The Ideal Hardware for SSM2


It’s been two years and some odd months since I put together my gaming rig: the SSM1 (Sonokamome System Model 1) and I’ve decided that it would be fun to think about the specs for the next rig, SSM2. Now, given that the economy is really bad in most parts of the world, and that due to calamities in the weather that have affected the production of some hardware components in key manufacturing plants in the world, I can’t really enact in being active with purchasing hardware. Plus, I’ve already spent enough on the current rig for hardware and software (the former lately being hardware).

In the last two years since putting together SSM1, I’ve upgraded the video graphics card: first started the build off with a Nvidia GTX 260, followed by a year later with an upgrade to a GTX 460, and then a year later with the current GTX 570. Each card as relatively set me back a bit during the time that they were purchased, I’ve learned that for upgrading something important like a video graphics card, it’s best to go back to budgeting and planning ahead…sort of.
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Secret Garden – Adagio

I leaned against the door frame looking on outside the window. The heat outside was wafting inside the apartment and the fans were gently blowing the air with their arms swinging without ceasing.

“Will you return to me someday?” She asked. She looked at me with very tired eyes; the bedazzlement was gone. She was no longer with a happy spirit, she knew that she had hit her limit and could no longer move the way she used to in life. She shifted slightly looking on as well with me outside the street as the warm rain was beating slowly on the roof and the shimmering on the streets outside.

“I…don’t know…but I need to go back…” I said collectedly, hinting hesitation.

There was no words to say after this point as it was all over and the enchantments were finished.

I was looking outside and the gray morning was coming. Walking behind her I slipped my hands to feel around her waist and held her close to me- pressing my face against her nape.

I did not want the sun to come…because I knew that all the things in this room, and this person in my arms, was going to disappear forever and never return to me. I could never tell her about her existence. I could never tell her the truth and it pained me so. And so I held her tightly against me, memorizing her shape and level of warmth, and kissed her one last time.

Semi-retirement

After playing a few hours of Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Fallout 3. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m done with playing any AAA blockbuster title as those as they require a lot of dedication and commitment. Really those two are not just games: they’re almost an obligation. And when a game become an obligation instead of something that you can come and go without worrying much, then it’s no longer fun. It’s simple as that.

I might go back to them whenever I find myself being able to spare the time to dedicate myself to them but to be all honest I don’t think I ever will. There might be other reasons in my mind (probably I did not like the graphics, the gameplay, the overload of choices that you have, etc) or just finding myself more and more in favor of particular games whereas before I likened myself to being a player of any game and being able to enjoy almost any genre.

But I guess in the end, it seems, I do have some discriminating tastes. Perhaps I really just like certain games that have a particular look to theme and pace.

So Where to go from here in the meantime? Well I’ll probably continue with first person shooter games. Those I like the most given they’re skill-based games (sometimes) and always are games that look good. Other games outside of the FPS world would probably be small indie games or whatever game out there that happens to be tickling my interest due to it’s graphical presentation.

Perhaps I might even go into console gaming and start playing PS3 games. But then again, knowing myself, PC is always my preferred gaming platform.

Bob Montescarlo Photography: Vivid colors of awesome.

Bob Montescarlo homepage image
If there is any local San Francisco photographer to check out is Bob Carlosmontes. A lot of his work is of the still-life photographic style and is quite are quite good at vividly portraying the subject in bright color schemes and presentations.

Some photographic pieces may seem like illustrations but are, in fact, pure photographs. And this is part of the whole still-life stylistic theme that Montescarlo goes for in his work. This makes for making a photograph seem like a different medium product entirely (a photograph that looks like an illustration? Who knew?).

So check out his work and drop an email sometime! ( ^_^) (click here).

Updates: Japan.

The reason for the sudden rise in posts is due to the recent earthquake in Japan which has affected many people and is something that we, those that are at the very least connected to the country in one way or another, can’t just forget. It’s not just some news report that you hear everyday where some number of people have died to some accident, war, disease outbreak, or small scale conflict of whatever cause. The fact that we have a situation where, in the last week or so, has caused a massive crippling in the country. It’s unreal that we’d see as disaster as massive as we have in Japan where an earthquake, tsunami, and a situation where the active threat of nuclear fallout comes in a single day.

And while fears are being immediately manufactured and distributed through sound, through paper, and through light by some of the mouth pieces of the powers that be around within and out of Japan, I’d like to offer something else: a place for minds to hang out and try to relax (operative word: try).

Sure, it could be said to be irresponsible to try to escape the everyday reality, but it’s human nature to have something to hold on to; To clutch mentally to sustain a cool head.

In ancient times, the Greeks thought that music could serve as medicine for the mind and soul. So posting music for people out there in Japan, or anyone in any part of the world that happens to visit here, is a help. A medicine so to speak. It’s not a medicine or a help that is as obviously noticeable as that of sending money, food, or some other form of tangible material to send for support. But it can, at the very least, help out in probably adding a soundtrack to someone’s life. To have a piece of music be the highlighter and – but not a definitive- marker of someone’s life. All the while promoting a possible sense of strength within the person to face daily life amidst the problems around them.

I could only imagine what people are undergoing and I can only offer my sympathies, words, and prayers. May God bless Japan and it’s people.

*note: if you click on the image above it will take you to W+K Studios’s site. They are selling  high quality  poster prints of shown design in the pic  and go for $25.00 USD per print. All proceeds go to the Red Cross.