in a pretty bad mood right now. This is three times now roommate stuff hasn't worked out for me in as many years. It's fucking faaaaantastic. So ready to graduate and get my own place and not have to worry about any of this crap anymore.

Just going to keep rolling with the punches. I feel like the next one will break me. Which will suck. Oh well.

Post 230 | Alone

All it takes is one thing to remind me how alone I am. Today I received an email telling us when housing signups were. No one wants to room with me. I can feel it in my bones. Freshman year I thought I gained all these great connections. Then some friends and I tried to get an apartment and it fell through and none of them wanted to room with me. Then no one wanted to room with me the following year, and then the guy who I was gunna room with bailed on me and I just expect it to go this way again. I just always wind up with whoever is on the damn facebook group.

I hate being the odd one out. The one no one really wants. The one that everyone smiles when they see but when I pass they probably just shake their head and walk away.

I hate feeling alone.

I know I am not completely alone but I definitely feel it. I have Tasha and I have some friends, but none that can or will live with me. One is going to a different college next year, one is a girl, and my quote, un quote best friend is Tasha, also a girl…

I’m not alone but I feel alone.

I suppose you could say I don’t really have a best guy friend right now.  I would say it’s weird, but it’s not really. I haven’t really had a want for one for so long now, but I am sitting here in my room alone and it sucks. Last year there were guys on my floor that hung with me and we had a good time but they all moved to apartments so all alone I am here in the dorms with a roommate that I don’t think even likes me, probably just tolerates me.

Oh well.

Suppose that’s just my life now. I am really looking forward to being done with college. Move onto the real world. Where I can live with whomever I want or even alone. Maybe my fish is my best guy friend right now… Which is funny but sad.

Fuck the system, man. I really wish I could just get a place by myself here. It would make stuff a lot simpler. Not worry about anyone else, not deal with anyone else. Sure I would be alone, but I wouldn’t feel rejected, it would be by choice. Does that make sense? Yeah? No?

Maybe someone will offer for me to live with him this year. That would be nice. But it probably won’t happen.

I’ll just be alone.

In a bad place, goodnight.

Post 229 | 21

Last Wednesday I turned 21. On 3.13.13 I turned 21. Look at all of those 13s. That's pretty awesome.

My family came down. My sisters fought. Same old same old.

It's not really different yet.

Just thought I should post something about it.

School has sort of taken over my life. Well, it did last week during my birthday. Just so much to do. I had quire the difficult test this morning as well.

Oh well.

Just gunna keep on truckin. I used that in a post already.

DAMN. Oh well.

Also feeling more lonely lately than I probably should.

That is all.

Post 228 | Stuffs

Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear oh dear.

I am so utterly and completely done with this entire research thing that college is so intent on engraining into my mind. Well, I suppose it isn't the research I am done with so much as the process that my Communication Theory professor is putting us through.

Some research can be really fun and informative and interesting. I really liked learning about the Narrative Paradigm as much as I have so far, but I had to write down every quote I want to use in my paper on a notecard from at least 15 sources...

I've spent the last two weeks or so reading through my already collected sources and highlighting stuff and today I probably spent a total of 5-6 hours just writing the stuff down onto the notecards. Now I have a stack of at least 154 notecards (I may have miscounted) and one hell of a hand cramp.

I know next year I will be researching quite a bit as well, having to write a senior speech and all, but hopefully it wont be as bad as this 16+ page paper I have to write for this class.

Besides that torment I had this wonderful time in Chicago this past weekend with my fellow newspaper staff members. If I haven't mentioned it before, I run the website for my school paper. This past weekend we went to a conference and went to seminars and walked around Chicago, A LOT.

And it was wonderful. I loved walking around the city late at night while it was snowing and I even got to talk to one of my professors a bunch and heard some great stories and she's really awesome. She even gave my girlfriend a ride to her class this morning as it was raining ice bullets.

It was great to just walk around and just breathe the city in. I could really live there, I really hope I get to. I would love to work downtown at a radio station or TV station or even any communications job really. I feel like I am getting close to the point where I would be comfortable in a lot of different positions.

I am writing a short story for my creative writing class and I am satisfied with where it going so far, I am going to attempt to finish it tomorrow, it cannot run on for too long so here's hoping. It's about flying pirate ships and a battle between two of them. It's kinda cool actually.

I should probably be heading to bed now, 8am class does not treat me well. Thanks for reading! Please comment! I promise I'll respond!

Post 227 | Truckin'

Hey ya'llllllll. Ok, no. Let's not do that.

Hello! How goes it the no people who read this thing? Good? Good! I'm glad! I haven't written in almost a month because, well, nothing is happening. Literally nothing. School just keeps on trucking on and I keep on along with it.

It's been a rather uneventful month or so. Simply trying to stay on top of everything. Which is proving difficult, I have to talk to two of my teachers tomorrow about rescheduling tests. I am going to be in Chicago on Friday for a conference for my school paper. Hey it's a free night in a nice hotel with a super comfy bed and a bunch of free decent food. I am in.

Plus I'll get to hang and talk to some people I like. Some people I find annoying. Oh well. I feel like it's going to turn into me and this one girl talking about Downton Abbey the entire time. Which I am perfectly ok with.

My novel is now in the hands of two English teachers who are editing it for me. One from high school and one is my current Creative Writing teacher. I am trying very hard to be talkative in Creative Writing to get more people talking and get conversations going. It is proving difficult but I like to think it is helping me.

I am past the first tests of the semester and onto the second this week and next. I don't know what it is about the first test in any class but I always have a really tough time. I am hoping it goes better this time around so I can raise the grades slightly before midterm. Which is about 10 days away which is also insane.

How is the semester already half way done? INSANITY.

Other than that not a lot to report. I finished Doctor Who, or finished catching up to Doctor Who a few weeks ago. I can say I am hooked and I like 10 the best. If you are a fan you know what I am talking about. Spring Break is in about a week in a half which shall be quite pleasant. I need to 1. Get a haircut  2. Meet up with an old teacher of mine to discuss my novel, and 3. Call my old piano teacher.

I am just going to keep on trucking as should all of you. Stay awesome, thanks for reading!

Post 226 | Cloud Atlas

Let's begin with a quote like I used to, shall we?

"And only as you gasp your dying breath shall you understand, your life amounted to no more than on drop in a limitless ocean!"
"Yet what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?" - David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

Towards the end of 2012 I became determined to read Cloud Atlas. I had seen trailers for the movie and had read a lot about it and wanted to do nothing else but read that book. And that's what I did. I read Cloud Atlas and at the end stood shocked and amazed.

Cloud Atlas is truly one of the great books of our lifetimes. It pushes boundaries and makes us question what we believe in such an interesting and provocative way. The way it is all weaved and put together is simply astounding.

I didn't know this book existed until the creation of the movie, and I am beyond grateful it was made into a movie. By the time I finished the book it was no longer easy to go see it in theaters, so recently I watched, well, a crummy version online because that's what I had to do. I needed to see it.

And it translated marvelously to film.

A lot, and when I say a lot I mean: A LOT, of critics despised the film or found it messy and poorly directed. I would like to point out, though, that Roger Ebert, the famous critic, gave it 4/4 stars and called a movie he would watch over and over again (source).

They translated the book so beautifully to film, changing things ever so slightly to make the film more effective as the film. Instead of six separated stories, we never lingered on one or the other for far too long, instead bouncing between the six showing their connections and ideas. It was brilliantly done.

The actors did a superb job, playing out sometimes six different roles. The effects, costumes, and make up were all astounding, leaving me sometime to forget that a male actor was behind the face of a female character or vice a versa. It was amazing. AND THE SCORE HOLY CRAP THE SCORE IT IS GENIUS. Seriously, the music captures me in a way no score has since Deathly Hallows Part 2

If you love books or movies I insist you give this a read or watch (when it comes out February 3rd!). It is a book that takes six different literary styles and forms and fits them together perfectly. How the hell did David Mitchell pull that off?

Alright, I have said what I wanted to say about this marvelous story. Just go read it. Or watch it. It's completely and utterly worth your time. Thanks for reading!