Rose tinted glasses

You kind of need to think sometimes, when I reminisce about something, how much fun was it, *really*?

Nostalgia can be a wonderful thing, you can sit and think of old times for hours, talk about it with old friends for days, or focus on it for years.
But was it really all that good?
Just how much does nostalgia block out the bad?

I'm a nostalgic guy, I love talking about times gone by and sit and think about how things used to be. But just this morning, I was looking through old pictures and I saw a photo of my friends.
At a friends birthday party.
That I wasn't invited to.
It reminded me 'Hold on, I was depressed through most of highschool, wasn't I?'. I couldn't think why I would so often look back on those days as fondly as I do, I couldn't stand them. There was one up point in my schooling, which was getting a girlfriend, but to a 14-17 year old, what more could you want? Hah!

Being fond of nostalgia basically comes down to experience.
We don't pass judgement on something without comparing it to something else.
For example, in highschool, you may have bought an album and loved it to bits because compared to the other albums you had bought, it was amazing.
You would then look fondly back on to the songs from that album and remember get the sense of joy you originally had, even though nowadays you wouldn't have touched the band with a ten-foot-pole.

So is nostalgia a good thing or a bad thing? Should we be fighting to remember the truth in it's actual context instead of our own thoughts?
On one hand, nostalgia can give you a sense of comfort, and there is nothing like catching up with friends and talking about the 'good old days'.
Or should we think about everything from our past not in the context in which it happened, but rather the context of us as we are now?
It would give us a better sense of perspective if we ignored the context of the past, we wouldn't spend our time thinking back and saying "I remember when things were better...", but on the other hand, how much of those warm memories are the reason to push you forward? "It was good back then, it will get better again."

It's down to personal choice, really.

Technically speaking...

It's really hard to alter a blog's layout when there are no posts in it.
Yeah, I know, that's surprising.

So let me christen this new blog by saying the old one got deleted for a few reasons;
People I knew started finding it
It was all whiney, complaining sulking
And it had a lot of things in it I didn't *really* want people to see.
I didn't think that at the time, but you know, hindsight, etc.

So, the basics, I'm studying a Diploma of Screen and Media in Brisbane (QLD, Australia), which is a film course that covers the following; (using non-technical terms)
Writing
Directing
Camera work
Sound work
Editing
Special effects
Titles
Screen art
Matte painting
As well as giving practical experience such as shooting things for the educational institute themselves.
It's pretty in depth.

After completion of this course, I'm starting a Bachelors of Games Design and Interactive entertainment, which I will do for about 1 semester, then change to something I'd actually be able to get a job in.
Well, I might not, it depends how much I find I enjoy it.
Although I'd like to do teaching...
But all that I don't need to worry about until the end of 2012.
"Hold on, the end of 2012? But Anthony, we'll all be dead by then!"
It's not very likely. I'd love to say 'impossible', but you never know what could happen.
Nuclear war, disease outbreak (I've got my fingers crossed for zombies!), and so on and so fourth.
I actually wrote a short (Very short) essay on the concept, but I lost it (And a lot of other things) in the great hard drive fuck-up of 2011.
I lost quite a lot, now that I think about it. Things I really liked.

I do that though, I find something that I really like, and I'll find a way to lose it or break it or mess it up somehow.
This isn't self-depreciating talk, it's theory based off empirical evidence.
Games, DVDs, files, phones, assignments, friendships, etc.
Interestingly, the same can't be said for romantic relationships.
My first girlfriend ended it for the reason that... Ok, she said she doesn't know why.
My recent girlfriend needed a complete fresh start.
So, based off the two incidents so far, I can deduce that I *might* not be a jerk as a partner.
We can only hope eh'?

Quick sidenote;
Have you played Dead Island yet?
It's a new game released by Techland (The makers of the Call of Juarez series) in which you're on a holiday resort island when there is a zombie outbreak. Queue guns and course language, right? Wrong. This game takes a *very* different approach when it comes to zombies.
They went for realism.
It takes a long time before you find a gun, and when you've found said gun, some guy gave it to you and it only has one bullet.
Eventually you will make it to a town, away from the resort, where thugs have taken over certain areas, *they* have guns.
More on the realism angle, your early weapons involve kitchen knives, boat paddles, metal pipes and even at hatstand. It makes you feel as though you're actually in the middle of an outbreak, fighting to survive and trying to help the few people you can.
The combat is amazing, the music is awesome, the voice acting is.. Not great. But everything else is amazing.
If you haven't already bought it, go and do that, it will be the best $50 you have ever spent, especially given the singleplayer alone has well over 30 hours worth of gameplay in it, and a lot of fun co-op mode!

Ok, that wasn't a "quick" sidenote, as such...

If you're at all interested in the possible future of computing, have a look at this;
http://www.buildwindows.com/
Windows 8 has a lot more information out now, definitely worth a look.
Also, you can now find copies of the Developers release of W8, so if you want an early sneak peak, have a look around.

That's it for now, I'll bother you all later.
Toodles ,3