May 2011

My high school was called Collier. It was founded by a convent of nuns known as the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. It was originally founded as a home and school for wayward girls, but eventually stopped being a home and opened up the school for both genders. I wrote the following on a post on one of my school’s Facebook groups and thought I would share it here, since a lot of people get the feeling that I am against all religion.

When I went to Collier, there was a lot of gay and bisexual students. There were students who got kicked out of school for fighting and drugs. I went to Catholic school for a number of years and they would basically just say if you do this your going to suffer eternal damnation. Looking on the news you see people saying that the end of the world is this date or that one, the Westboro Baptist Church pickets anything they can with signs that say “God Hates Fags”, Catholicism is looked down on in recent years due to the abuse scandels. Even individuals who believe they are good Christians and Catholics say that if you do these things you are going to Hell.

I don’t know what the above would say about Collier, I know that before I went to Collier I had shrugged off religion as a hateful practice, then a few weeks into being there September 11th happened and the news kept reiterating that it was done by religious extremists it made my distaste for religion even more.

Over the next few years at Collier, hearing, researching, and understanding how Collier came to be and seeing the religious statues on the campus, plus the fact that these nuns, administrators, and everyone who worked there really wanted you to be yourself. Even if that meant being gay, bi, straight, whatever, no one ever passed judgement onto you for being who you were, and while Collier isn’t technically a religious school, as I said you have the statues and the convent right there, plus a nun is praying for you during your time at Collier, it does have the potential to go the way that most other religions and religious people go, but it doesn’t. It accepts you and it helps you find yourself and be a better person, without judgement, or anything.

While most probably look at Collier and not think anything religion being associated with it, the fact is that it was founded by nuns so when I think about religion and how I see it as a huge problem and tearing this country and world apart, I also think about Collier and how if it wasn’t for religion how many of us wouldn’t be where we are, wouldn’t have graduated.

I wish more of the religious people of the world would stop judging others for their actions and put their energies to good use, like the Sisters of the Good Shepherd did with Collier.

It would seem I disappeared hasn’t it? Well I haven’t. I have been working behind the scenes on new features and more. I have also been doing some much needed cleanup and SEO models. I’ve also been working and getting everything prepared. Since Krissy has decided to leave her job and get back into the web design business, we have been coming up with ways to help us both gain more clients and whatnot. I’ve also been scouting for talent in other areas of life. So while it may seem that I haven’t been around, I have been, I just haven’t been vocal about it. Stay tuned.

We are a couple of weeks away from E3 and it looks like most of the biggest news that would come out of E3 is already being released. Assassin’s Creed Revelations was revealed today and Nintendo’s new console was revealed a few weeks ago. I figured I would post my predictions for E3 this year as I have done in the past.

Kinect Games for core gamers, this is something that has to come to fruition if Microsoft wants Kinect to be taken seriously by core gamers. I expect that in some way they will be mixing the controller (or a new controller) with Kinect.

While Microsoft hasn’t released a new Halo game the same year as Gears of War, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t going to be shown at E3. There are rumors that a Halo remake is in the works, but also rumblings of a Halo 4. Either way it is safe to assume that 343 Studios is working on something to do with Halo.

Updates have been a part of their console since day 1. Your console OS doesn’t even resemble what it did when the Xbox360 first debuted, so it’s feasible to think that their maybe another big update to the software of the system. Perhaps something like the Playstation Home?

Nintendo just launched a console and they have already confirmed the successor to the Wii, so it’s safe to assume that we will see the Wii2 in action come E3. With the Wii the biggest draw when it came out was the controller. With something that important last generation, let’s hope that the new console has just as an impressive controller since Sony has their Move out.

I think that we will see a lot of new software for both the Wii2 and the 3DS, I think that most of the games shown last year for the 3DS will be playable and hopefully the strong 3rd party support will continue for their Wii successor. One thing that I think will be the focus for the Wii2 will be online support that is not like Microsoft or Sony, what that means, I don’t know, but it’s Nintendo, and they dare to be different.

As for the current Wii, I think we may see the Vitality Sensor, Skyward Sword, and maybe a New Super Mario Bros Wii sequel, but other than that I think it will be all about the Wii2 and 3DS.

With the hacked accounts recently Sony has a lot to make up for. I think for one, they will make a public announcement due to the recent problems and maybe offer amends starting at the time of their press conference.

The Next Generation PSP (NGP) will most likely be given an official name, a price tag, and a release date. Without good third party support, though this will likely struggle like the PSP did, so I think not only will we see major console developers providing support, but maybe some App developers will be giving support as well.

For the Playstation 3 I can see a new God of War game announced. I can also see a new Kingdom Hearts game being announced, though at this point with all the powerful hardware available, I don’t know if this would necessarily be a PS3 exclusive or go out to Xbox360 and Nintendo as well.

Without the games, the systems are useless, so here is a list of games I expect we will see or hear about that aren’t exclusives. Please note that this list doesn’t include any of the already confirmed games that will be appearing.

• Bungie’s next game which will be distributed by Activision so it will more than likely be a nonexclusive.
• Grand Theft Auto 5 is most likely in development, but will it be announced? If it is, will it be released this year?
• Bully 2 has been hinted at as being in development, but is it really?
• Angry Birds has become huge the last few months, it would seem odd if they didn’t come out with a console/handheld version
• Shenmue 3 is probably a long shot, but after Duke Nukem Forever is finally being released after years in development Hell, I can always dream right?

I was at Ground Zero on Thursday and I took the picture above. It is of the Freedom Tower being built. At first I had no idea why I was being drawn over there, now as I see the reports that Osama Bin Laden is dead, I understand it. I’ve talked about how I speak to and see the dead before, but last week, it was like they were calling me to see this. When I got there I felt so much pain and sorrow and even confusion from the dead. It was something like I’ve never felt before. Unfortunately, it was something that I wasn’t able to shake, it seemed as though some of the dead from there were still with me. It was weird, I have heard stories about the dead following ghosts home, but that was usually during investigations and for the most part those were evil spirits. Today those feelings changed, it was as if the ghosts were getting relief and could move on and be with their families and not be in such a sad state. Unfortunately I didn’t understand why until I saw it on the news. Osama Bin Laden was killed today. Personally this is a great thing because I remember after September 11th the sky was black for days due to the smoke and ash. It means so much more now, after I felt what those ghosts felt before and what they feel now. It makes this news mean so much more.