It's interesting; I haven't touched my PS2 for over a month now. The last time I played a game on it was for a couple of hours: Budokai Tenkaichi 3. Before that I didn't play it for weeks...

I mostly play my PSP now, whether just to pass the time whooping Frieza or to try and get some good times out of Jeanne D'Arc. It sucks but... I probably won't be playing my PS2 until... Wow, I dunno.

Most of my days go by writing Metal Shadow, browsing GS for a couple, more writing, listening to music to spark some inspiration to do more writing, and outside of all that computer stuff I'm doing college stuff, chores, and thinking about Metal Shadow some more. I dunno how I manage to find time to do GIMP, but I do. The upcoming months will be all work, as I strive to ace college and find a good job, so...I guess playtime's over.

Damn, I'm 18. This kinda sucks, I thought it'd be a little cooler than this.

Strangely enough, I can't really feel sad about it. I actually want to do more, like build a company with my friends. I know it sounds childish, but if there's one thing I learned growing up is that if you set your mind to something it will come to pass, and I've already set my plans in motion, not just by writing Metal Shadow, but by other means. Right now I'm developing a game with my pal Mike. We came up with the game as a way for us to get into Renslayer college--we thought if we made a sick demo it would heighten our chances tremendously. It might've, but we started about four months before the deadline for admissions. Now we're going all-out since we have no time limit. I recruited as many people as I could, including semi-professional programmer--who in turn is getting some good vibes from his programming and art buddies--and a music composer. I myself am currently writing out the design document whenever I have the time and I know the team isn't going to be that busy. Mike's got a job with a company called Vector (sounds evil, dunnit) where he's earning mad dough and is already right around the corner from a promotion. He says in two years we'll have the start-up funds for our company. As for the game itself--our trump card--it's nothing short of addictive. When it gets in development I'll let you guys know.

I got a 1-year membership to the gym for my birthday. Hey, it's not like I play that many games anymore, right? And 6 feet, 240 pounds--that's a body worth spending some time on. I just came from the gym, actually, working 75 lbs. at 3 sets of 30 into my "packs", 10 minutes at full speed on the running thingy (would've gone 20 but I arrived late and I wanted to use the transfer on my MetroCard ), combined sets of 30 at 50-100 lbs. betweem weight-lifting and a bunch of other arm work. So there's more of my time down the drain.

Listening to some Hotel Costes at the moment (vol.7 to be precise, but who's counting? They're all wicked!) while I'm shredding the paper. The room's pretty cool, and though I'm weak and knobly the music is invigorating. So I guess life's good. Yeah. Got my heart and my lungs right here, nice and healthy. *shows you heart and lungs*

Oh, did I forget to mention that I'm going to freakin' Polytech!! XD God is good my friends, that is the truth. Btw, they're now called Polytechnic Institute of NYU, and when I graduate my diploma will say "NYU" on it. I just have to scrape my pennies together for four years straight.

What else... Damn, I really got nothing in the games department. Actually I just remembered: I beat Patapon the other day! Hands down that's the best PSP game I've played so far, and I'll definitely be getting the sequel whenever it comes out--even if I have to import it. But what I really want to get my hands on is Another Road. I'm pretty sick of the first game by now (even though I just discovered a whole new slew of techniques by practicing cancels) and I want a taste of what Burst Limit is like...

Once I get a job, I'll try to find my own place, or probably get a dorm room next year at Polytech. It's becoming unbearable to live in this place, having my mom get mad at little things like me staying up late and whatnot. It's a big responsibility living on your own, I know (heard that a million times), but--well--a lot of things are becoming ever clearer to me, and I've taken initiative in a lot of areas that require me to be responsible.

Heh, the song I'm listening to just said, "You know/You know/That it will be alright.../...Alright.../...Alright..." No worries here, babes.

Guess I'll get back to shredding now...

Note: In case you're wondering about the title of this blog (as well as the title for the previous blog, genkidama), GS doesn't allow all caps in a title. So, out of frustrtion, I put everything in lower-case. But I'm actually yelling it. The full-stops are exclamation marks.

Anyw, YATAAAA!!! I graduated!!!

It's all thanks to that miracle woman, my English teacher. Only by her mercy did I earn the right to move on. I'll be writing her a million novels just as thanks. Until then, "Arigato gozaimashta, senpai." *bows*

The plan now is to get a job and scrounge up enough money for college, and afterwards I'll be back on GS in full swing (or as full as one can swing when one is employed ). Then I'll finally be able to finish MS.

...Somehow it feels like I jinxed myself again. *knocks on wood*

The dream starts off with me locked in a prison base. This dream is a sequel to a dream I had about an island in the sky. It's not the first time I've ever had a sequel-dream, but this is the first time I've ever had one so epic. It is many, many years after I was arrested for trying to break through the prison to rescue the professor alongside all of my friends. Now I am fully grown, almost aging. The prison base I'm in now is in space and is being guarded by mindless masked goons with guns. They are so highly skilled it's not even funny. You'll see what I mean later.

I don't remember how, but I become one of them. I a$$ume this is a flashback to how I got in the prison. As a goon, I had to learn about my emporor, a masked man with a red suit. His mask has a face of an angry Italian villain, moustache and all, and his eyes are wide and blood-shot. I am alongside a few humans--we are the only ones without masks--including a beautiful girl that I can't remember her name. Eventually I try to sneak out with her, and though we escape the goons and avoid them throughout the galaxy a few times, I get caught and I guess that's how I end up in the prison.

Later on, the girl reappears posing as one of the goons at the prison, alongside a few other humans. They are here to rescue me. She takes me downstairs to where the prison was hiding a dark secret. It is a battle outfit. It is a full armor, golden suit, and she runs down the specs of it like it was a spaceship. Apparently, when we were goons, we learned how to use these things like pros. She gives me a backpack with "accessories" for the battlesuit (which I can't remember what it was called). Then I get another flashback of the girl. She is talking to her friends, saying that the only way they could steal the "secret" was through me.

Then the scene switches to the breakout. I'm a friggen' pro at this thing. Me in the golden suit, alongside the girl and her crew and some of the prisoners, fly out of the the prison base into space wearing the strange outfits. The goons follow us in their own mechanized outfits and battleships, and a flashy, colorful battle ensues. At some point, the girl turns back to me and starts firing. I had anticipated this, and start dodging her. Then I see inside her helmet. She is yelling in frustration "Why can't I hit you!!" And then I see at the top of her HUD (there is a display in front of her eyes) a code of letters. This code appears in my own HUD and somehow this tells me how to dodge her shots.

Then her eyes widen in surprise and she looks up. I think she has seen the HUD and rush up to finish her. The next part I can't remember, but supposedly I didn't use my booster out of cockiness or something and let her get away. Also, the thing she had seen was supposedly a Dark Heart, something that pretty much the whole galaxy was looking for. Her and the goons and everybody else alive went after it, including myself (though I'm sure I must've tried to take advantage of the opportunity to flee).

The next thing I know, I am in my house with all these strangers. My mom apparently knows everything about my journey through space. She sits there eating soup and watching Oprah while giving me instructions. I can't change the wierdness of my dreams, guys.

Anyw, the Dark Heart had fallen in my house somewhere, so now everyone was in there looking for it. We had all come to a temporary ceasefire. The girl approached me and threatened me about something I cannot remember, but it was regarding the suit. I had taken off the suit for some reason, probably because I now longer trusted her, and hidden it somewhere. The backpack with all the accessories (including the "booster" that I hadn't used yet) was still with me. I went back to the hiding place--my room--to put on the suit. Next, my mom is telling me that they'll find the Dark Heart before I do, but I was eager to fight them when they did. When I was done I went out into the living room and found no one there. Magically, my mom reappeared on her bed eating soup telling me that they had all left.

Now pissed off, I took out the "booster," which was actually a pair of wings. My mom had to poke holes in my shirt so I could attach them (don't ask), and then she asked me wtf was that on my back. I told her that the right one was a black wing, and the left one was an iron wing. It's cool now that I think about it, but right then it just sounded really stupid. When I took off through the house, my flight was unbalanced.

Soon I emerged into the sky, and I saw th goons' ship flying away. I sped up (my wings were now both white and feathery to match my golden armor) and took out a greatsword from my backpack. I guess this was what I had wanted to do all along, and what the girl had warned me against. I flew up to the ship and broke inside, and in a flash I had dispatched all of the goons and taken over the ship. They did not have the Dark Heart, so I flew to the edge of the atmosphere in the ship and saw the girl's ship. I activated some wierd component and attached my ship to hers (no inuendo intended!), and then she and her crew were pretty much stuck with me. We approached in my bridge (...) and she pointed her gun at me. But we both knew that, now that we had the Dark Heart, she needed my help as much as I needed hers. Though I can't remember exactly, there was one part before this where we managed to rescue an old man.

When we flew into space I recieved a tutorial on how to control the ship. In all seriousness this was one ridiculously awesome part. To fly by all of the planets like it was nothing, including Earth and the now populated Mars, just learning how to control the ship...it was pretty exhilarating. I landed back on Earth and found myself atop a mountain in a forest. I was standing right next to a waterfall (at the top, not the bottom). An old lady on the other side of the bank told me some pretty deep stuff, which I can't remember. There was a beautiful valley down below, but somehow there was no river continuing the waterfall. I think that was supposed to be the old man that we rescued's home. But when I asked the old lady about it, she said just pointed at the waterfall and smiled. Then I knew somehow that the waterfall was the old man. I looked down and saw that there was a river, but it had only just started.

Back in space, I pressed select and brought up the galaxy map. We were all supposed to rendesvous at some planet to meet other rebels. In another flashback to when I was on the run with the girl, I remembered that I was supposed to be one of the rebel leaders. But then I remembered something that I don't remember right now (the irnoy, woah), and I started going towards the center of the galaxy instead of the destination. Strangely enough, it wasn't the sun, though Earth was still the third planet revolving around it and Mars still the fourth. There were dozens of times more planets though, at least hundred of them all cluttered together like asteroids on the map. Earth and Mars were just tiny lights, including a few others. All the other planets were literally like asteroids, because they were glowless and some were even rocky. I somehow knew that these planets were where the goons were born and raised, though I had never visited them.

Anyway, the center of the galaxy was a black supergiant. This part was really cool, looking at the place where the sun was supposed to be and seeing a ma$$ive black star instead. I started to fly towards it for some reason (other than checking it out), but the whole crew advised me against it. We got into a scuffle and I made them a deal that I would fly off on my own, or something like that, and that they should wait for me. Next thing I know, I am plummeting towards the black star in my golden suit. And then suddenly my suit is gone, and I have only my backpack. Wierd and wierder. Who'd be stupid enough to do that! But I guess it was a smart plan or whatever. After all, I had not only been one of these goons before, but I had fought them and escaped their grasp for many years. So I guess I knew more about this planet than I thought, including that the suit might be useless here or attract danger or something.

This is the scariest part of the story, and also the part that I woke up on. I hope I have another dream sequel someday, cuz the ending is a total cliffhanger. Let's see if I can remember it all.

First, once I pa$$ed through the clouds, the sky became pitch black. And below me was absolute darkness. Even in the dream I couldn't help but get scared, because this planet was literally like the end of the universe. If I fell through the darkness, I would continue to fall forever. And the thing is, somehow I knew that many others had fallen before me, and all were still falling, alone and afraid.

But I landed on the only surface on the star: a goon prison base. I snuck in Rambo ****and the first thing I saw was the fuhrer in his red suit and Italian mask. It was a video on the wall. He was shouting all sorts of training orders for the goons, who stood in rows in what appeared to be a cielingless, lantern-lit dojo. I snuck through the rooms and made my way to a tower. Here, I magically got a dog at my side.

I did some Solid Snake (woah, I just had deja vu as I read that, everything about this dream's so wierd!) as I went down the tower into the basement, which was altogether dangerous due to the open floorboards that led into the eternal pit. Me and the dog managed until finally we made it to our destination, the prison cells. We didn't find a damn thing. But, being the ex-goon that I was, I knew where the prisoners were at that moment. Unfortunately, sneaking into the prison had alerted security, and the warden, a human, ordered some of the goons to suspend training and track me down. He did not alert the fuhrer right away for his own selfish reasons.

I snuck right under their noses and up the tower. At one point they cornered me, but I took out my booster wings and flew into the darkness. Two things here. First, there is no wind on this planet. Meaning these wings had to be some extraordinary piece of technology. Second, I could actually fly without using the suit. I just held them out and flapped my arms like a bird and soared right out. How truly awesomez. Anyw, I flew up to the top of the tower and entered through the window, where my dog magically reappeared at my side.

The door at the top of the stairs opened, and I panicked momentarily and turned to fly back out. But something told me to stick around. I stared at the door as it opened, and who emerged? Instead of goons or the warden, it was the prisoners. Now a whole bunch of things became clear to me. The prisoners were none other than my friends in real life, the same friends I had journeyed with in my last dream with the maniac professor (that's a whole nother story). I realized how the two stories tied together, and when I woke up I realized that the suit and the fuhrer and everything else was all connected to the professor, his maniac invention, the council, and the entire dream about the floating land!

As my friends decended down the stairs, all much older, my Asian friend Wilson said his famous line: "Hey, it's Kevin!" Then Danny got psyched as usual but I still couldn't hear a word he said. Mike brightened up like a flower but just said "Hey Kev." Xavier said "Dude! Where you been!" Rudy said "Haaah, Kev!" Brian said really slowly "Oh **** I thought you was dead!" Milandy said "Oh wow, did you come to rescue us?" Lynfred said "Keviiin!" and my best friend Keron said "What's with the dog?" There werer some more people too but either they didn't get a chance to say anything or I just didn't hear them (sorry to those guys ).

A bunch of goons following them came out onto the landing. One of them rushed down to see what all the commotion was about, and as he did I blended in with the crowd and took out a handknife from my backpack. As soon as the guy saw me I stabbed him. The goons ordered the prisoners to attack me. My own friends then turned on me and started trying to kill me. But I was well past their training level, and I managed to parry Wilson's attacks and keep steady. Mike and Keron didn't attack, but just stood there on both ends of the stairs so I couldn't flee. Then all at once everybody stopped attacking when the guards where amidst us. They all smiled with their baggy, bloodshot eyes and unshaven faces, and turned to the goons. Much arse was then handed. The dog died at some point. Can't remember how but everybody cried; I think he plummeted into the abyss.

Then the warden came down with his goons and managed to subdue the whole crowd. I fled through the window with one of the goons' guns and landed in the docking bay. In an instant, my friends were all transported here were they were forced to walk the plank. Mike saw me sneaking up and did not hesitate to provide a distraction. He jumped off the plank into the abyss. As the warden gave a cruel snicker, I sniped him right in the head. "Boom, headshot!" That was Brian.

The rest of the goons came after me. We raced around the docking bay for a while. I think I was trying to give my friends some time to get away; at some point I had given one of them my booster wings and told them about the one escape pod that could only hold two. I trusted them, you know, even after all these years. Eventually I swung down underneath the dojo and hid myself between the floorboards Tom Cruise-**** My gun was gone somehow, but I had made a chain blade out of the handknife. This part was awesome, because I actually started thinking like the legendary rogue I was supposed to be. I foresaw one of the goons, with their super hearing, coming down after me. He did come, swinging fearlessly under the dojo with is rifle in one hand. I saw the chain blade fly out from the darkness from his point of view, and saw my own hand grab the rifle as he fell into the pit. All in shadowy silence. And from the rest of the goons' points of view, it appeared as if he just slipped and fell, and due to the rifle being black they did not see me take it. They shook their heads pitifully, and that was the end of the dream!

I might be making a series out of this, since it's so interesting. What do you guys think?

Today I came home from a stressful last day of school (woot...) and felt inspired to write a story. Lately, I've been using Google Docs to upload my stories to the net, and I recently discovered how to put watermarks on my pages. I kind of went crazy for a bit and started putting watermarks on all of my stories, and even now that I've calmed down and gotten the hang of things, I still try to come up with fresh new watermarks using GIMP. So through my stories, I've gotten some good practice editing text and using GIMP in general. If you want to know how to do stuff like that or just need help with GIMP, I'm glad to say that I can help!

Here are a few watermarks that I've come up with so far:

Copyright Kevin Lewis (For Metal Shadow)

Copyright Kevin Lewis (For Combat High series)

Cogito, Ergo Sum ("I Think, Therefore I Am"; For the piece I am currently writing)

You can check out these watermarks in action here and here, and once I'm done with the new story I'll put it up on TWL so you can see it there.

Those are the fruits of my labor. I've had to do some experimenting with GIMP to get the above results, but I'm definitely making progress! Soon I'll start working with brushes, but first I want to get the hang of selection editing. I can already see that new TWL banner just a few weeks away! In other news, now that I'm done with school I can finally finish the Prelude Episode for MS. I'm looking forward to brushing things up, cuz it's just such a delicious treat.

If ye be a woman, remove yer presence, for this blog is only for MEN! RAWR!

Cogito, ergo sum,
but,
To be, or not to be? That, is the question,
for,
What I reap, is what I sow,
and,
Daddy would you like some sausage?

In any case, I've been accepted into Polytechnic University (now a branch of NYU). All I need to do is up my grades, this being the last week or "The Final Stretch of Arse" to do so, and then graduate strong!

Thank you!!

Now I don't know what's going on here, what with every freaking person I know just suddenly up and talking about indie games and just games in general (on this particular day no less), but it's confusing! I was going to comment on Chikinware's, JohnnyV's, LotsOfGrenades', and Foolz3h's blog, but I'll just leave my comments here since you're all psychic lunatics who are conspiring to make me a vegetable. What? This is GameSpot? Ya thinks I don't know that! X|

Grenades: I have yet to meet a single person who's played Oblivion without doing that.

Chiki: Have a great summer! I hope the game development works out for both of us.

Johnny: Five years and a bag of chips--give or take--and indie games will become common, I can bet you that. Why? Because we are a generation of go-getters.

Foolz: I completely agree.

That was the exact order I read those blogs. Check my tracked blogs list on the side there if you want to experience similar confusions.