So right now I’m finding out that I was not really prepared in regard to artistic output. Most of that was my fault, to be honest. In my early life, I never really had a reason to want to draw. I was much more interested in playing games (of course). However, now that I have an interest in actually creating games, I want to do everything myself, including the art. It will definitely be bad, but I want to be able to execute my own vision myself. Kind of selfish, but since I’m not doing it for money, there’s no reason not to. Plus, I like the idea of making my brain more “well-rounded,” and also not being embarrassed when I have to draw stick figures :/

As an introductory exercise, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain has you complete three pencil drawings: a self-portrait, another person from memory, and your own hand. Chandra and I sat down last night in front of a mirror and completed all three in one go. Her self-portrait was way better than mine, which I entitled, “Fat-faced, angry man.” It can only get better from here.

Enter Cygwin, a Linux-like interface for Windows. It has the bash shell, as well as lots of popular tools, such as C/C++ compilers. This is pretty much just what we want, eh?

Let’s download and set up Cygwin. Hit up the website and click the “get Cygwin” link on the right. Run the installer, and make sure to have the ‘developer tools’ option checked during setup. When you’re done with that, this readme has all the information you need regarding installing the SDL library. OpenGL libraries will be installed with Cygwin by default.

That’s it! You’re ready to rock. Just compile your SDL/OpenGL program using a command similar to this:

gcc -o test.exe main.c `sdl-config --cflags --libs` -lglu32 -lopengl32

If you’re using SDL, make sure to have a copy of SDL.dll in the directory your program is in.

Run #1
Run #2

Of course, I was locked out of my house when I got back from the second. Jerks. I was getting so dehydrated and hungry, all I could think about was what I was going to eat when I got back. I ended up buying a box of Golden Grahams, and destroying half of it. I fell asleep in my clothes, woke up at 4:00AM, ate another bowl, and went back to sleep.

I finally got my new bicycle, too. The frame is a 56 cm Surly Steamroller, which I am really liking so far. I didn’t ride it to work today due to overexertion yesterday, but it handles nice. It has a front brake this time…

My roommates and I are getting possession of our new house on Friday, but I’m not sure how much stuff I’ll be able to move due to the annual Xenos College Ministry Holden Beach Trip Extravaganza. No one else in my homechurch is going, ‘cos, like, they’re too old, or something. Actually, that’s not quite true… the only “real” (i.e. non-married) girl in my group is going, too. I bought two books that I’m saving for next week: Spook Country by William Gibson, and After Dark by Haruki Murakami. Awesome! I think I’m going to bring my Game Boy and get some oldschool handheld action in as well.

Still working on the new theme/layout, but thought I’d post some junk here befitting the new header graphic.

Derek Yu interviews Pixel, the creator of Cave Story.

Pixel’s new shooter, Guxt (Gusuto)

I got my hakama in the mail yesterday. I was kinda feeling “meh” about aikido for a while, but looking at these “pants” (as Matt, and subsequently Chandra, would say) made me a bit excited. As an aside, the dude wearing the hakama in the picture is rocking the other dude with the “nikkyo” technique.

So the iPhone comes out today. Woop-de-whoop! For a while, I was thinking about getting one, but then I realized that you pay $60/month minimum for service, on top of a $500 phone. Plus I’d have to cancel my contract with T-Mobile, which they would rob me for. When I think of other irresponsible things I could do with that money, a few other options spring to mind:

1. Buy a new bike
2. Buy a Nintendo Wii
3. Go to Japan
4. Save it in my bank account so I don’t die in the gutter

I busted out the old WordPress database, upgraded it, and here we are! The previous posts are vintage, aged about two years, from back when I was wallowing in Japan. It makes light, interesting reading, and is especially nostalgic for me. Like a dog to its’ vomit, I keep coming back for more blog action. If we can learn anything from history, a prediction that I will get tired and delete everything here wouldn’t be too far off the mark. However, until that time, you can read sporadic ramblings that emanate from my ridiculous head.

I’m mostly going to be writing about videogames, running, and perhaps Christianity, since those are the biggest things in my life right now (aside from the girlfriend, but she’s not a topic for the intar-nets). If you want to hear me opine on something, drop me a line and I’ll write up an essay.