Monday, February 23, 2009

Team Fortress 2 Article!

Hello everybody :) (all like 3 of you :P hehe) i was recently asked to do an article for www.botc.co.za. Basically they are responsible for many of the online gaming competitions that run here in South Africa. At the momet there is a Team Fortress 2 Competition running and they asked if i could just write an article based on my experiences in TF2. This is what i had to say :)

=====================================

The team crowds around the door, anxiously waiting for it to open. The Engineers are frantically setting up a quick defense to stop any enemies from encroaching on the spawn area. The Medics are busy healing up their Heavy's or Soldiers, charging their uber charge. "Mission begins in ten seconds" the announcer states clearly. 5-4-3-2-1!!! "WOOHOO!!!" yells the scouts as they sprint ahead of the others, to reach the first control point. The spies put their disuises on and cloak, ready to infiltrate the enemies base. Pyro's, Medics, Soldiers, Heavy's, Demomen, Engeneers, and Snipers follow closely behind. This is a battle to win. This is Team Fortress 2!

Their are several gameplay modes in Team Fortress 2. All of that aside though the main emphasis is to play as a team. There is no way you can be successful alone in this game. Sure you may be skilled enough to kill many enemies in one life, but that sure won't help you win the round. The fact that there are 9 classes to choose from also adds huge variety to the game. With many endless combinations a team can have, having the right balance is easy enough to work on, but insanely difficult to master.

Recently The first ever TF2 Botc was launched. It is excting for this community as it is a chance to see who deserves top honours, and it will also allow the game to grow in this country. The are many other competetive games out there (Call of Duty and Counter Strike being examples) but nobody can deny that Team Fortress is unique in so many ways. In a TF2 competition, every team has six players. With 9 classes to choose from its crucial to know what players in your team excel at what class. Certain combinatons of classes work better on certain maps then others. A good team will always excel if obviously, they know how to play as a team. Going Commando (urm... Rambo) in this game can only get you so far. 

I will never forget playing Team Fortress for the first time, me being a Counter Strke player at the time. On a Counter Strike FFS server you can generally do your own thing if you wish. So i was quite surprised to find myself not doing that great on my first play of TF2. All these classes, so many players, where do i go? How do i win? It came with a few rounds of play, learning which classes are best to use in certain situations or scenarios. After getting the basics, you realise just how fun it can be. Communicating with your team, Frantically running around that control point to cap it while you wait for reinforcements. Getting that teleporter up so that your team can move up faster to the "Mini base" you have built consisting of a sentry gun and dispenser. Healing as many people as you can as a Medic, building up so you can deploy that Ubercharge. Flanking the enemy team as a pyro so you can cause confusion and take some out enemies while you are at it. Every role you play in TF2 has its purpose. Depending on how well you do your job can ensure whether your team gets to hear that crazy announcer lady say "SUCCESS!!!" or have her disapprovingly say "YOU FAIL"

For those of you who do not have TF2, consider getting it. It takes some getting used to, but its great fun to play casually with other players, or seriously with a team. For those that do have it, but you missed the chance to enter BOTC, watch how the other teams progress, and learn from them. You could be part of the Team Fortress BOTC version 2 in the future :)

=====================================

I dont know if they will be happy with it :) but will see!!! I dont even know if im happy with it :P oh well :)

Saturday, February 21, 2009

The Scientist

Coldplay
The Scientist

==============================
Come up to meet you, 
Tell you I'm sorry, 
You don't know how lovely you are.

I had to find you, 
Tell you I need you, 
Tell you I set you apart.

Tell me your secrets, 
And ask me your questions, 
Oh let's go back to the start.

Runnin' in circles, 
Comin' in tails, 
Heads on a science apart.

Nobody said it was easy, 
It's such a shame for us to part.
Nobody said it was easy, 
No one ever said it would be this hard.
Oh take me back to the start.

I was just guessin', 
At numbers and figures, 
Pullin' the puzzles apart.

Questions of science, 
Science and progress, 
Do not speak as loud as my heart.

Tell me you love me, 
Come back and haunt me, 
Oh, what a rush to the start.

Runnin' in circles, 
Chasin' tails, 
Comin' back as we are.

Nobody said it was easy, 
Oh it's such a shame for us to part.
Nobody said it was easy, 
No one ever said it would be so hard.
I'm goin' back to the start.

==============================

here i am again :) i might be a bit of a blog addict. I'm sure as time goes by though i will have less to write about though. I just wanted to put these lyrics up because they were responsible for me feeling all the sad. Just felt like this lyrics were speaking my feelings so clearly, crystal clear! I have always liked this song, but i hadn't heard it for ages. It started to play on the radio the other day, and i was on my way to work. I had to fight so hard to fight back the tears! Its incredible how music can make your emotions change in a flash. Its a beautiful song, i really love it.

"Come up to meet you, 
Tell you I'm sorry, 
You don't know how lovely you are."

the opening verse really hit my heart hard. Bleh i dont know what i would type out now, :P i just sound like an emo in all my blogs but im really not >_<>

"Nobody said it was easy, 
It's such a shame for us to part.
Nobody said it was easy, 
No one ever said it would be this hard."

Having to be away from her is the hardest thing in the world, how can i smile when im not with her? I wish things could be alright between us, and we could just be happy. Nobody said it was easy, but nobody sure as hell mentioned it would be this hard :O!

Anyways :) here i am blogging when i have other things to do. Have a good weekend :) whoever you are

Friday, February 20, 2009

Confusion? O_o!

This is going to be a very short entry. I went to her house tonight because we needed to talk, so we could stop fighting. It didn't really feel like we were fighting, but it sucked not talking to each other at all. Upon my arrival neither of us knew what to say, Especially me. Do i moan at her for being so confusing? Do i just let go and put whatever issue behind me? Or what?!?!

In the end things seem to have worked out, with none of us really talking about the issues at hand. We are like that, Bite each others heads off at one point and like an unofficial couple the next. Too bad tonight was just one of those nights. In the next few days things will go back to normal. We are expected to just remain friends, when quite frankly its hard just remaining friends with a girl you madly love. I will live though, i always have survived with no real damage emotionally. I get over stuff quite well surprisingly (sometimes) I dont even feel remotely like i did with my previous blog. I feel happier today :) which is a good thing! Will have to wait and see what happens over the next few weeks. Ok its 4am here by me, and im damn well sleepy! Goodnight :D

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Where is my heart?

Can you believe it? I could not take it anymore, I have finally decided to give in to blogging. There are various reasons i guess. I love writing (surprisingly) and i may just end up writing as a permanent career at some point in my life. However the real motivation for my blog now is to just let go, of everything that I lock away in my heart. I don't want to burden other people with my issues, but writing has a certain healing effect. Take everything out of your head and put it down somewhere and for some unexplainable reason you feel better, even if just slightly. Nobody may ever read my blog, nobody may even care, but it does not matter, i need to let go at some point of my life and this is my start... As much as i don't want to, i think i need to...

Let me introduce you to a girl in my life. Her name is Amber and she is by far the most exceptional female i know, by far the most unique. We have known each other for a good few years, i cant remember exactly. She has felt so many different things for me, ranging from not wanting to be friends at all to loving me. Our history went something along the lines of Barely friends, friends, Not friends, friends, good friends, friendly friends, dating, not dating, good friends, friends, barely friends, nothing. Its probably very compliacted to understand i can imagine, but thats just the rough breakdown over the last few years.

For a good few months Amber liked me, maybe had a little crush on me. I never took note, not for any specific reason but mainly because i just didn't open my eyes to her. I never liked her in the same way and i can only imagine how it must have felt to be her, with my not really taking note of her seriously. She tended to react in a rather, hostile way to me not having the same feleings. No matter what happened though, I always had a rare patience for her. Im a patient guy, very patient. However in certain cases the patience i had for her was beyond me, why could i care so much about one girl? No matter what happened i just couldnt bring myself to let go of her. Then one day it happened, literally overnight it smacked me in the face. I liked her, a lot... How could i have been so blind? This beautiful girl, having the most amazing eyes in the world had liked me for so long, and i turned a blind eye for how long? It was the most incredible feeling in the world. Mindblowing and a privelege to even know such a female. The strange thing is that she had feelings for me too, a plain simple guy like me. How could i be so blind?

Things were such a blur from that point onwards. We started unofficially dating, then officially dating. We made some of the best memories ever, which i have stored away in my heart, forever. I will hold onto them forever... The laughter, smiles, hanging out, being together... Nobody can ever take that away from me. She is so cute. Her laugh makes me want to smile forever, its probably the most infectious thing in the world.

As im sure you have gathered, things have not turned out for the best. We are no longer together. After she broke up with me we still remained good friends, but i guess the combination of our issues together pushed us further apart (mine more then hers, i don't know). As of last week, things between us seem dead. I got so annoyed with her the other day, annoyed to the point where i ignored her for the entire weekend. I just wanted the gap, time to be alone and not have to talk about anything. Time to deal with whats going on in my heart and in my head. I guess it was too much for her. She has since deleted me off all forms of chat programs, and even Facebook.

I have not spoken to her face to face in nearly a week. Its hard, beyond anybody elses understanding. Fighting off the urge to sms her, call her to hear her voice. Fighting off the feelings i have, because if i give into them i may just keep proclaiming my undying love, which im sure is tiresome to her. I don't know how she feels at the moment. Does she miss me? Will she ever want to be with me again one day? what will happen to us? Its the scariest thing thinking i may not end up with her one day! Will she ever look at me like she did back in the day? Where just something as simple as holding hands could cause an erruption of butterflies and feelings. Or is she numb to me now? Never to imagine us being together again. Im seeing her tomorrow, not by choice but im sure she will be there at Youth. How the hell am i going to be around her? I miss her terribly... :(

I love her, more then she could imagine. I always will, even if she hates me beyond anything in the world. I will always be around for her. whether she realises it or not, i will always be a shoulder she can turn to, somebody she can rely on. I don't think i have done nearly enough for her, she deserves the world. I obviously failed... I will never give up on her though, because no matter what she can throw at me, behind her confusing exterior there is a love i want, the love of the most amazing girl walking this earth. Amber... She is an Angel. God has something special for her no doubt, am i in her Future, Lord? I hope so... 

If anybody has made it this far in my blog, Thank You... I appreciate you reading :) I know its terribly morbid, emo, sad, whatever you see it as. I just needed to get it out quick. I know the details i have given are so scarce. If i had to go into detail I would be here forever! Consider this an uber summary :)

P.s please forgive my spelling if any errors. I didn't feel like reading over what i have written. Again thank you for reading, If anybody

About Me

My photo
South Africa
BA English and Communication graduate. I like to write stuff!