So we arrived in Las Tolas finally! From Las Tolas we had to take a 4x4 car down a long road to the ecolodge at Urcu Puyujunda. The night we arrived was pretty scary as Klever (the guy who watches the property at the lodge) was very quiet and it was dark! However, once we arrived there were 4 other kids our age (all from California) and we were able to get the scoop from them.
The first week there was full of work, and we quickly realized why we had rainboots. We made 2-3 hour trecks up mountains in very deep mud to get to where we were building trails. The first day we built stairs: Such hard work! But it was rewarding. We quickly realized how beast Klever was when we needed an extra hammer and he quickly carved one with his machete out of a log. After a hard morning at work, we returned to the cabins (no electricity or hot water) for some freezing showers! That afternoon (we have afternoons off) Tim and I walked to Las Tolas (2 hours) to buy some beer (Pilsener) and some chocolates and some apple soda. In Las Tolas we have made a couple of friends to practice spanish with. The older lady who owns the store is pretty cool, as well as her daughter who wants me to come back monday and show her how to use her makeup (No, I have no idea why she thinks just because I´m from the US, I´ll know what her makeup is for) Anywho, all the people in Las Tolas are very nice, and we´ve enjoyed walking down there a couple of days this week.
Another day this week we went fishing, which was a very intense mud walk again, and at the end of it we had to grub for worms and use fishing some very interesting homemade fishing rods. One long stick of wood and a string tied around some nails, if you can imagine that. Anyhow, no one caught any fish except for Klever who caught 2.
When we knew we were going out of town for the weekend, we asked the ladies in Las Tolas what to do, and they directed us to hitch a ride on the milk truck. We did that today (SO MUCH FUN!). The milk truck stopped at all the farms in the area picking up milk. We saw tons of cows this morning. Once the milk truck arrived in Armenia, we got off and caught a bus from there to Quito, and then from Quito to Otavalo. We just arrived in Otavalo today (INTERNET AND WARM SHOWERS OMG), and are staying at a hostel for 10 per night. Tomorrow is a huge market in Otavalo, and all the artesenias and local indigenous people are getting ready for that today.
Some interesting random things about Ecuador I thought I might post:
1) It usually costs 15 cents to use the bathroom, and that covers your toilet paper. If it´s free, you probably won´t be getting any toilet paper.
2) The scenery is beautiful!
3) The food is great, and really cheap!
4) Everyone drives like they´re crazy. Out bus passed another bus on a blind curve on a mountain road.
5) Cuy (Guinea pig) is a big food around here. Today, our bus passed a truck at one of the provincial checkpoints and in the back of the truck were cages full of Guinea pigs. At first I thought they were chickens. We might eat some in Otavalo this weekend :)
6) Buses are the big means of transportation around here, although Taxis are good for the city, and apparently milk trucks for the country.
Anyhow, it´s been a long week, and I´m off to post more pics on facebook. Hopefully everyone back home is doing really well, and we miss all of you! I promise to send out some postcards if I can ever find a post office!
Friday, June 12, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
Ecuador -- Quickly
Hola!
Tim and I finally made it! From the beginning:
Our flights were delayed in RDU and Miami, due to storms in Miami and laws about how much a flight crew can work. Once we landed in Miami we sprinted across the airport and were two of the last people aboard the airplane! Our plane landed in Quito in the night and we were greatly impressed by how large the city was! It seemed to stretch for miles! Once we landed, we learned that our bags didn´t make it fast enough, and we ended up in Ecuador without bags. We very quickly learned the word las maletas! Once we made it through Customs and filed a report with American Airlines, we were greeted at the aiport by Magdalena. She had a paper sign that said our names. She drove us to her home where we had lots of opportunities to practice Spanish, as most people didn´t speak very much English. Her house was beautiful, and our first meal in Ecuador? Pizza Hut! When we woke up Sunday morning, she served us a wonderful breakfast. Every breakfast, Magdalena has served fresh squeezed juice. Once Pineapple Juice and once Strawberry Juice. In addition to fresh squeezed juice, Magdalena gave us some of the best coffee we´ve ever had in our lives. I might pay a little more attention at World Market next time. At breakfast, one of the other volunteers (from Spain) staying in her house asked us if we wanted to go to the historic center of Old Quito with her. What an adventure! We braved the electric trolley system (25 cents, why don´t we have one of these!). We saw tons of Catholic Churches, and plazas, and the museum of the city. While there we bought an amazing lunch with soup, strawberry juice, meat, rice, beans, salad, and fruit for desert for only $2.50. The soup was our favorite! After this, we went to see El Panecillo. It´s basically a huge statue of the virgin mary up on a big hill. It was a little weird, but the views of the old town were astounding. The biggest thing that struck us from this day was how sad Jesus seemed all day. However, the churches were beautiful! Michelle: we thought of you with all the catholics! Nearly everyone here is a Catholic. Another interesting thing we realized about Quito was how many stray dogs there were. Chanel: we thought of you and were nice to the dogs. We took pictures in case you wanted to come later and adopt them...I think Emma could use some friends? The last thing that has really struck us here, is how cheap everything is! We essentially didn´t worry about prices and spent around 25 dollars for the whole day. That included bus rides, taxi rides, museums, a huge lunch, coffee, and lots of bottled water.
Anyway, after some very touristy sight seeing, we decided to take the bus back home. What an adventure! On the bus, a blind man came with his boombox and started serenading the bus for tips. What a country. When we returned to la casa, we made friends with Magdalena´s children (in their 30s?) and had some Pilsener (apparently the beer of choice) We finally got our bags from the airport on Saturday! They came in on the flight from Miami, with a ton of other bags that seemed to be from other flights as well. The storms in Miami apparently caused a lot of problems. Later that night, we finally had an opportunity to speak english when we met another of the volunteers from Rhode Island. It was such a relief to not have to think hard about every word!!
Today, we were able to explore Quito again, since our bus doesn´t leave until 530. We decided to go to El Teleferiquo, which is like a swiss ski lift up the mountains outside of Quito. Once we arrived at the top, we hiked up the mountain further (Rucu Pichincha). There was barely enough air to breathe there, and each little way up we got more and more out of breath. On the way, we met 2 men from Germany, and they encouraged us to go all the way to the peak at 4300m. We finally acheived the peak, after like 2 hours of hiking and then we saw another peak further on! However, Tim really wanted some more water, so we had to turn around =) This was so beautiful! we were on the same level as the clouds for parts of the hike. P.S. The hike was done in my Rainbows, in typical style.
Today, we are catching the bus for Las Tolas. I don´t think it´s going to be nearly as nice as Magdalena´s house has been. We were told to bring rubber boots and raincoats and the like, and there is no electricity in our cabin, but hopefully it will be as fun as Quito has been! I bought a notebook (.95) and will take notes so I remember everything to write on the weekends. We will only have internet on the weekends.
I´m putting a couple of pictures on facebook, but hopefully we´ll have more time later.
Anyhow, we´ve got to go catch our bus, but hopefully this wasn´t too long and rambly. I didn´t have time to proofread and I just wanted to get everything that happened down on paper. Oh, and of course: I love you Mom and Dad!
Tim and I finally made it! From the beginning:
Our flights were delayed in RDU and Miami, due to storms in Miami and laws about how much a flight crew can work. Once we landed in Miami we sprinted across the airport and were two of the last people aboard the airplane! Our plane landed in Quito in the night and we were greatly impressed by how large the city was! It seemed to stretch for miles! Once we landed, we learned that our bags didn´t make it fast enough, and we ended up in Ecuador without bags. We very quickly learned the word las maletas! Once we made it through Customs and filed a report with American Airlines, we were greeted at the aiport by Magdalena. She had a paper sign that said our names. She drove us to her home where we had lots of opportunities to practice Spanish, as most people didn´t speak very much English. Her house was beautiful, and our first meal in Ecuador? Pizza Hut! When we woke up Sunday morning, she served us a wonderful breakfast. Every breakfast, Magdalena has served fresh squeezed juice. Once Pineapple Juice and once Strawberry Juice. In addition to fresh squeezed juice, Magdalena gave us some of the best coffee we´ve ever had in our lives. I might pay a little more attention at World Market next time. At breakfast, one of the other volunteers (from Spain) staying in her house asked us if we wanted to go to the historic center of Old Quito with her. What an adventure! We braved the electric trolley system (25 cents, why don´t we have one of these!). We saw tons of Catholic Churches, and plazas, and the museum of the city. While there we bought an amazing lunch with soup, strawberry juice, meat, rice, beans, salad, and fruit for desert for only $2.50. The soup was our favorite! After this, we went to see El Panecillo. It´s basically a huge statue of the virgin mary up on a big hill. It was a little weird, but the views of the old town were astounding. The biggest thing that struck us from this day was how sad Jesus seemed all day. However, the churches were beautiful! Michelle: we thought of you with all the catholics! Nearly everyone here is a Catholic. Another interesting thing we realized about Quito was how many stray dogs there were. Chanel: we thought of you and were nice to the dogs. We took pictures in case you wanted to come later and adopt them...I think Emma could use some friends? The last thing that has really struck us here, is how cheap everything is! We essentially didn´t worry about prices and spent around 25 dollars for the whole day. That included bus rides, taxi rides, museums, a huge lunch, coffee, and lots of bottled water.
Anyway, after some very touristy sight seeing, we decided to take the bus back home. What an adventure! On the bus, a blind man came with his boombox and started serenading the bus for tips. What a country. When we returned to la casa, we made friends with Magdalena´s children (in their 30s?) and had some Pilsener (apparently the beer of choice) We finally got our bags from the airport on Saturday! They came in on the flight from Miami, with a ton of other bags that seemed to be from other flights as well. The storms in Miami apparently caused a lot of problems. Later that night, we finally had an opportunity to speak english when we met another of the volunteers from Rhode Island. It was such a relief to not have to think hard about every word!!
Today, we were able to explore Quito again, since our bus doesn´t leave until 530. We decided to go to El Teleferiquo, which is like a swiss ski lift up the mountains outside of Quito. Once we arrived at the top, we hiked up the mountain further (Rucu Pichincha). There was barely enough air to breathe there, and each little way up we got more and more out of breath. On the way, we met 2 men from Germany, and they encouraged us to go all the way to the peak at 4300m. We finally acheived the peak, after like 2 hours of hiking and then we saw another peak further on! However, Tim really wanted some more water, so we had to turn around =) This was so beautiful! we were on the same level as the clouds for parts of the hike. P.S. The hike was done in my Rainbows, in typical style.
Today, we are catching the bus for Las Tolas. I don´t think it´s going to be nearly as nice as Magdalena´s house has been. We were told to bring rubber boots and raincoats and the like, and there is no electricity in our cabin, but hopefully it will be as fun as Quito has been! I bought a notebook (.95) and will take notes so I remember everything to write on the weekends. We will only have internet on the weekends.
I´m putting a couple of pictures on facebook, but hopefully we´ll have more time later.
Anyhow, we´ve got to go catch our bus, but hopefully this wasn´t too long and rambly. I didn´t have time to proofread and I just wanted to get everything that happened down on paper. Oh, and of course: I love you Mom and Dad!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
New Iteration of Chicken Game...now with grass!
The chicken game now has grass and a nest! I learned how to erase white backgrounds from a picture, although I think tracing the bitmap on the pic and erasing the white bits seems a little hacked together. Does anyone know a better way to do that?
I also learned how to set the registration point for a movie clip so that I could attach that to the box 2d ground body. You only have to double click the movie clip to go into edit mode, and then you can move the movie clip relative to the cross. Additionally, the registration point and the center point are different. But I don't understand that difference yet. I'll get back to that later, I suppose.
Enjoy :)
And yes, I know the old posting got updated too, but I figured I didn't want to keep saving all the old iterations of chicka the chicken.
One last thing:
The goal is to get the bitties IN the nest. While I know that is currently impossible, it is no more or less impossible than completing the adventures of mr. stick. And I actually have the source code, so I can fix it later.
I also learned how to set the registration point for a movie clip so that I could attach that to the box 2d ground body. You only have to double click the movie clip to go into edit mode, and then you can move the movie clip relative to the cross. Additionally, the registration point and the center point are different. But I don't understand that difference yet. I'll get back to that later, I suppose.
Enjoy :)
And yes, I know the old posting got updated too, but I figured I didn't want to keep saving all the old iterations of chicka the chicken.
One last thing:
The goal is to get the bitties IN the nest. While I know that is currently impossible, it is no more or less impossible than completing the adventures of mr. stick. And I actually have the source code, so I can fix it later.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
National Parks Marijuana Cartels?
I wanted to write this down while I still remember:
Just 30 minutes ago, Tim and I were in fear for our lives. Just about 60 minutes ago, Tim and I thought it would be a good idea to go back down to the Congaree National Park. It's a new enough park that they don't have the admissions gates up yet, so it's free to enter. We had gone during the day on Saturday, and it's pretty neat: They have a boardwalk over the swamp areas, hiking trails, and cypress trees. We thought it would be fun to go at night (isn't everything more fun at night?) so we packed up the dog and the flashlights and headed out. As soon as we pulled in and Tim is out of the car, Guinness barked a bit and we hear the crunch of gravel underneath footsteps. We saw the orange glow of his cigarette before the man walks right up to Tim. He appeared to have a few layers underneath his nondescript jacket, and his long dark hair was mostly tucked underneath his cap.
"What are y'all doing out here tonight?" he asked.
"We just were thinking about walking down to the boardwalk and checking it out," Tim replied.
"Do y'all need a map? Do you have a flashlight? It's kind of a long walk down there and you don't want to get lost."
Needless to say, at this point I was pretty sketched out. It's not really nighttime or scary locale etiquette for someone to walk up and invade your space like that. The guy proceeded to explain to us how he had to do volunteer work to become a park ranger and how he was just making sure that we were alright since he liked to make sure everyone's visit was the best it could be.
"How many more weeks do you have left to volunteer?" I asked.
"About two more fucking weeks, and I'll be done," he answered. "It's crazy down here. I take a bath about every three days. A GI Bath, or a whore bath, depending on who you are and where you're from."
We all idly chatted some more about the different kinds of wildlife and our last visit down here while the park ranger in training finished up his smoke. He asked if we had another flashlight, and we said no, but Tim asked if we could borrow one of his. He said yeah, and went to go get it from his campsite, which was almost out of earshot, but not quite. While he was over there, and Tim was in the car opening the batteries, I could hear him being questioned by another man at the fire. The questions were to low to be audible, but the responses were almost within earshot.
"No...they said they were just going to walk down to the boardwalk..." our park ranger said
"Yeah, they even said they'd put new batteries in it," the park ranger answered to another inaudible question.
Soon after this exchange the park ranger walks back over to our car and hands us the flashlight. He points us through the woods out to the road, saying that it would be a little faster than going down the path to the boardwalk.
"I might not be here when you get back, the girls say they're getting cold so I have to drive 'em back into town. I say just get closer to the fire or cuddle closer, but I think they're wantin' to go back, so like I say, I might have to drive 'em. If I'm not here, then just put the flashlight over on the car with the big CB radio antenna."r
"sure thing man" Tim agreed.
By the time Tim and I got down to the road, we were both feeling a bit jittery. We could hear wolves howling in the swamps, and we started to reconsider going down to the swamp at all. While discussing whether or not our almost park ranger was having prostitutes over and how lame or not lame it would be to turn around and go back to the car, and whether it was worth it to keep going, we see a truck with a trailer pull into the parking lot where we just were. While considering it weird, neither of us thought too terribly much of it.
Let me take this moment to describe the logistics of the parking lot/park/trail/boardwalk/road combo. The road which we drove into the park on is blocked off to cars right after the parking lot. This is so that any cars that come in after hours are forced to go into the parking lot. It's the "After hours parking lot." From this lot, which is on the left side of the road, you can take a trail into the woods which eventually crosses the road and then goes back into the woods to the boardwalk. Or you can just walk down to the road to this crossing point and go into the woods on the right side of the road without taking the trail directly from the lot. Our park ranger guide had suggested the road to us, and we took his advice.
Back to the events of our night. Around the time we saw the truck and trailer pull into the lot, we heard more wolves howling, and decided it was reasonable to turn around. By this point though I had a really bad feeling about the people we had encountered thus far. My heart was beating fast, and I just had a bad premonition about the whole situation. We turned around, and could see through the trees to the parking lot where the truck and trailer pulled in. We saw about 4-5 flashlights bouncing across the trees, and across the sky. They appeared to be headed towards the trail at the far end of the parking lot. The very same trail that eventually would have met up with us had we not turned around. I hate to describe something so imprecise as a premonition or a feeling, but as we saw the flashlights bouncing around, I was almost certain that they were searching for us. As we entered the back of the parking lot, we could see the flashlights headed down the trail. By now, my only thought was to get out of there as quickly as possible.
"I'll wait here while you put the flashlight on his car."
"No! you're coming with me," replied Tim.
We walked over together and placed the borrowed flashlight on top of the almost park ranger's car (no, it wasn't marked in any way to suggest he was a ranger.)
Feeling the strain of fear and time, I whispered, "let's run!"
We sprinted the last bit to our car, our feet crunching the gravel as we ran. About halfway there, the 4-5 flashlight carriers turned around. My heart leaped into my stomach. It felt like my worst fears from earlier were coming true. The flashlights started heading right towards us. Tim opened my door first, and I shoved Guinness in the car, locking my door and leaning across the seat to open his (we don't have those fancy power locks, despite it being a new car). By the time we turned on the car and put it in reverse, the flashlights were within 6-10 feet of the back of our car.
Maybe we spook too easily, but the whole situation was a little strange. While the almost park ranger guy seemed nice enough, the 4-5 flashlight people going like 15 feet down the trail and then turning around right when our feet got loud enough to hear seemed a little coincidental to me. Anyway, on the way home we came up with a few theories. We considered that they could just be crazies who murder people in the forest. However, much more likely seems to be a national park marijuana cartel. This would easily explain the fact that the guy seemed to know the activities of the park, and the trails pretty well. Additionally, after we got home, I searched it online and there are apparently quite a few of these around the country. Just do a search on google with "national parks" marijuana. You'll find plenty. A couple of the links are here and here.
So maybe we wouldn't have been killed. Maybe we only would have been roughed up a little. Who knows. I'm glad we didn't find out :) Let me just finish with pointing out that if marijuana were legalized, then there wouldn't be drug rings trying to grow an illegal plant out in the middle of nowhere. There wouldn't be a need for violence to protect those illegal plants. These are just our modern day prohibition-era gangs.
Oh, and in case you were wondering: The swamp we didn't get to see today would hav elooked something like this... It is pretty cool when there aren't gangstas trying to kill you.
Just 30 minutes ago, Tim and I were in fear for our lives. Just about 60 minutes ago, Tim and I thought it would be a good idea to go back down to the Congaree National Park. It's a new enough park that they don't have the admissions gates up yet, so it's free to enter. We had gone during the day on Saturday, and it's pretty neat: They have a boardwalk over the swamp areas, hiking trails, and cypress trees. We thought it would be fun to go at night (isn't everything more fun at night?) so we packed up the dog and the flashlights and headed out. As soon as we pulled in and Tim is out of the car, Guinness barked a bit and we hear the crunch of gravel underneath footsteps. We saw the orange glow of his cigarette before the man walks right up to Tim. He appeared to have a few layers underneath his nondescript jacket, and his long dark hair was mostly tucked underneath his cap.
"What are y'all doing out here tonight?" he asked.
"We just were thinking about walking down to the boardwalk and checking it out," Tim replied.
"Do y'all need a map? Do you have a flashlight? It's kind of a long walk down there and you don't want to get lost."
Needless to say, at this point I was pretty sketched out. It's not really nighttime or scary locale etiquette for someone to walk up and invade your space like that. The guy proceeded to explain to us how he had to do volunteer work to become a park ranger and how he was just making sure that we were alright since he liked to make sure everyone's visit was the best it could be.
"How many more weeks do you have left to volunteer?" I asked.
"About two more fucking weeks, and I'll be done," he answered. "It's crazy down here. I take a bath about every three days. A GI Bath, or a whore bath, depending on who you are and where you're from."
We all idly chatted some more about the different kinds of wildlife and our last visit down here while the park ranger in training finished up his smoke. He asked if we had another flashlight, and we said no, but Tim asked if we could borrow one of his. He said yeah, and went to go get it from his campsite, which was almost out of earshot, but not quite. While he was over there, and Tim was in the car opening the batteries, I could hear him being questioned by another man at the fire. The questions were to low to be audible, but the responses were almost within earshot.
"No...they said they were just going to walk down to the boardwalk..." our park ranger said
"Yeah, they even said they'd put new batteries in it," the park ranger answered to another inaudible question.
Soon after this exchange the park ranger walks back over to our car and hands us the flashlight. He points us through the woods out to the road, saying that it would be a little faster than going down the path to the boardwalk.
"I might not be here when you get back, the girls say they're getting cold so I have to drive 'em back into town. I say just get closer to the fire or cuddle closer, but I think they're wantin' to go back, so like I say, I might have to drive 'em. If I'm not here, then just put the flashlight over on the car with the big CB radio antenna."r
"sure thing man" Tim agreed.
By the time Tim and I got down to the road, we were both feeling a bit jittery. We could hear wolves howling in the swamps, and we started to reconsider going down to the swamp at all. While discussing whether or not our almost park ranger was having prostitutes over and how lame or not lame it would be to turn around and go back to the car, and whether it was worth it to keep going, we see a truck with a trailer pull into the parking lot where we just were. While considering it weird, neither of us thought too terribly much of it.
Let me take this moment to describe the logistics of the parking lot/park/trail/boardwalk/road combo. The road which we drove into the park on is blocked off to cars right after the parking lot. This is so that any cars that come in after hours are forced to go into the parking lot. It's the "After hours parking lot." From this lot, which is on the left side of the road, you can take a trail into the woods which eventually crosses the road and then goes back into the woods to the boardwalk. Or you can just walk down to the road to this crossing point and go into the woods on the right side of the road without taking the trail directly from the lot. Our park ranger guide had suggested the road to us, and we took his advice.
Back to the events of our night. Around the time we saw the truck and trailer pull into the lot, we heard more wolves howling, and decided it was reasonable to turn around. By this point though I had a really bad feeling about the people we had encountered thus far. My heart was beating fast, and I just had a bad premonition about the whole situation. We turned around, and could see through the trees to the parking lot where the truck and trailer pulled in. We saw about 4-5 flashlights bouncing across the trees, and across the sky. They appeared to be headed towards the trail at the far end of the parking lot. The very same trail that eventually would have met up with us had we not turned around. I hate to describe something so imprecise as a premonition or a feeling, but as we saw the flashlights bouncing around, I was almost certain that they were searching for us. As we entered the back of the parking lot, we could see the flashlights headed down the trail. By now, my only thought was to get out of there as quickly as possible.
"I'll wait here while you put the flashlight on his car."
"No! you're coming with me," replied Tim.
We walked over together and placed the borrowed flashlight on top of the almost park ranger's car (no, it wasn't marked in any way to suggest he was a ranger.)
Feeling the strain of fear and time, I whispered, "let's run!"
We sprinted the last bit to our car, our feet crunching the gravel as we ran. About halfway there, the 4-5 flashlight carriers turned around. My heart leaped into my stomach. It felt like my worst fears from earlier were coming true. The flashlights started heading right towards us. Tim opened my door first, and I shoved Guinness in the car, locking my door and leaning across the seat to open his (we don't have those fancy power locks, despite it being a new car). By the time we turned on the car and put it in reverse, the flashlights were within 6-10 feet of the back of our car.
Maybe we spook too easily, but the whole situation was a little strange. While the almost park ranger guy seemed nice enough, the 4-5 flashlight people going like 15 feet down the trail and then turning around right when our feet got loud enough to hear seemed a little coincidental to me. Anyway, on the way home we came up with a few theories. We considered that they could just be crazies who murder people in the forest. However, much more likely seems to be a national park marijuana cartel. This would easily explain the fact that the guy seemed to know the activities of the park, and the trails pretty well. Additionally, after we got home, I searched it online and there are apparently quite a few of these around the country. Just do a search on google with "national parks" marijuana. You'll find plenty. A couple of the links are here and here.
So maybe we wouldn't have been killed. Maybe we only would have been roughed up a little. Who knows. I'm glad we didn't find out :) Let me just finish with pointing out that if marijuana were legalized, then there wouldn't be drug rings trying to grow an illegal plant out in the middle of nowhere. There wouldn't be a need for violence to protect those illegal plants. These are just our modern day prohibition-era gangs.
Oh, and in case you were wondering: The swamp we didn't get to see today would hav elooked something like this... It is pretty cool when there aren't gangstas trying to kill you.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Chicka now has bitties :)
I lied about going through my code in my next post, but at least you get biddies in this newer and more fantastic version of Chicka the chicken!
enjoy :) [P.S. you should use the arrow keys to move!]
enjoy :) [P.S. you should use the arrow keys to move!]
Box 2D Phsyics
Let me start out by saying that Box 2D is an amazing product! I'm pretty new to programming, yet I was able to get Box 2D up and running with my game in just one day. Box 2D is a 2D physics engine made (open source) by Erin Catto. Erin Catto works as a physics programmer at Blizzard, the maker of starcraft and world of warcraft. His version was made for C++, but on the Box 2D forums skatehead ported that over to flash.
I'm currently using the Box 2D 2.0 version, so all discussion refers to that. One of the best things so far about box2D is that you don't actually have to understand how the engine works to get physics up and running on your game. I went through the tutorial discussed here, however it wasn't for the most updated version of box 2D so it was a little confusing. I'll post my code with an explanation as my next blog post, but for now you can enjoy making Chicka the chicken fly around.
I'm currently using the Box 2D 2.0 version, so all discussion refers to that. One of the best things so far about box2D is that you don't actually have to understand how the engine works to get physics up and running on your game. I went through the tutorial discussed here, however it wasn't for the most updated version of box 2D so it was a little confusing. I'll post my code with an explanation as my next blog post, but for now you can enjoy making Chicka the chicken fly around.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Everyone's got a word.
If any of you have ever gotten married, or taken the big relationship step of moving in together, you'll know well the barrage of advice you receive. In the months preceding our marriage, Tim and I received TONS of advice: Some of it was sought after, such as in premarital counseling or books; some of it was not really sought after so much as it was thrust upon our laps. We heard everything from "don't get married" to "make sure you finish school." From the deluge we have found some of the advice to be mediocre, but we have found some of the advice to be phenomenal. Although we've only been married almost 5 months, anyone who has been living together or married for five months will know that there is plenty of time to test out what works and what doesn't. Mostly through trial and error. Additionally, some of the great advice I'll present here isn't necessarily tried and tested by Tim and I, but rather presented by people I know and respect. These people have marriages lasting over 20 years, and although a marriage lasting that long is quite a feat in itself, even more amazing is the apparent joy of both the husband and wife.
I wanted to compile this list both as a cathartic exercise, and as a means for others to find ideas for their own relationships. I'm certainly not claiming we have learned all there is to learn (far from it) or that we are perfect (also, far from it!), but some of the stuff we've found out is pretty good! Take it, Leave it, or please: change something and tell me why it's bad/good/right/wrong! I'd love for this to spark discussion.
Note: Most of this advice is advice I've gained about being a good wife. I've learned a lot about how to be a good wife, and a lot less about how to be a good husband. I may get Tim to do a guest column on what he's learned, but for now this will be mostly more interesting to you if you're a girl.
Additional Note: A TON of this advice is generalized to "men blah blah blah," and there ARE exceptions. However, I have found that Tim fits in with a LOT of these generalizations. Maybe Tim is just really typical. If you wonder if your guy is like this or that: ask him!
One last note: This advice is all pretty much intended for the couple who wishes to make a life commitment to each other.
So, without more prefacing, here's what we've heard (and decided is good) through the grapevine.
Before the Lifelong Commitment:
1) Discuss your expectations of each other: Does he expect you to do all the dishes? the housework? What do you expect him to do in your house? Do you expect him to be the "breadwinner?" Does he want to start his own business? If so, what will he expect from you during that time? Do the two of you want to have children? If so, who will take care of the child? Will someone be at home? How is that work split up? Do you want pets? Will you always vote for the same person? Do you have similar political views? The list goes on and on, but many arguments occur when one or both of you have unfulfilled expectations. (our own experience, pre-marital counseling, and Love&Respect)
Note: Even though it is fine to organize and discuss the roles each of you will have, consider what happens if your spouse, who is supposed to cook, isn't able to cook for a week? how will you react to this? HINT: with humility!
2) I highly recommend pre-marital counseling. I had never heard of this before we got engaged and Tim suggested it, but it was so awesome. In our sessions (maybe 6 of them?) we each separately took a test (the FOCUS test if you're curious) which asked us questions about religion, expectations, finances, housework, and more. If any of our answers were things we didn't show unity on, the moderator (our pastor) pointed those out to us and sparked discussion between Tim and I. This is great for figuring out what you need to figure out, and for creating unity. Plus, I found it really romantic that Tim was learning about me and what I thought about different issues. What a hot date! (our own experience)
During Fights:
No one really likes to admit that their relationship is one with fights, but I promise everyone has had them. And I'd be willing to bet that everyone has had a pretty ugly one. Here's some advice we've heard on how to keep it relatively un-ugly:
1) Keep these things out of bounds during a fight: cursing, name-calling, shouting, belittling, sarcasm, threatening to leave, packing bags, any type of threats, using words to get even, trying to "win", comparing your spouse to someone else's spouse, threatening divorce, throwing wedding rings, just walking away without a preface of "i need some space". (Jerry & Nan Daley, Love&Respect)
2) It is always helpful to me to keep in mind that since I've made a commitment for life, I will still see Tim tomorrow, and next week. Ideally, there is some point in the future in which I won't be upset with him, so do I really want to be embarrassed in the future by my current behaviors? or do I really want to do things which permanently damage the relationship I'll still have later on? I always imagine that if I threw my wedding rings I'd feel pretty fail when I couldn't find them later on.
Everyday Advice and Principles:
1) What is the emotional climate like in your home? How many times a day do you express love to your mate? It's important to express love in all kinds of ways: consider the concept that there are 5 love languages. 5 ways to show love to someone. While many people have a primary love language, it is important to express love to your spouse in all 5 ways (Gary Chapman, The five love languages)
3) Don't create topics which are out of bounds for the two of you. This can occur when one person always becomes upset during the discussion of a certain topic, and then the other person reacts by avoiding that topic. (Jerry and Nan Daley)
4) As our society becomes more and more sexualized, sexual images become harder and harder for you or your husband to avoid. If you and your husband hope for him to have eyes only for you, he will find it amazingly helpful if you:
6) If you're religious:
My favorite sources are older couples Tim and I know, and the following books:
Please, if you have anything to add, let me know in the comments. If you disagree with anything or have any questions, let me know those too!
I wanted to compile this list both as a cathartic exercise, and as a means for others to find ideas for their own relationships. I'm certainly not claiming we have learned all there is to learn (far from it) or that we are perfect (also, far from it!), but some of the stuff we've found out is pretty good! Take it, Leave it, or please: change something and tell me why it's bad/good/right/wrong! I'd love for this to spark discussion.
Note: Most of this advice is advice I've gained about being a good wife. I've learned a lot about how to be a good wife, and a lot less about how to be a good husband. I may get Tim to do a guest column on what he's learned, but for now this will be mostly more interesting to you if you're a girl.
Additional Note: A TON of this advice is generalized to "men blah blah blah," and there ARE exceptions. However, I have found that Tim fits in with a LOT of these generalizations. Maybe Tim is just really typical. If you wonder if your guy is like this or that: ask him!
One last note: This advice is all pretty much intended for the couple who wishes to make a life commitment to each other.
So, without more prefacing, here's what we've heard (and decided is good) through the grapevine.
Before the Lifelong Commitment:
1) Discuss your expectations of each other: Does he expect you to do all the dishes? the housework? What do you expect him to do in your house? Do you expect him to be the "breadwinner?" Does he want to start his own business? If so, what will he expect from you during that time? Do the two of you want to have children? If so, who will take care of the child? Will someone be at home? How is that work split up? Do you want pets? Will you always vote for the same person? Do you have similar political views? The list goes on and on, but many arguments occur when one or both of you have unfulfilled expectations. (our own experience, pre-marital counseling, and Love&Respect)
Note: Even though it is fine to organize and discuss the roles each of you will have, consider what happens if your spouse, who is supposed to cook, isn't able to cook for a week? how will you react to this? HINT: with humility!
2) I highly recommend pre-marital counseling. I had never heard of this before we got engaged and Tim suggested it, but it was so awesome. In our sessions (maybe 6 of them?) we each separately took a test (the FOCUS test if you're curious) which asked us questions about religion, expectations, finances, housework, and more. If any of our answers were things we didn't show unity on, the moderator (our pastor) pointed those out to us and sparked discussion between Tim and I. This is great for figuring out what you need to figure out, and for creating unity. Plus, I found it really romantic that Tim was learning about me and what I thought about different issues. What a hot date! (our own experience)
During Fights:
No one really likes to admit that their relationship is one with fights, but I promise everyone has had them. And I'd be willing to bet that everyone has had a pretty ugly one. Here's some advice we've heard on how to keep it relatively un-ugly:
1) Keep these things out of bounds during a fight: cursing, name-calling, shouting, belittling, sarcasm, threatening to leave, packing bags, any type of threats, using words to get even, trying to "win", comparing your spouse to someone else's spouse, threatening divorce, throwing wedding rings, just walking away without a preface of "i need some space". (Jerry & Nan Daley, Love&Respect)
2) It is always helpful to me to keep in mind that since I've made a commitment for life, I will still see Tim tomorrow, and next week. Ideally, there is some point in the future in which I won't be upset with him, so do I really want to be embarrassed in the future by my current behaviors? or do I really want to do things which permanently damage the relationship I'll still have later on? I always imagine that if I threw my wedding rings I'd feel pretty fail when I couldn't find them later on.
Everyday Advice and Principles:
1) What is the emotional climate like in your home? How many times a day do you express love to your mate? It's important to express love in all kinds of ways: consider the concept that there are 5 love languages. 5 ways to show love to someone. While many people have a primary love language, it is important to express love to your spouse in all 5 ways (Gary Chapman, The five love languages)
- Words of Affirmation
- Quality Time
- Gifts
- Acts of Service
- Physical Touch
3) Don't create topics which are out of bounds for the two of you. This can occur when one person always becomes upset during the discussion of a certain topic, and then the other person reacts by avoiding that topic. (Jerry and Nan Daley)
4) As our society becomes more and more sexualized, sexual images become harder and harder for you or your husband to avoid. If you and your husband hope for him to have eyes only for you, he will find it amazingly helpful if you:
- keep him sexually pleased.
- Understand that for nearly every man "sensual images and thoughts arrive involuntarily. His physical impulse is to enjoy the feelings associated with these thoughts and images." (for women only, Feldhahn) However, "every man has a choice-to dwell on the images or thoughts, or to dismiss them" (for women only, Feldhahn).
- See his sexuality as a need, rather than a want.
- Connect sexually often (try for at least once a day, though more can be better)
- Have fun!
6) If you're religious:
- try to do some amount of your devotions together, or at least talk about what you are each learning. You will be able to encourage each other and learn each other's perspectives. (Jerry and Nan Daley, personal experience, pre-marital counseling)
- Pray together all the time! Especially after a fight. Although Tim and I have a lot of great resources we've found that we're pretty pathetically helpless to do any of this stuff out of our own strength. (personal experience)
- Put applicable verses around your house. I struggle with having a nasty temper during arguments, so we have a proverb on controlling temper hanging in the kitchen :) (I totally stole this idea from my friend Jess)
"Dr. E.V. Hill...lost his wife, Jane to cancer a few years ago. At her funeral, Dr. hill descprited some of the ways she had made him a better man. As a struggling young preacher, E.V. had trouble earning a living. E.V. came home one night and found the house dark. When he opened the door, he saw that Jane had prepared a candlelight dinner for two. He thought that was a great idea and went in to the bathroom to wash his hands. He tried unsuccessfully to turn on the light. Then he felt his way into the bedroom and flipped another switch. Darkness prevailed. The young pastor went back to the dining room and asked Jane why the electricity was off. She began to cry. 'You work so hard, and we're trying,' said Jane, 'but it's pretty rough. I didn't have enough money to pay the light bill. I didn't want you to know about it, so I thought we would just eat by candlelight.' Dr. Hill described his wife's words with intense emotion. 'She could have said 'I've never been in this situation before. I was reared in the home of Dr. Caruthers, and we never had our lights cut off.' She could have broken my spirit; she could have ruined me; she could have demoralized me. But instead she said 'Somehow or other we'll get those lights back on. But tonight let's eat by candlelight.''"Having finished writing this, I've realized that I've barely scratched the surface, but these are a few of the truths Tim and I try to walk in and have found so helpful for our marriage and relationship. I feel that there's not enough practical advice out there, but Tim and I have found a few sources.
My favorite sources are older couples Tim and I know, and the following books:
- Love and Respect by Emerson Eggerichs
- For Women Only by Shaunti Feldhahn
- For Men Only by Shaunti and Jeff Feldhahn
Please, if you have anything to add, let me know in the comments. If you disagree with anything or have any questions, let me know those too!
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