So, the week before I left Tennessee, I installed the Release
Candidate for Windows 7 on my laptop, a Compaq Presario C751NR. I was
pleasantly surprised. Vista had been a major pain in the ass for me to
work with, because, even using the Windows Classic theme, the memory
usage was horrible. That being said, I was also apprehensive about the
absence of the Windows Classic theme…
However, I’m running Aero currently, with Firefox, AIM,
uTorrent, and iTunes open. Most Windows users know that Firefox and
iTunes require a decent amount of memory to run, and AIM also requires
a bit more than most programs. However, I’m not getting any lag; I’ve
had Firefox freeze on me once, and it wasn’t even permanently (which is
a step up from my experience with Vista). I’ve gotten the BSoD twice,
but, that’s to be expected with a Release Candidate. The most trouble
I’ve had with programs and memory usage is, sometimes, when I’m running
Guitar Pro to write songs (which I try not to do with iTunes open, to
keep usage down; also, I use MIDI for songs with more than 5 or 6
tracks, unless it’s absolutely necessary I use RSE), the buttons in the
Firefox window will begin to disappear, and, a screen will pop-up
saying something about not having enough memory, at which point, I just
restart Firefox.
In addition to the smoothness of Windows 7, I enjoy the new taskbar.
Instead of having Quick Launch icons, you pin a program to the taskbar,
and, whenever you click that button, the button disappears and in its
place appears a window. It is both convenient and efficient in my
opinion. It also groups certain things together. For instance, if you
have AIM open, and your buddy list is on the taskbar, if you open a
conversation, the two windows are placed next to each other on the
taskbar, and it almost looks like one huge window (there is a space
between the AIM windows and anything else you may have open to
differentiate). Another cool feature they’ve integrated into the
taskbar is color coding. For instance, if you have uTorrent open, it is
green, because it is a downloading program. AIM is orange, etc.
Also, Windows Sidebar is no longer included in Windows
installation…sort of. You can download the gadgets you want, but,
instead of being placed on an annoying, space-taking Sidebar, they are
called “Desktop Gadgets”, and can be moved to convenient places on the
Desktop. It is still called “Sidebar.exe” as a process, though, and
serves the same basic function.
Another feature is the addition of a “Libraries” directory. It seems
a bit redundant, to be honest, but, I suppose it has its perks. When
you open Windows Explorer, there’s what I call the “essential
shortcuts” on the left (Desktop, My Computer, C:/, etc.). Now, instead
of the “*username here*” folder, there is “Libraries”, in which you
have Documents, Music, Pictures, and Video folders (I also put my band
folder in there). The redundancy redundancy comes in that the same
folders are still located in your “*username here*” folder. So, the
idea of Libraries is pointless.
I’ve uploaded some screen shots to a Photobucket album which you can view here, if you’d like. All in all, I’m impressed with Windows 7, even as a Release Candidate.
Suicide Silence released No Time to Bleed this past Tuesday, in 5 different formats or releases. Primarily, there is the CD, which is nothing special, one disc of eleven tracks, a booklet, etc. There is a vinyl version which
is much the same, as well. Hot Topic* released the CD with a different
album cover and a bonus disc. Then, there’s the iTunes (digital)
version, which comes with 12 tracks and a .pdf booklet. To top it all
off, there is a “Maximum Bloodshed” edition of the album, which
is the real deal-maker. You get the CD with a bonus track, a DVD with
the four studio update videos and a hot-dog making lesson, a two-sided
poster (one side is the band members, the other the album cover), 5
trading cards (one for each member of the band), an album booklet, and
a coupon for a free shirt (you do have to pay for shipping and
handling, though, and it’s just a black shirt with the band logo on
it). The only problem with this? It’s not really “Maximum” anything.
The bonus track on this edition is exclusive to this version. It is not
the bonus track you get with the iTunes version and isn’t on the bonus
disc that comes with the CD sold at Hot Topics. So, here is a list of
all the songs that you get between all the American releases of No Time To Bleed:
Wake Up* Lifted* Smoke* Something Invisible* No Time to Bleed* Suffer* …And Then She Bled* Wasted* Your Creations* Genocide* Disengage* Misleading Milligrams Them Bones (Alice in Chains cover) Unanswered (Live)* Bludgeoned* The Price of Beauty* No Pity for a Coward* Green Monster* Destruction of a Statue*
Altogether, that totals up to approximately $55 for 19 tracks. And a
shitload of repeats. It’s $59 if you end up getting the shirt too. This
is all for one CD. Essentially two-discs and a DVD. This is bullshit.
So, you can spend all that money so you can hear everything, if
you’d like, which, for some people, is okay. For people like me who
either don’t have much money to begin with, or should probably spending
it on something else, we download it. I personally have only seen
downloads for the regular album and “Them Bones” so far, but I’m sure
Misleading Milligrams and the bonus disc will make it’s way around
shortly. A couple of hints to downloaders (it amazes me how many people
don’t know these couple of things):
1. When looking for something through Google, always put “*artist or album* download/torrent/Blogspot/Mediafire/etc.” 2.
The Pirate Bay may be the largest available torrent site (for now),
but, it doesn’t have everything. Refer to the other hint, you may find
what you’re looking for on other sites (or even on the Pirate Bay;
their tagging system isn’t the greatest, I’ve noticed)
Quit making 17 different releases in 30 countries of the same CD and maybe we’ll feel less-inclined to download shit illegally.
As humans, we have walls we put up (consciously or otherwise) to keep people from getting into our personal lives and getting hurt and what not. Control over your relationships with other people and society in general increases once you realize those walls are there and you figure out how to manipulate them. Let's say, for just a moment, you devoted yourself to someone for whatever reason, fully and for a long time, and then they let you down in some way. That's the first time you should realize you're making walls. Shutting yourself out from the world in depression or sadness or angst; whatever the emotion is, you're creating walls. Most people just let the walls create themselves and live their lives from that point on letting their walls rule their life. It's at that point you should begin thinking about how to manipulate the walls, it makes things so much easier to be able to choose who you want to be friends with consciously. If you can decide who to put walls up against to block out, then you can essentially decide who influences you, who relationships of any sort will be with, and, thus, who you are.
I came across this revelation as I was furiously scribbling away at my own shortcomings one night in late February, and I'd like to explain my opinion on this.
First, you must under stand that I use the root word "sin" loosely. I do not mean in a religious sense, as it most often is used in connotation with. "Sin" in this sense simply means "morally wrong", or, even, wrong to one's self.
Now, most people refer to inner demons as a need or a want that a person battles with mentally, and sometimes, physically. Take, for example, excessively drinking liquor, or for some people, drinking at all. Or, better yet, take the teenage mind's idea of love. Almost every teenager claims to love whoever they may be dating, and, in a sense, they do. They feel a strong feeling of affection for someone and that feeling is returned. However, the teenage mind and body goes through multiple changes, and, the person becomes attracted to someone else as well. At that point, the choice of dating the other person, staying with the current date, or cheating on the current date with the other person, is a rather large conflict, testing your morals and perspective on life, and the resulting choice can be an inner demon.
The phrase "sinner demands" can be applied to either of those two examples, and any other that I've come across. Drinking in excess is a sinner demand. Using the definiton of sin from above, if you drink in excess and know you need to stop, then the liquor is a demand of yours, and you are a sinner. If you cheat on your date, and you know you shouldn't have, or feel any remorse over it, then the other person was your demand, and you are a sinner.
You hear so many people claim they're looking for love, looking for one person that turns their world upside down and right side up. I argue that they are looking for happiness, and will do almost anything to get that happiness. Some people live life and never get married or pursue relationships. They've found something that makes them happy, and thus have no reason to find love. Love is just an idea of hope, hope that the happiness you search for can be found with a certain person. Take this for example, which is becoming all too common among teenagers:
Guy meets a girl, they really like each other, they start dating, then, one of them begins to like someone else, but they wanna stay with the person they're with, and then the other person gets wind of it, and they break up, so that the person who likes someone else can be "happy". The other person ends up wanting to kill himself because what little happiness he had with the person was better than having no happiness at all. You realize how many times a teenager goes through that?
Now, take for example, my Physical Science teacher, who is happy teaching, collecting guitars, listening to music, and doing woodwork. He's not married, not dating. In fact, he lives with his dad, helping him take care of himself.
You are not looking for love, you're looking for happiness. =]
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HWFG1's blogs, last updated : August 18, 2009
