Snippet: "The Fireweaver"

Inspiration, especially in writing, is a really weird and often frustrating thing. I wrote this snippet of a novel I intended to write almost two years ago, in the world my cousin and I created, Shaarzahn. I stumbled upon it today and am amazed at how intriguing it is. It draws me in immediately to the story and I'm dying to read more. I don't remember writing a lot of it. I remember having an idea, but not enough of one to assemble into an entire novel. Why did I stop writing? What made me stop where I did? Why can't I ever finish what I start? It's frustrating for me to find such radiant and pure gems buried in the sand, but gems that I know will likely never be cut into the shape they need to be to live their potential as refined, sparkling cut jewels. Well, at least I have material here in case whatever muse first whispered this story's beginnings to me ever chances to return.

Relic Story: Mr. Arrow

I stumbled upon this as I was looking through my old WordPerfect documents. It's not a bad story for a thirteen-year-old. The actual metaphor for the entire thing being a computer is a tad clumsy, but I like the pacing and flow of the plot. The inspiration from the story comes from my family's computer's tendency of basically never working. The CD Rom was always having issues, and at the time of this piece, we had a virus or Spyware on our computer. The ending is a reference to my brother Redge calling my uncle, a computer wizard, who walked him through the steps of eliminating the virus.

Short Story: Cold

Enjoy this scary story I made for a contest at work.

Movie Review: The Jungle Book (2016)

For the most part, I've been pretty impressed with Disney's recent fever of putting a modern spin on their old classics and making them unique through exploring different characters' points of view. I enjoyed Maleficent, as it focused on the villain's point of view and explored an alternate storyline and a different meaning of the word "love" that goes beyond the cliché. And from what I hear (I haven't seen it quite yet), Cinderella does a great job of tying up some plot threads that the original cartoon left loose, adding valuable and meaningful character motivations along the way.

WarCraft Easter Eggs: All the Rest

Well, my journey through the Warcraft 3 Easter eggs has come to an unofficial end. I've found pretty much every secret there is to find, I hope. Below are the two "addendum" videos that showcase all the ones I missed during my first pass through all the campaigns. After this, I have ideas for two more videos, one about the models in the game and the other about the interface icons, so I'll get to work on those at some point in the future. But as far as the campaigns go, these secrets were all really awesome to find.

>> goo.gl/rKN0aA <<

>> https://goo.gl/Z8QQ4S <<

Alfred Shortstaff and the Cavern of Time Second Edition!

I got around to reading Alfred Shortstaff and the Cavern of Time from cover to cover in print, which is a good medium to, sadly, find errors! Gah! There were at least 40 changes I had to make to the text itself, and then I ended up re-typesetting the entire book because I realized that the spacing on the chapters bothered me. How embarrassing. Well, if you've bought the book already, you now own a rare first-edition copy!

The Lord's Prayer in Anglo-Saxon

I've been fascinated with Old English/Anglo-Saxon since I took a course in college (I wish I could've taken the second course and read Beowulf all the way through, but in retrospect it probably would've been extremely stressful and difficult). I decided on a whim to use my memorization skills to memorize the Lord's Prayer. I think it could be a fun thing to brag that I can do. It was fun, and it helped me understand the grammar of Anglo-Saxon quite a bit.

WarCraft III Easter Eggs: The Founding of Durotar

All right, that should please the thronging crowds for a while—every single campaign in WarCraft III. Looking back, I honestly can't believe how much work I've done. Each video probably took at least a half hour of work per minute of video time, possibly more when you count the research involved. I'm going to take a much-needed break from WarCraft videos, and in a month or two I'll finish with the finale, a video showcasing all the ones I missed.

>> https://youtu.be/9_Cldgfy39A <<

WarCraft III Easter Eggs: Legacy of the Damned

Whew! I stayed up late and got up early all week to get this thing done. I think I deserve a break. I wasn't planning on doing The Founding of Durotar, but it did turn out to have some Easter eggs, so this is the second-to-last campaign video I'll feature.

>> https://youtu.be/536KpLoLBKg <<

WarCraft III Easter Eggs: Curse of the Blood Elves

I always thought this was a weird campaign—my least favorite in WarCraft III. But it has its fun moments. Blood elves were my favorite race for quite a while, and this campaign actually surprised me quite a bit with the secrets it was hiding.

>> https://youtu.be/kDxQYR5xEcc <<

Austin's Thoughts #2

On Weather:

• Pretty much take the exact temperature and wind speed the place was where I had to mow on Wednesday, and THAT'S what Hell's like. >< And don't be silly. Meatballs falling from the sky would obviously be Heaven's weather.
• March 25: The quiet, flurrying snow outside is beautiful, in a way... But it's a misplaced beauty, like a man in a wedding dress.
• Anyone who doesn't like this beautiful rainy weather can move to Antarctica, since that's what the landscape looked like before the rains of cleansing came. It looks like a real spring for once! (Let's hope I don't jinx it)
• It appears as though after vigorous struggles with each other this week, Spring has finally won the playoffs against Winter. Cross your fingers and hope Winter doesn't try to make a comeback.
• Water is for drinking. Not for falling everywhere and soaking innocent hardworking people when they're mowing all day long.

status updates

WarCraft III Easter Eggs: Terror of the Tides

This one turned out a lot longer than I expected. I may have split it into two if I had known beforehand. The Blink ability really added a ton of secret places. Hope you enjoy! I'm excited to have finally started the Frozen Throne! 

>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snmYczCppWo <<

Behind WarCraft III: An Interview with Campaign Designer David Fried

As a fanatic of WarCraft III since the game came out when I was in eighth grade, I was honored to have had the awesome chance to speak with an actual developer of the game, David Fried. David came in contact with me through my WarCraft III Easter Egg videos (which can be found here), and graciously answered my questions about his experience as a campaign designer and writer.

Knight Guy Strip #100!

Well, Knight Guy officially has 100 strips. I'm simultaneously excited, proud, satisfied, and daunted. The comic has come so far and is everything I hoped it would be (I can't believe how many punchlines I've made work—and only a couple of them didn't), and yet it's only about a quarter of the first of three acts that's finished. I'm still young, but I wonder if I'll ever finish the entire story, or even one act. It's taken two and a half years to get this far. Oh well. I guess that's not important.

Anyway, here is the strip in all its glory. I thought it was appropriate to have the hundredth strip finally bring Humdring and Corlis together after such a long time apart.

Visit the comic site if you haven't caught up with the story yet!

WarCraft III Easter Eggs: Eternity's End

I can't believe how much publicity these videos are getting! A WarCraft III developer even commented on the videos and we've been conversing about amazing behind-the-scenes stuff. I'm going to abridge our conversation into an interview for this site soon.
The Reign of Chaos levels are complete! I can't wait to get started on the Frozen Throne ones. This has been one of the most rewarding projects I've ever worked on.

>> https://youtu.be/hhmuYUmZnCo?list=PLRKY06uPWOOT4lTcTn2Y7oTqp7Rj6xXSe <<

WarCraft III Easter Eggs: The Invasion of Kalimdor

This one was a super fun one to make, and I found some amazing secrets that I'm not sure anyone else has ever bothered to look for and find! I hope these videos get popular, especially if WarCraft III gets some updates in the coming year or two.

>>> https://youtu.be/FlcSCyc_XCQ <<<

WarCraft III Easter eggs: Path of the Damned

The next WarCraft Easter eggs video is up. Click the link below to watch it. I'm really impressed with the audience these videos are getting. The first one got over 1,000 views, and the second one seems to be doing pretty well. I'm guessing it'll get random spikes as people find it. I am a bit disappointed at its low posting SEO-wise on YouTube. Oh well. Maybe it'll get higher as people realize how much more thorough my videos are than any others on the web!

>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyeF_Apq0l8&feature=youtu.be <<

Recipe: Ultimate Chili Spud

Being an Idahoan, I love potatoes. I remember inventing a potato recipe when I was a kid called Potato Snax, and if I could eat one food every day (in any variation), it'd probably be potatoes. When I was in middle school, my school had a Potato Bar, and I soon took to making chili baked potatoes at home and improving the recipe over time. This recipe represents the best recipe I can come up with. It's a bit on the high side when it comes to number of ingredients, but I promise the taste medley you'll experience in this hearty dish will give you a flavor buzz.

Ultimate Chili Spud

"Idahoan perfection!"

 Ingredients

• 1 russet potato
• Sea salt
• Cracked pepper
• Nalley brand Walla Walla Onion flavor chili
• ¼ cup chopped onions (or more if you want)
• Frank's Red Sauce
• Grated medium cheddar cheese
• Sour cream
• Green onions or chives
• Bacos
• Ground coriander
• BONUS: Real bacon bits

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Scrub and wash the outside of the potato. Stab the everloving heck out of it all over with a fork. The more you stab, the crispier it'll be.
3. Spray the spud with oil and roll it in sea salt, then put it in the oven on the rack. Let it bake for 1 hour.*
4. Remove the hot potato out of the oven and brush off the excess salt off the outside. Combine the onions with the uncooked chili, as well as a spank or two of Frank's sauce. Cook the chili in the microwave according to directions (it's like 3 minutes). 
5. Cut the potato in half lengthwise, then mash each side to spread it out on the plate. Add butter if you want (but I never notice the flavor, so it's probably just a waste of calories and fat), and cracked pepper.
6. Place a hearty amount of chili on the potato (I usually put half a can), and sprinkle with cheddar cheese. Put several spoonsful of sour cream on top and sprinkle with chopped green onions/chives, bacos, bacon bits if you have them, and a dash of coriander.
7. Enjoy!

YIELD: 1 spud, which is usually what I eat by myself. It could be divided in half if you don't have as much of an appetite for potatoes as I do.
____

Washes down well with...  Ice cold milk.

*If you don't have time to cook it in the oven, forget all of the salt and oil processes and instead microwave it on a plate in the microwave for about three minutes on one side and three minutes on the other.

New Project: WarCraft III Easter Eggs

A few weeks ago, I was mildly interested in working on The Hard Lands (I need to write a post about that more in detail), so I opened the WarCraft III MPQ file to see if I could get any of the map icons to make a custom map. Instead of following through with that, I realized that I could rip the game's actual scenario map files and see them in the World Editor. I realized that there are all kinds of Easter eggs in the game that I never knew about, and indeed, that I couldn't find anywhere online.

Seizing this golden opportunity to do a service to the WarCraft III community (and possibly get some recognition for once), I decided to make a thorough, entertaining YouTube series where I showcase each Easter egg. I just finished the human one, and it already has over a thousand views! I'm lucky to have as high quality a website as The Hive Workshop to showcase my work; I bet most of my views came from there.

I got a lot of inspiration from the way PeanutButterGamer does his videos, and otherwise just had a blast messing around with Adobe Premiere. So far, people seem to like it, so I'm going to work like crazy to get the rest of the videos out over time, continuing with the Undead one next.

Click here to watch it! >> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jwb73Wx8og <<

Recipe: Gourmet Chicken Ramen

Everyone knows missionary crusaders eat a lot of Ramen noodles if they're available in the country they're serving in, and I was no exception. It's cheap, easy, and light on the stomach when you just want a quick, small before-bed meal. But I wanted my miojo (as the Brazilians call it) to also be delicious when I ate it. I made all kinds of variations, from Hot-Dog Ketchup Gumbo to Firemouth Beef. Like all meals I make over and over, eventually I perfected this meal to be so delicious that my wife actually craves it and requests me to make it. I've been really proud of this recipe, since it's so easy and delicious to make when everything else sounds like too much of a hassle.

New Avatar

I thought the old avatar was getting pretty outdated-looking, and when I made this surprisingly good caricature of myself, I figured it was time to update it using some more experienced techniques. Now I just need to update the cover photo for my YouTube account.

Vid: RPL

I posted this video a few years ago, but the quality was pretty bad. When making it, I mainly wanted to see if I could simulate a first-person RPG around my home town. It's not a great video, and this week I wanted to see if YouTube could stabilize it for me. The shaking was horrible. What I forgot to remember was that I had put a little crosshairs on the video just like games like Oblivion and Morrowind have to aid in picking things up. In the process of stabilizing the piece (surprisingly and impressively well), YouTube moved the crosshairs all over the place, making for a humorous video.

I was hoping my wife would be home when I arrived so I could simulate a roleplaying conversation, but she wasn't, so I just wandered around at the end. Who knows? one day I may make another attempt at this, complete with Premiere-provided UI and stuff.

Dream: The Duelist's Insanity

I've been fascinated with dreams lately. I have an extensive (125-page) dream journal, and reading through it is astounding... Most of the time I can't remember ever writing them, so it's like reading a bunch of bizarre, amazing short stories. This one was very intriguing.

Caption Comic

I was asked at work to draw a comic that our hired writers could come up with a caption for as a contest. I'm happy to work for a company that strives to give each employee their chance to share their talents. They even gave me two hours of paid time to work on it. It's not much, but it was fun to draw. I was really impressed by the winner's submission and am glad they won!

Epic Chess printable version download!

>>Click here to download the printable pack!<<

It's been a long time since I've worked on Epic chess, but like many projects, sometimes motivation just surfaces without warning. So here I am!

I am totally willing to go out on a limb and try to market Epic Chess. I think it's simple and fun enough that people would get a kick out of it. In order to get to the point of putting it on Kickstarter (not to mention actually commissioning illustration/illustrating them myself), I need the game to be playtested. A lot. I have a few versions of art I've been kicking around, the latest of which was pure Photoshop, but I think I'm going to end up doing a more customized, texture art version like my Battle Cards 2.0 I did a while ago.

Figurines and Board Games

Recently, I've become rather obsessed with the card game Munchkin. It's been fascinating to see things like fantasy races, classes, equipment, curses, and mounts have their rules tweaked to fit a specific set of rules. Anyone who knows me and my creative side knows that's what I live for. I've also been extremely fortunate to find an actual weekly group to play Munchkin with at work. Usually I never have that kind of luck (See Dungeons & Dragons), so I've been glad to have a consistent chance to practice the game and have fun.

Anyway, I've also been getting interested in figurine painting. I made a couple of figurines out of Sculpey as Corridor game pieces, and I made this guy, the Munchkin mascot as seen on the box, as a weekly trophy for whoever wins that week's game. Even though the stupid thing leaned when I was firing it in the oven, you can't really tell from the angle seen above. It was fun to practice painting on a small scale like this, too.

I also recently got an amazing board game, Talisman, which comes with 14 character figurines. They're solid gray in color, but they're paintable, and seeing as how I'm going to have that game for many years to play with my kids, I'm going to paint the figurines myself (It's also hard to tell them apart at a glance during the game when they're all the same color). This is a medium I've never really practiced before, so it's fun to get into it. I'll definitely post my progress when I get around to it.

I also hope to get into working on Epic Chess this year!