For convenience, (and because the former profile was a bloody eyesore) I'm cleaning up my profile. It is in the following format. (Work in progress as of 12-26-07)

Biography
Writing
Stories
HaloVerse info
Projects

(11-13-09): Heh, a documentary about the making of Babysitter will be aired Saturday. Don't have a friend's Xbox this time around, so I will be depending on my friends at TCF for information.

Hopefully, it will be a lot more informative than frankie was here.

Anyhow... WILL the mysteries of Babysitter be unraveled? WILL HTML give me the power to remake my profile as I see fit? WILL I finally get around to updating Nightmare and Isolation?
Find out next time, on Updates.

(11-09-09): Well, I hate to sound pessimistic and anal, but "Babysitter" really deserves it. This'll take the form of an open letter, so be forewarned...

There were two problems with this OVA, and I'll start with the one specific to this extension of the Halo Franchise.
This is not a Japanese franchise. This is an American franchise. If an American animation studio was doing a season of Naruto episodes or Gundam, I'd expect them to use Japanese tropes and memes. But if you're going to brag about anime being more cinematic than western animation, and a perfect fit for Halo, then get the art right. Drop the Anime tropes. If you can give me one straight reason why ODSTs shouldn't be close cropped, and why a Spartan should have long, flowing hair that wouldn't fit in a helmet, then go ahead and give it.

In short, the Anime hair, the decaying Japanese structures, and the Samurai Elites should not have made it into Babysitter, regardless of the origin.

The next problem is more general: You are not worth a ret-con.
The definition of a retcon is retroactive continuity. If a novel contradicts itself, or a novel contradicts a game, a retcon is used to fix the discrepancy. A retcon is not "Aw, Hell, we're too lazy to think of something, let's just make it easy for ourselves and ignore the older crap". Killing off a Spartan doesn't make your story awesome or poignant, it just makes for a headache to the people who actually care about the backstory to Halo.

The whole point behind Spartans is that they are invulnerable tincans that have survived to the end of the war, taking only three known casualties. The whole point of ODSTs is that they are elite stormtroopers that know how to assault a position without elephantine footsteps and twig snapping. So, if this is representative of how the other OVAs are going to turn out, I will be severely disappointed.

I sincerely hope it gets better from here on out.

(11-07-09): Heh, the bees in my house are dying out. They aren't honeybees, but some breed of hairy wasp...

My mother, by the way, hates me. She told me to get a screwdriver and come to her bathroom, where she's heard some funny scratching sounds from behind the wall outlet...
I figured that there might be two wasps in there, at the most. What we found was a whole hive, and the sudden influx of light got them a little excited...

So, sorry about the content-less post, but I'll be posting what I think of "Babysitter" soon.

(11-05-09): Well, something called the "Halo Encyclopedia has been released, and I have browsed through it at Hastings.
To be honest, I was rather disappointed. It is really an "Art of Halo" book, but there is no new art in there. Just reprints of art from the other Halo games, and at least one fanon project. In addition, there is little to nothing new in the weapons and vehicles section, and they seem to have been edited by someone with little to no imagination. Al-Cygni's pistol is simply named that: al-Cygni's pistol. No elaboration, no nothing. The Battle Rifle, which is a DMR, is stated to have a range LESS than that of the MA5 series, and only incrementally better than that of an AK-74. Clearly a mistake.

So, why do I recommend that you buy it? Because of the first half of the encyclopedia. It outlines the organization system of the UNMC. It gives info about the AIs and Forerunner that were previously only available in the Terminals. It is an invaluable reference book for fanfiction writers, and the art is beautiful even if it is old.

Best of all, not a single mention of the Fanwankatron 9000, also known as 'Teh CYCLOPZ!"

(10-30-09): Cold weather is rolling in, and my living room is being invaded by... honey bees? Neat little critters, but I prefer wasps.

So, I went down to Hastings and saw three books. The first one was "And Another Thing," the next book in the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, written by Eion Colfer. Then, I saw "The Company", by K. J. Parker, my favorite author. And then there was the Halo Encyclopedia, newly released.

For various reasons (Not sure of Eion Colfer's writing style/abilities, Halo Encyclopedia would draw comments from my brother) I ended up buying "The Company", and look forward to a very good read... after I finish "Catcher in the Rye".

(10-27-09): Heh. Just finished Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Season One. Pretty darn good for anime, and I'd recommend it to anyone with an interest in science fiction. I might even hunt down the mangas.
I'm going to miss those Tachikomas though. They were the weirdest part of the series in the beginning of the season, but they sure grow on you.

(10-19-09): And so, Quirel gets out of his cage, to free-roam around my room again. Unlike usual, where he ends up in the upper parts of my closet, he's used me as a boost to get onto my shelves and then onto my windowsill.
What's up with that guy and high places? California kingsnakes aren't arboreal.

(10-13-09): Just watched RvB: Reconstruction for the first time.
It's... well, I've always liked RvB, but Reconstruction had a much deeper plot than I expected. I loved it.
It offered a fresh take on artificial intelligence, memory, and humanity that resonated with me. Hats off to the guys at Rooster Teeth.

(10-07-09): Doing some research in preparation for the upcoming Halo anime...
I watched Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury a while back, and if anyone could instruct me on how to burn a section off a DVD so I never have to look at it again, I'd be much obliged.

"Ghost in the Shell", despite a ton of nudity on the part of the main character, turned out to be pretty good. And GitS: Stand Alone Complex episodes are free on the interwebs...

(10-04-09): 'Twas reading comments on a certain Pink song, "Dear Mr. President", where she attacks Bush for his policies. The general reaction was "Pink is so great, Bush is so bad" and "If Bush heard this, Pink would be out of a job/I hope Bush hears this and thinks".

The truth is, I hate protest songs. Some of them are funny as hell, like "Vietnam" by Country Joe (And the Fish). But the ones that take themselves seriously, like "Dear Mr. President" and "Sold as Freedom", are just a waste of time. Little punk rockers of questionable sexual orientation singing about the USA being a police state, how the American flag brainwashes people...

Makes me wish that the US was fascist, sometimes. Just for the satisfaction of seeing these wanabe protesters abandon their guitars and step back in line as soon as they realize that their lives really are in danger...

(10-02-09): Hmm, found a new addiction. In addition to XKCD and CAD, a certain comic called "Looking For Group" has turned out to be pretty good. Check it out.

(9-16-09): WHOO! First day of college was a blast!
I'm attending the local community college, thirty minutes from my home. Three classes, starting at nine thirty in the morning.
Next quarters will be spent with a more demanding schedule, but I'm still getting used to everything.

(9-12-09): I will be splitting the next chapter of Isolation up, in order to keep it at a readable length. The last chapter was, apparently, way to long.

(8-25-09): Well, the next chapter of Isolation is going to be delayed for an extra day. While typing up a fight scene, my pet snake Quirel (My username is named after him, not the other way around) got a little antsy. When I tried to pick him up and put him back into his cage, he bit my finger.
What followed was an epic thirty-minute battle to get him to release and untie himself from my hand. Now, how many of you would be willing to do that if your dog or cat bit you and wouldn't let go?

He's alright, but he's now on double rations, if only temporarily. In addition, he apparently tied himself into a knot called a "Constructor Hitch," around my hand...

(8-19-09): I saw District Nine.
Inspirational. Awesome, in the old definition. Breathtaking. The first movie I've seen in theater that hasn't let me down, in the past two years.

What are you waiting for! Go see it!

(7-22-09): Was convinced to try out the Men of War demo. It's nice enough for an RPG, but I don't really like it. Especially since it's an RTS.

(7-10-09): Company of Heroes. I just got the demo, and I LOVE IT. You can play as the German Wehrmarcht...
Nebelwerfers and Stuka zu Fuss und das Flammenwerfer... Panther tanks and Tiger tanks and Puma scouts (Oh my!) and Volksturm and even the @#@ing V-1 rocket... I'm in love.

Oh, yeah, you can also play as the allies. Eh, go allies.

(7-4-09): Well, I found what I was looking for in the Cole Protocol. A date. A way to find out when it took place.
It took place nine years after Harvest, so that will help me so much when I get around to writing another fanfic... aside from the Isolation series and Nightmare.

(6-25-09): NOW I remember why I hated the Cole Protocol. The way the Aliens are written makes you want to tear their scenes out of the book.

(6-24-09): Decided to start re-reading The Cole Protocol, as research for a future fic. It's better than I remember, although Tobias really skimped on the characterization of Delgado and Diego.

(6-21-09): I can take my laptop to Hastings, giving me free access to wireless internet. Anybody up to beating and humiliating one of your favorite authors on Halo 2 Vista, give me a PM.

(6-17-09): Halo 2 Vista. It's actually pretty good. I went in with very low expectations, and they were exceeded. Story is good, visuals were very good, but the combat system leaves something to be desired. I realize that the Halo: CE handgun is gone now, unable to exist in the world of plasma pistols and dual-wielding. But... the shotgun... was nixed very bad. And dual-wielding SMGs and Plasma Rifles just cut down on what you can do...

(6-06-09): Remember what I said about not being lucky, but being blessed? Despite the current state of American lifestyle, I have two loving parents, a functional family, and an extended family that actually cares.

So, they all came for the graduation party at my house. I got my family from all over, sending me cards and coming by to say hello, we knew you'd make it. My Grandmother even got me a laptop... with Windows Vista! It's actually not all that bad. Way better than the Apple OS.

So, I can lie in bed at night, typing away, updating Isolation... when I'm not playing Oblivion or Halo 2 Vista. Sad face.

(6-05-09): Graduation today. I am now a free man, except I need to write thank-you letters to scholarships, keep a job (easy) and get enrolled in the local community college. I went to the Senior Frolic afterwards, which was a party thrown by parents who want to keep the kids off the street and off the booze for that night. They were giving away a Wii (Eugh) a laptop, a microwave, one thousand dollars in cash, and a Hell of a lot of Arizona tea. Drawings were held every fifteen minutes. I don't count myself lucky, but I know I'm blessed. There's a difference, so I was very surprised to get drawn for 50, fifteen minutes before the 1000 dollar grand prize. Held at two thirty in the morning.

It's a great day for freedom. Which was a pretty good song, IMO.

(4-24-09): Early this month, I had to face a rather ugly truth.
Recently, I have been procrastinating more and falling behind. This has been compounded by the demands of the last semester of High School. I've just said yes to too many projects, and now I'm trying to keep up.

So, it is with a heavy heart that I am announcing that Isolation and Nightmare will be postponed for a month or two, long enough for me to get things sorted out. I repeat, this is postponed, not discontinued.

Thanks for the understanding. Expect something on the twenty second of May...

(4-08-09): One quick trip to the school's high-speed internet connection, and my computer is right as rain. The mouse is having hardware problems, but the keyboard is BACK!

(4-03-09): A virus has taken out my keyboard. Fics and correspondences will be delayed, as I refuse to type more than one paragraph at a time using the on-screen keyboard.

(03-10-09): Updated, check out "Projects" as well as "Writing".

(12-28-08): Browsing through the books section... Harry Potter has 383,618 fics written... Twilight has 52,840 stories written for it... More than the rest of Fanfiction.net COMBINED, or so it seems... Does anybody else see anything wrong with this?

(5-24-08): Progress has been made. Still an eyesore, but the font tools I DON'T have to work with is kind of a hindrance. Have been 'borrowing' some formatting ideas from some of the better profiles I've seen... Curiously enough, these generally belong to the better authors I've read.

Biography

Hmm... What to tell you, and what not to tell you...

I live in the Pacific Northwest, in the U.S. of A. That should be general enough. You'll occasionally hear me refer to farmland and corn on the various forums I participate in, but let's not get too specific.

My future... I'm in high school right now, and I will be attending college, either EWU or WSU. After that, it's on to a career as a mechanical engineer, hopefully working for a defense contractor. I might write, and I might join the Air Force or Navy, but I'll eventually end up designing their "toys".

My politics... we don't want to go there. Not getting too specific, I alternate between moderate and extreme conservatism. My ironic sense of humor does not complement this situation, and I've been called everything from Communist to Anarchist to Fascist. Currently, I probably best fit into the category of "bitterly libertarian", due to Barrack Obama's sad mishandling of the economy..

My pastimes... I read a lot. Mostly military fiction and nonfiction, but I also read "The Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy", Tom Clancy's books, "This Present Darkness", books by Timothy Zahn, Halo novels, etc. Time is also spent writing and, more recently, modeling stuff on Blender.

I listen to music, mostly psychedelic rock and acid rock. Mostly listen to Pink Floyd and Blue Oyster Cult. Rather picky about music, but not nearly as picky as I am about movies.

I don't own a console, but I have a PC. My favorite games are Halo PC, StarCraft, and a few other miscellaneous games. I have recently resolved not to get an XBox 360, and wait until the next Microsoft Console. If that thing doesn't have backwards compatibility with the Halo games, I'm going to be ticked off.

Writing

Origin: I've always been an imaginative person. I loved stories, and I loved being in them. That is, I would imagine myself as being in Star Wars, Indiana Jones, or as a Cowboy in the Wild West. I'd be a main character, THE main character. Inventor, tinkerer, crack shot, hero, villain, whatever. Somehow, my experience with this makes me wonder about Mary Sues...

However, as I got older, I would actually imagine my own stories, with characters who weren't me or the main characters in the books/movie. In essence, stories based on a universe like Harry Potter (Sadly) and Star Wars, but with their own plot.

Fanfiction.

Arguably, the actual writing all began because of Runescape.

I was a member, back in 2005, and I often stayed up till three o'clock while playing. While playing, I would either browse the Runescape Forums, or I would go on an 'information trawl' through Wikipedia. One night, in August if I remember correctly, I stumbled across a thread where you were supposed to take two characters out of popular fiction and write out a fight between them. People were coming up with crap like 'Freddy vs It' and 'Batman vs Spiderman,' but they were just saying who would win, and the thread was degenerating into a fight over whether the Green Goblin could take on Octomus Prime.

I spent thirty minutes writing out an actual fight between Predator and Anaconda, and blew everybody out of the water. It was primitive, and not very well written, but it was better than anything else people had posted. The point was, that was the first story I'd ever written that was worth the pixels it was displayed on.

After that, I was still thinking of stories like before, but I was wondering if I would ever get around to typing them out. And then I discovered Fanfiction.net.

I can't remember HOW I got here, but the most likely reason is that I was looking up Harry Potter on Wikipedia. It was just a laugh, but then I read about the copious amount of Harry Potter Fanon floating around. I always knew those fanboys were nutters, with the death threats and pilfering of the soon-to-be-released books, but a FF.net section with 200,000+ stories is simply mind-boggling.

In any case, I'm sure there was a link to Fanfiction.net, and I'm sure that I clicked it around October of 2006. I checked the Aliens section and left disappointed. I learned for the first time that 99 percent of fanfiction is crap, arguably because 99 percent of everything is crap..

I must have come back about a month later and checked out the Halo and StarCraft sections. I can't really remember the stuff I read first, but I can find it by checking the reviews section. Early on, without a profile, I posted reviews under my actual name. Not that you'll be able to find said name from the swarm of unsigned reviews.

I do believe that actually writing "Isolation" started in December of '06, but I know for a fact that planning the story had been going on for months beforehand. It would have been a few chapters about a Marine sniper (More like a SC Terran Ghost ripoff) and several fights he fought on Alpha Halo. Not nearly canon, not nearly worth reading. But by the time I started typing it out, it was shaped up into something with potential.

Then after four months of writing out "Isolation", I finally decide to post it. I go to Fanfiction.net, upload the first chapter, read it five times to weed out as many mistakes as possible, and try to post it as a story. Only to find out that I don't have a title for it. I wanted to name it after the main character's main feature; that he was a loner, that he'd built up a wall around himself. I came up with the title "Alone", only to find out that some other bugger had taken the title already. (Turned out to be a pretty good story written by a very good author)

Perhaps the only reason I called "Isolation" that is because I was listening to Pink Floyd at the time... Whether it was "The Wall" or "Division Bell", I can't remember. And yes, that would make a difference.

This should probably be referred to as 'General Writing Info'.

I never was much of a writer. In fact, I never really intended to write. However, when I'm working or driving (really scary, trust me), I think of these stories which get more and more complex, usually centered around Halo and Starcraft. These stories are fed by the books I read, mostly SciFi, with some fantasy thrown in. I usually flesh out the plot in my head, like I'm writing on a computer, but faster and clearer.

During this phase, many plots are generated, but many also get the ax, usually due to plot holes or inconsistency with established Canon. The worst thing that can happen to a story at this point is that it could pass the 'event horizon', where the whole story gets too complicated, too overblown, or just doesn't suspend belief, and therefore gets shelved. This has happened quite a few times, actually, and some of those stories were interesting to begin with.

Also, stories that start out can and probably will get radically changed by the time I start typing them out. For example, Isolation started out as a collection of stories about a certain sniper's engagements on Halo. The sniper was closer to a Terran Ghost than to the current Gui Montag, and the story barely followed canon. Slowly, the story morphed into what it is now.

The second step, I write them out in a journal, usually in pen for readability. At this point, I'm more concerned about grammar, story flow, and spelling. The margins can fill with notes for later, reminding myself to swap one paragraph for another, or check canon/wikipedia for certain facts.

Step three, and where stuff usually slows down, is typing the stories onto the computer. This is the one reason it takes me so long to update. If I'm on the computer, I'm usually on a forum or E-mailing people. It's embarrassing, but after the HWF went the same way as the Titanic, the Hindenburg, and New Orleans, I'm going to be spending that much more time writing.
But here's the kicker: Ever since I got the laptop for graduation, I've been able to type in my bedroom before going to sleep, where the lack of an internet connection or a mouse prevents me from wasting time on the Crimson Flames forum or playing Halo 2.
I was stymied for a while, since lying down, holding a journal upright, and typing on a laptop is very uncomfortable. After a few days, I used the scanner to scan the pages of the journal and transfer the pictures to my laptop. There, I can reduce the window of the Microsoft Word application and type while looking at the scan of the journal. Modern technology to the rescue!

Final step, I go back over the story in at least two sweeps (Remember my CDO?). I check for accuracy to canon, and I also try and keep it realistic. Most of the info on guns, ballistics, physics, medical, etc, either comes from my science classes, from the science magazines I read, or from Wikipedia. I occasionally give something a little leeway towards guns and such, so Gui Montag is able to fire a .50 cal. handgun that has more power behind it than the S&W 500. I blame that on the availability of future tech in recoil reduction.
This is the stage where most characters get their name. Gui Montag, Beatty Demarest, and Mortumas 'Kandonomee all had their names before I started typing, but Kanoff, Major Williams, and Major Nathan Sherman had to wait until this stage.
The way I come up with names for them is rather haphazard. For example, Sergeant Morris was named because I had just watched that RVB episode where they talked about 'Morris Code'. And Da Vega is a misspelling of De Vaca, from the book Mount Dragon. Like I said, it's pretty haphazard, but it works so far.

Then a chapter is uploaded onto FF.net, edited one last time, and then added to the story.

-I also have a tendency to forget minor plot points and details. For example, in the first few chapters of Isolation, Montag is referred to as 'chewing something'. He was supposed to be chewing on a rubber band, so he doesn't chip a tooth when he clenches his teeth, but I forgot about it and just edited it out. Sometimes, this is a good thing, like how Montag had a garrote in an early draft in Isolation, but never made it in.

-As I pointed out earlier, most of the work is done in my head. For example, Gui Montag was originally an (American) StarCraft Ghost-like character who led a small band of troops on Alpha Halo. When I started writing the story, he had his present armor and HMD, and was angsty and despondent from all the death he had seen. He was from the colony of Haven, which was American. By the third chapter, he had been changed again to a Russian from Siberia Prime, numbed by the death that surrounded him, and imbued with a burning hatred for the Covenant. Again, this was changed during later chapters, so his motives were more... refined.

-In a PM with Xeno Major, he mentioned the use of a Chekov's gun. In short, this is a device that is mentioned in the story, and becomes important later. Strictly speaking, Chekov meant that ANY prop on the stage had to become useful later. If a gun was hanging on the wall, it had better be used in a later act. I take an opposite policy. If something is important at some point in time, then it had better be mentioned earlier in the story. Montag's Pyromania? Check. Jonesy talking about the reactor on the Pillar of Autumn? Check. The second entrance into Beta Base? Check.
Not everything that is mentioned must be important later. A lot of stuff is needed for characterization and setting the scene. This is the difference between theater and writing.

-As Hawki noted in "To Sell a War", all my fics in a given universe are connected in some way. Sometimes the same fanon planet is mentioned, sometimes a secondary character from one story will pop up in another. It's kind of an easter egg hunt.
At least, when you're not spotting the copious references I put into my fics, alluding to other stories...

Review Policy:

When I read, I review each chapter and try to give constructive criticism, a habit I picked up from Hawki.
When I get reviews, I try to reply to each one (Signed review that is) and thank the people for their time, while answering any questions or concerns they have. Long reviews get long replies. One-sentence "It's great" or "I like your story" reviews get a simple "Thanks for the review" in return.

Projects

Isolation- a multi-chaptered fic in the Halo section, taking place on Alpha Halo. Follows OCs, with a prequel planned.
Status: Writing/Updating

Nightmare- My next multi-chaptered Halo fic, currently in release. Will be written alongside Isolation. Interestingly enough, it was supposed to be a part of the prequel to Isolation, using the same main character, but I dropped it when I decided to make Isolation conform to canon as closely as possible.
Status: Writing/Updating

Gamer- A promo piece for the Halo Homefront mod. Focus on humor.
Status: Awaiting rewriting.

F.U.B.A.R- oneshot, to take place in the StarCraft Section provided that Blizzard cooperates.
Status: Has been sidelined, slated to be released when Blizzard releases "Wings of Liberty".

Take A Breath- Oneshot, to be released when Blizzard releases the Zerg campaign of StarCraft II.

Isolation: A Space Odyssey- Planned prequel to Isolation. Name is final, story is mostly in the first stage of writing.
Status: on-and-off drafting.

Project Aftermath- Broken Line Studios mod, for which I'm doing some of the writing and concepts.
Status: Classified. As in the whole mod is classified.

Night at the Movies- Oneshot parodying Halo Wars (Age of Spaceology) and will use Montag, as well as several side OCs from Isolation: A Space Odyssey. Awaiting further info from fellow players, as well as info directly from Pottinger and hopefully Graeme. Sidelined, will not see release on FF.net.