countessrae

Going to the Y is like going to a day spa every day. Couple hours of working out, half an hour in the hot tub, half an hour of swimming in the pool, little bit of yoga, it's awesome.

So I got my free membership to the YMCA yesterday. The dude who was working the desk that helped me apply, Lee, was in the air force too, so I can see I'll be going to him with any questions I have too. I also get a free personal trainer for a 12 week fitness program, his name is Jon. He gave me a daily assignment alternating between cardio, upper body, and lower body. Today I started by jogging half a mile on their indoor track and another quarter on a treadmill, then I moved on to the bikes where I did a couple miles.

So tomorrow's upper body training. I plan on getting a bathing suit so I can use their pool to cool down.

Lee likes to brag to the other people working the desk that I'm joining the air force to be a linguist and tells them about my scores and stuff, he treats me like I'm one of his kids.

Big day yesterday, whoo.

Took the DLAB, that's the language aptitude test, supposedly tells you how well you learn new languages. Basically you're at a computer with a headset on and you're given a made-up language and they keep adding new rules to it. You have to memorize the rules because you're not allowed to take notes. And everyone goes crazy about halfway through the test. You freak out and think you've forgotten a rule and you got the last 20 questions wrong and oh God I missed what the speaker said for B there's no way I'm passing this test, no way. It's a 2 hour test and I felt like it had taken almost 3 hours, but both of the test overseers were surprised to see that I was done because apparently I only took 40 minutes. Took a few minutes to get the results back and I couldn't stop shaking, this is the test that determines whether or not I qualify to be a linguist.

Breakdown of the scores on the DLAB: In order to even qualify to learn a language, you need at least 85, which puts you in category 1 to learn the Romantic languages. Category 2 is at least 90 which allows you to learn German and the category 1 languages. Category 3 is at least 95 which lets you learn Slavic and some Middle Eastern and Asian languages including category 1 and 2. Category 4 is the highest at 100 which lets you learn every language.

Both of the overseers seemed surprised or shocked at something after they printed out my score. The woman handed me the paper and said "take this to the front desk then to the air force liaison." I had to ask "h-how'd I do?" "I can't tell you that sweety." "Aw, c'mon..." "What score did you want?" "At least an 85, but over 100 would be best." She flashes my score. 131.

SO OF COURSE I'M GRINNING LIKE AN IDIOT AND CLOSE TO TEARS AS I WALK DOWN THAT HALL TO THE FRONT DESK, EVERYONE IN THE LOBBY STARING AT ME LIKE I'M A CRAZY PERSON. I JUST QUALIFIED TO LEARN EVERY LANGUAGE THEY THROW AT ME.

The two air force liaisons told me I tied for the highest score the Harrisburg MEPS had ever seen, a boy a couple weeks earlier got the same score.

Next I had to choose my jobs. Cryptologic linguist. At the top, please. That's right. First one. I have to choose a few more? Eh, pick some computer and intel jobs. It wouldn't suck so bad if I couldn't be a linguist but I got hacker or spy instead, I guess. Then they pushed me on through to the 1:30 swearing-in ceremony where I had to stand like a good soldier and say my oath to an awesome lady officer with braces and contacts.

Earliest ship date: March 15th

Activities until then: video games and free weight training at the YMCA and REC center.

I hate it when people use the word "weeaboo" as a derogatory word against anyone who shows even the slightest interest in Japan or anime or even just Asia when they don't even know where the word came from or that it had absolutely nothing to do with anything of the sort. Yes, there are people out there who deserve a title like this, but we already have a made-up word that fills that niche: "fantard."

EDIT: It's no coincidence that the vast majority of the people I've heard utter this word in a derogatory way are dudes who spend too much time playing Call of Duty on their XBox.

Since I didn't post my military escapades in the LJ yet...

Two weeks ago I had to stay in a hotel in Harrisburg to get to the nearby MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) early enough. $200 room for free. And I had a roommate, an older girl who wanted to be a crypto linguist too. She was neat. Wake up at 4 AM to get breakfast at 4:30 and hop on a bus to the MEPS by 6. Then the rest of the day was spent signing papers, getting blood drawn, having my height, weight, vision and hearing checked, drug test (pee in a cup), physical test, and then I'd get to take the DLAB, my language aptitude test.

Well the doctor wasn't happy about something and sent me home to be looked at by my own doctor and told me to come back within 30 days to avoid having to go through the whole physical again.

So I'm going back Thursday. Gotta stay in the hotel again, but I only have to go through the rest of the physical test and then I get to take the DLAB.

Yay.

Sure wish I had a good reason for updating this.

Second Life is among one of the creepiest things I've ever heard of. So why have I made an account?

( Two Scoot pics )


And now I've started watching Venture Bros.

I'm finally free. No more classes to complain about.

TIME TO PLAY WII.

Current Wii game library: Animal Crossing: City Folk, Super Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart Wii, and Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility

Dear aliens,

Please send more pretty hypnotic lights our way. We humans love light shows.

I found a workaround for Skype, so I'm on it again if anyone's interested in chattin' :D

For my final project in Mythology, I'm working on a very simple, basic game based on Icarus using RPG Maker VX. I'm using it as an excuse to actually figure the program out so I can make this Jet game I've been saying I was going to make for the past few years now.

If anyone wants to playtest it, it's here: http://www.filebanker.com/icarus (58.4 MB)
Just unpack it and run Game.exe (the one with the chess knight icon).

Since the final presentation only needs to be 5 minutes long, it's a very short game with filler text and music and slightly (if at all) modified sample maps. It's also unfinished, so the game "ends" with Icarus being stuck in a floor. And there aren't any battles yet. It's purposely short and basic and dumb because the teacher vomits perfect scores on everyone.

EDIT: Uploaded a mostly done version: http://www.filebanker.com/icarus11 (72 MB)

Took the ASVAB today. Got a 92, which qualifies me for any job in the air force. The three other air force recruits who were with me didn't pass the test. You need at least a 50 to pass.

StumbleUpon has always given me sites that talk about becoming happier and having a brighter outlook on life. I always told myself "I should try some of those" but I just recently realized I really don't have to. I think I'm happy where I am right now and if something's bothering me, I do something about it, it's that easy.

What's bothering me right now is Scoot. She's going through this phase of pulling the fur out of her dewlap (double chin) and being very antisocial. She's always independent, but she would dance around my feet and bug me for attention. She hasn't done that for a few days now. More and more people are telling me to get her spayed, so as soon as we have enough money, I want to get that done. That'd stop her from pulling her fur out and being stressed. It'd also eliminate the high chances of her getting cancer. I told my parents that could be my Christmas present, getting Scoot spayed.

I thought I might take online classes at HACC up until I leave this spring, but HACC's virtual campus doesn't work the same way PA Cyber did. My drawing teacher recommended that I just kick back, relax, play some video games, play with Scoot, enjoy the Amish countryside before I leave. Such an art teacher answer.

ASVAB test tomorrow. After that, I should probably spend the weekend working on a bunch of final projects for classes.

Scoot: Even when there's a bounty of lettuce, carrots, celery, papaya, oat rings and pellets available to her, she still opts for Better Health Living Monthly.

Back.

Went to the recruiter's office and took a pretest of the ASVAB which is basically an easy version of the SATs. The score tells you what jobs you qualify for within the air force. I got an 86, which qualifies me for any job. But the real test is next Thursday.

No internet, bbl.