Work, AI, Music, and the World: The Latest Scoop on Life, Tech, Tunes, and Headlines!

Bienvenue! There's a lot of new things happening in technology, music, work, and politics. Let's get into it. 

First, I'm no longer working as a cashier at the supermarket. This was a big loss for me as I had been working there for about ten years and grew up there. Now, I'm switching from a social public life to a much more personal private life. It has not been easy and I don't think it will be easy to maintain. However, I'm finding that there have been benefits like better care of my body and health. The main drawback though is the fact that I'm not earning a weekly check. Losing my job due to being laid off was one of my biggest regrets. But life must go on. 

Moving forward, the development of AI is the best story of our time. Why? Because its the only exciting story that isn't mostly focusing on the negative. I initially started using LLM's [large language models, chatbots] back in 2022 to do AI art images for fun and relaxation. Now, I'm finding that I can also do AI videos too. And then there's the chatbots usage in and of themselves, for augmenting knowledge based on subjects I already know about. Another fun method I use using AI: I'll use the chatbot to create and edit prompts for images and create the images from those prompts/edited ideas, and then use the images created and turn that into video. There's even AI music and it's a lot better than you would think. 

That being said, I think AI is the only truly positive story. AI gets a bad reputation because workers think they're coming for their jobs, but the reality is that AI just isn't there quite yet. You can create AI movies and images and books and music but its not really quite there yet. Rather, you can use AI to augment your ideas and creations for movies, images, books, and music, but the AI in and of itself cannot create great art, media, business model, or music. Like anything else, AI is just a tool for the artist, creator, businessman in order to enhance their craft and production. I would say, think of AI less as a new emerging technology and more of a tool that will be used in all facets of society mostly for entertainment purposes for the layman but also as a tool for artists, creators, and businessmen to sell and advertise art and/or products. It's an advertiser's paradise.

Next, the news stories have been mostly negative. Gas prices are up. Inflation is at an all time high. Avian bird flu and measles might become an issue down the road. Donald Trump is the President yet again. What else is new? It feels a lot like Weimar Germany Republic right before Hitler's rise to power. You can be jewish in Weimar Germany Republic but you have to be very careful. That's the kind of precarity we live in right now within this moment. It's not to be taken lightly and we, as young people, shouldn't squander all our free time partying and ignoring politics. A lot of young people here in California have drunk the Kool-Aid and given up on keeping up with politics and/or reading/watching the news, and rather, they have given into a lot of bad habits like getting bad information from social media or their goofball buddies. 

However, how long can a democracy really last? America was fighting for independence from the Brits back in 1776, so it has been quite a while. I sometimes like to joke that America is like a poor man's Rome, and in many ways the current moment in this time is a sort of Rise and Decline of the Western Civilization [Edward Gibbon]. You see that despite the fact that we, as Americans, have more technology, more education, a better richer nutritional economy, and more money than most other people in all other countries, this has not been to our benefit. Rather, you could even argue that it's been to our detriment. With this said theory, you could say that in the long run AI could be a bad thing for American society. But the technocrats would say, "it's all about how you use it." 

Lastly, the best news. I've been keeping up with a lot of music practice. I play piano decently now and I'm still plucking on the guitar too. I taught myself sight reading [reading music notation] from studying Mozart scores and writing it out by hand. I do a lot of ear training listening to music. I use classical scores to practice rhythms on piano. Also, I've discovered that there's been a new jazz age but its hidden online on YouTube. There are tons of old jazz records, some that may have only had limited printings and never saw the light of day in record stores [1958-early 1960s recordings], and they're all now appearing all over on YouTube all of a sudden. As a musician, I decided to go more in the jazz direction because jazz offers more variety in music playing and listening and performance, so it's amazing to see that the artform can somehow still keep its heartbeat alive, even if its a small niche audience on YouTube. I play jazz but I  use classical, rock, and blues as a template to build upon improvisation. It's been a journey, as I first started playing and performing on guitar when I was a teenager. 

Heraclitus: A man cannot fall into the same river twice, for there are ever new waves splashing upon him. 

Primal Instinct Ready for Deployment

Hello, World. [computer science] 

No, really. Bom gia! 

Here I'd like to write a short update on life and some ideas that have reverberated throughout my memory. 

First, I'm starting to start to ditch my electronics more and embrace nature. I've been experimenting with playing a lot less video games, and now I've finally reached the point where I think I can stop and not feel like I'm missing out. How did that happen? 

Well, you see, I was having extreme computer issues. Minor problems, not hardware issues, just software issues. In the process, I learned a little bit more about software and how to fix them when things aren't handshaking. I had more fun learning and fixing the problem than actually playing the game. Therefore, I don't really need to play the game anymore. Capeesh? 

I even started turning off my phone and not leaving it in my pocket when I'm on the work floor. Much better, mucho gusto. Why? Less distractions. Less anxiety. Better performance.  

Second, I'm starting to enjoy nature more, despite the 100 degree California heat. If you haven't read my post on what its been like being on foot in the hot sun all the time, look no further, and read this post here here. There are a lot of good mentions in that post about how to deal with 100 degree heat, on foot, working, eating, and more. 

My body is starting to respond. The first couple trips of adventuring in 100 degree heat were so brutal, so brutal in fact, that I could hardly really walk without feeling the weight of a thousand suns. [Lol], no, but it was fucking hot and I felt like a ton as a result. The answer to this problem? Well, you might not like this, but you just gotta fucking man up and not wimp out and just fucking overcome it like a boss you fucking weakling. 

Your body feels weak and sluggish in the 100 degree hot sun because its hot, yes. But also, you've grown fat and weak, living on the American fat of bougies society, and now you can barely walk in 100 degree heat. That's the truth of the matter. The answer is to go primal and go back to nature and ditch video games and porn marathons, your endless cable news TV, your VR, your alcohol. Stop being a fuckin' biomass. 

If you want some inspiration, I recommend watching this cartoon on cartoon network called Primal. It's really cool and shows what man is really like when he isn't weighed down by the limitations of the 21st century and its bourgeois rulers. 

But what do I know? I'm a guitar player hippie who should've been around in the 60s, not now. Yet here I am, and there you are, reading this for some reason, staring into the either.

I see now the limitations put on myself and others and am pushing through to the other side of human activity and intersubjectivity through my armchair sociology. 

I see nature as something I've always loved, even as a child mediating under the stars. But I also know that nature is nasty, brutish, and short. So the long and short of it is, yes, nature is good, but it is no replacement or substitution for God or food for the soul. It's just something out there for you to enjoy. To really get spiritual healing you have to go much farther and do much more. 

Go do something you beautiful goon. And don't forget the water bottle this time. 

p.s. time keeps moving but its always in a circle, endless, starless, until it disappears within being and nothingness, and the cycle begins anew

-your friendly neighborhood retail philosopher 

Retail vs Corona 2021-pt.2

Hello, how are you doing in quarantine right now? I'm doing okay on the front line, working at a grocery store. Here I'd like to update you on what it's been like working at the grocery store during the pandemic. In case you didn't know, I've been documenting pandemic life at the grocery store since the beginning of the pandemic. You can read all about it here. I've even got the first post documenting literally the day before the pandemic began. I went to a punk rock show that day. 

Let me start with cleaning and sanitation. In the beginning of the pandemic there was cleaning going on all over the place, left and right. However, as of February 25, little to no one actually cleans anything. Hear me out, the actual cleaning service provider that cleans overnight cleans the floors and the bathrooms, but not much else. They usually miss the breakroom, which is always filthy. Which is unfortunate because that's where we eat and take our breaks. The cashiers hardly ever clean their register belts. However, they will do it if a customer is disgusted and asks them to. It should be noted that we are no longer cleaning carts for customers.  

Next, our store is no longer providing us with free masks. Which is a hassle because masks are so important, even more important now because they're suggesting that we all wear two masks now. There are gloves available but only in small and medium but they're always hidden and you have to hunt for them and hope to find it. To give credit where credit is due they did provide us face shields. Perhaps they thought that since they gave us face shields they don't have to provide us masks. 

The general mood of the work environment is surprisingly upbeat. The customers seem to have found a happy medium of treating the employees with respect and dignity. Upper management, co-director, and store director seem to be on good terms with the store and its employees. That's a blessing because at other times during the pandemic the morale of the workers has been very low, at depressing levels and management have been more aggressive towards employees.

However, I could attribute the good happy workers logo with a big time shift in my schedule. I'm now working mornings and early afternoons instead of closing. I find it to be a happier time of day for employees, management, and customers. In addition, I feel like although my life has changed drastically, that I'm much more appreciated during these earlier times. 

Lastly, it isn't often that management ever limits the numbers of customers that come into the store. The last time that happened was on Super Bowl Sunday. Things got a little crazy but they only limited the numbers of customers allowed in the store at any one time for maybe half an hour, and then resumed with allowing anyone entry. The lines get very long at my store and it's very difficult to social distance in the checkout line or in the aisles. Me being a cashier, I can hide in the cashier station and be relatively safe from others because you're enveloped in a cocoon by the window shield blocking between you and the customers in front and in back. At least I have that. 

Surprisingly, I haven't even got a cold once during this entire pandemic. Perhaps we should keep the masks. 

Stay safe, keep your head up, and social distance. If you're risking exposure to the virus like we are at the grocery store, godspeed. Do the things that are required to stay safe. 

Signing off this morning. Thanks for reading. Stay connected to my blog to learn more about retail vs corona as well as various posts about music and literature. 

On the 17th day of Christmas

It's the 17th day of Christmas! Here's a general update. 

The grocery store gig has been good. I'm getting somewhat consistent hours, but could use more. Hours are still mostly cut across the board, so most of my co-workers aren't doing so great financially. One little hiccup from the company, they started sending out checks via mail rather than having the employees [that pick up their checks at the store] pick them up at the store. Naturally, this has sowed discord amongst the employees and a sore blow to their morale, as they aren't getting their checks on time when they want and need them. Companies need to better by their employees. This is such a small change but it's done a lot of damage to the employees.  

In terms of covid, there has been none or not very many cases at the job. In terms of covid safety, surprisingly, we have been very safe. I can't quite explain it other than the fact that the store is so empty when I work [late shifts] that there's hardly any people coming in, making my chances of catching covid from a customer very low. Eso es muy bien! 

This is a super harsh winter in California this year. Surprisingly, flu and influenza is very low this time of year [due to mask wearing, and not breathing in as much cold air, and because people aren't going out as much], but you never know when you can catch a cold or worse, the corona virus. The weather is amazing during the day, about 60 degrees, but at night it goes to about 50. Desert weather.

In terms of gifts, I've already finished all my shopping. This year, because I knew that work hours were low, I made sure to do all my shopping in the first week of December. Cool things I look forward to getting for Christmas: A Japanese dictionary from my friend, a German dictionary from my brother, a steampunk novel from my father, and candy, oh! How I love candy! Ich liebe Süßigkeiten! I am so looking forward to eating candy on Christmas! 

I've been playing a lot of computer games online: Heroes of the Storm, Overwatch, and Team Fortress 2. Mi dia fue maravilosa porque jugue los video juegos en la computadora con mis amigos todos los dias. 

I've become a much better player at all the games. I have three different Heroes of the Storm teams that I play with at different times and on different days depending on who's available at any given time. The main thing I've learned from all this online gaming with voice and headsets is that its not always about winning or playing well, you have to learn how to speak well with your team, and how to boost their morale when their morale is very low, you have to learn how to speak as a leader, and then they will follow your lead. Naturally as the medic in every game, I'm the playmaker. Ich bin der Doktor, Art und Fürsorge.

Lastly, I've been learning languages on the Google Translate app and YouTube, Sugoi kūru! [to learn the accents better through voice actors], going out on long walks, reading lots of books [I just finished Ovid's Metamorphosis, and a book on Buddhism, called The Things Buddha taught], and playing acoustic guitar and electronic keyboard, el teclado y la guitarra, me encanta. 

This Christmas is a real blow to the morale of the American people. Just be happy for what you have, but more importantly than being happy about what you have, make sure that you have deep in your heart, the capacity for happiness. Many a time has gone by when a friend, family member, or casual acquaintance is very upset about whatever is going on in their life, only for me to realize that even if things were going good for this said person, they still would have negative things to say. You must learn to not say negative things around the people you care about. It's not always about being happy, rather, sometimes its the capacity for happiness that must be restored. 

Felicem natalem Christi

Life, Today, Now

Hello, ladies and gents. Back at it with another update on what's been going on in the wonderful world of Figuero. Things have become a little hectic as of late but it's all a-okay for now.

For one thing, I've been switched up from late night 1am closing shifts at work to morning showings. Sometimes I start as early as 9am which is pretty insane for me, considering I've been working 430pm-1am for six years straight. It was tough closing at a retail gig all those nights but here's the kicker, I actually enjoyed it.

Most of the people I work with are fighting hard to get early morning/midday shifts, whereas me, I tried to fight back against the whole morning switch up. But alas, it seems my fate is sealed. I'm a morning guy now. 

That being said, I've officially become a normal member of society.  

Wham, bam, thank you, mam. 

As a night person you never actually get used to morning shifts.  

I'm usually pretty tired but I'll get used to the whole thing.

In other news, I've been reading a lot. I haven't been writing as much as I should be but that's mostly because I've been so tired from work, and as a result, been feeling less inspired. I am still going to finish a much better version of my memoir, as well as write more short stories, in the end, have a short story collection.

I've been reading a lot of philosophy and science fiction as of late. I just finished reading Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. Also, I just finished John Crowley's Engine Summer, a terrific 1979 science fiction novel, a coming of age story. It's unlike any other science fiction novel I've ever read. It's not so much a story as it is a metamorphosis of character, quite brilliant really.

Right now I'm reading Kant's Critique of Judgement, his writings on art, beauty, criticism. It's quite a wonderful read. I've learned a lot from Kant. I plan on reading more German Idealism at some point soon. I'm very much interested in reading Hegel. Kant has taught me that to truly understand anything, you have to break it down into simple, easy to understand concepts, define and learn everything from that, then look at the whole as one sort of dialectic. In short, you have to be interested in everything. That's the key to being a great dinner party host, as Kant was.

Also, I've been obsessed with the Beatles for a long time now. Even though I've still been doing the once a week jazz saxophone/guitar duo I've actually been listening to more 60s rock and roll than jazz. Mostly Hendrix, Zappa, and the Beatles. You really can't go wrong with that.

I joined a band but nothing happened with the group so that's done with. It was worth a shot. At some point soon I'll get back to my book review blogs, and I'll be posting my fiction writing on my other blog, ofigueroastories.blogspot.com. That page really needs some new content. Coming soon.

What's a brotha to do?

What's up ladies and gentlemen of the interwebz. It's been a minute since I last wrote a post. I've been on a blog/writing hiatus for a while now. The reason? A lot of work at the main retail gig mostly. Lately, I've been getting these long six-day work weeks. Eight hours, six days a week. They're exhausting but hey, I think they call that a job. 

I've been reading a lot. I recently finished The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Nearly 800 pages! At one point I was averaging about 100 pages a day. I'm currently reading the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. Bring on more classics of the western canon! Brothers Karamazov is such a great work with so much gravitas that I think it deserves to be reread in a couple years if not sooner. 

The Canterbury Tales took me a long time to get into. For a while, I contemplated reading it but instead got hooked on video games for a few days. I've been playing a lot of Overwatch within my last two days off, leaving me in a kind of zoned-out, zombified, sort of state. The game is fun but it gets to be a little mind-numbing after a while. I've been in gaming limbo. Most of the time I don't play games at all but every now and then on days off, I play a lot. Missing out on precious reading time on days off.  

Actually, if I don't read pretty often [every day] my mind starts to wander and drift off into this kind of zoned-out mode. What can I say? I have to stay engaged in the literature to feel active in life. I've become such a reader that when I don't read for one-two days, I start to feel not quite like myself. Fiction especially. And philosophy. Literary essays. 

In terms of music, I've been playing weekly jazz duo jams with my friend Jason Thomas. I'll probably post some music from our sessions here at some point soon. The jam sessions have become more improvisational but I would say that we need to increase our repertoire. Especially Coltrane songs. Songs like Afro Blue, My Favorite Things, Naima, etc. 

I had a freaky moment at work during the past week where I met a music student who actually studied with my music mentor, the new music composer Frank Abbinanti. Apparently, Sid studied with Frank for five years [or more] in Chicago before he came out to California to study at Cal Art. This is pretty astounding. I was dumbstruck. This is where I get to say that I believe in God and metaphysics. What are the chances of meeting this guy? Considering that we are both from Chicago and both are mentored by Frank. Apparently, my step-father knows Sid and his father as well from when they used to run a new music orchestra. Wow! How about that? 

Having free time to write a rambling post like this has been great. In fact, I've been so tired from work lately that I haven't had the energy to turn on my laptop and write posts, let alone my usual book reviews. Instead, the last month or so I've been ranting a lot about retail, and my Marxist tendencies, as well as my arrival to class consciousness via retail work. It's a wonderful world. 

Plans for the future? Well, for one thing, I'm going to get back to my usual book review stuff. For another, I plan on going back and working on my first novel, which was written and finished a while ago, but definitely not perfect. I'm actually not satisfied with it and intend on going back to the original version, which didn't have much editing, without messing it up. My problem with my memoir initially was that I finished a rough draft and then wrote a longer, edited version. However, after going over the edited version I realized that it was edited in a wrongheaded way, forcing me to go back to the drawing board. 

Thankfully, I have the original version. Just to explain to you how different the original is from the edited version, the original version is only 50 pages, whereas the edited version is 100 pages. A lot of people have told me that I should submit it to publishers and try to get something done with it. We will see after I rework it again. 

Likewise, I want to write more short stories of a fictional nature. Science fiction and just plain, old, regular fiction. A reader must write if he or she is so inclined. I've been reading a lot of Jack Reacher [the short story collection]  so I'm inspired to write things in that vein. We will see. 

Lastly, it's not that I haven't quite had as much time to write that I haven't written anything. Rather, it's just that I've been damn tired. So tired that I haven't really been playing guitar much. I've stopped attending the bar open mics because I realized their limitations [two songs, ten minutes, buy drinks, too much $] and in fact, when I play and buy drinks there, I'm losing money and free time. In terms of music, I'm more motivated by Frank Abbinanti's musical advice and direction. In terms of writing, I'm very inspired. But sometimes you gotta force yourself to write. Even when you're dead tired. 

The holidays can be a real downer for people. This time of year is hard on workers because most people have to work during the holidays rather than spend time with their families. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. The important thing is to keep doing the things that motivate you and push yourself to get the things you want to be done. If you don't push yourself, nobody else will. 

I've got to keep pushing myself. 

Kickstart my heart

Howdy, everybody. Here I am back at it with another vlog-style post, life update sort of work. 

Work has been pretty intense. 40+ hours every week, sometimes only one day off. The holidays are here already. That's very scary for a retail worker like myself. I tried to request all the major holidays off. Not that I would actually get them off but I just had to try anyways for giggles. The pay is okay but not great. The work has become very boring. My only solace is that some of my coworkers are cool and some customers are cool. 

As a result of all this retail work experience, I've come to class consciousness. I'm not a full-on Marxist yet but you don't even need Marx and Engels to come to class consciousness. For that, all you need is struggle and contradiction [ironically also a part of Marxism sort of]. All this low-level grunt work forces you into action. You start to think about all the workers in their hierarchy. You see where you fit in and you come to realizations. Some good, some bad. Mostly bad. 

I'm this close to reading Adorno at this point. That's become my running joke lately: Retail work is so bad that it's forcing me to class consciousness. I don't really have as much time for my music, reading, or writing [that's why I haven't written book reviews for a while, forcing me to write these rants of the proletariat]. When you see how highly stratified American society is, and how the common man is treated, it forces you to wake up, to jump out of your small inner shell [my outsider musician shell], and look out into the world, and see for what it actually is. "If the doors of perception were completely cleansed, man would see the world for what it actually is." 

What do you do when you see this? Well, I'm not really sure there's anything I can do. That's just the way it is. It's possible that this entire society [America] is doomed, the government is corrupt to the core, and the environment along with wildlife is damned. Even if that was all true [I suspect it is honestly some days] is that all there is? 

"Is that all there is? If that's all there is, then let's go dancing."

Feelin' Alright

Ahoy shipmates, and welcome aboard. Lately, I've been writing vlog-style [lifestyle] posts so let's keep up in that fashion. The last two weeks I've been ranting a lot, a lot about hard work at the retail gig, Marxist theory, the stompin' upon the proletariat...blah blah blah. The truth is that within the last couple of weeks I've been feeling that work was becoming overwhelming. That the proletariat is being used and abused. Or something like that. 

I almost became a Marxist. That's one of my best jokes I've come up with recently. I was so fed up with working that I wanted to become a Marxist. Going so far as to consider spending my time reading more Marx and Engels, and Adorno, my music mentor's hero. I would say that I have a lot of Leftist influences and that my general political ideology is more aligned with that, rather than say, a pure form of straight capitalism, which we have seen now in 2019, no longer works. But that's an op-ed column for another day, wouldn't you say? 

So today rolls on by. I chilled with some friends and we did the same usual stuff. We played Smash Ultimate in three-player free for all, ate lunch, talked, and listened to some music on YouTube. I didn't take a Lyft from my friends' to work. Rather, I took the bus. The bus took about forty minutes because it was a slow bus on a Sunday, the laziest of all bus days. 

During the wait, I stood the entire time. I was mostly surveying the image of the valley canyons. I saw a customer who happened to be taking the bus and I told him how great the weather was, and how beautiful the valleys looked, and that we were lucky to live here. "Yeah, man, we're blessed." Being able to just stand around, enjoy the weather, and take in the scenery really calmed me down. It brought it all to me right there: dasein, time and being, the worldhood of the world. The important stuff I learned from Heidegger's Being and Time. Which one might say has to be experienced first before you even try to explain.

Long story short. Sometimes all it takes is a moment of self-reflection to realize how great life is, and how your impact on your world, community, etc, makes the world a better place if you will it, allow it, and make it so. "When you smile, the whole world smiles with you." It's actually true. The more upbeat and happy I am at work, the more people want to talk to me, and find out more about me. Likewise, the more gloomy I am, the fewer people want to talk to me. This goes back to a post I wrote some six months ago about how I had an epiphany about happiness, changing the way you think to attain this more often, regularly, etc. I'm no guru or anything. Rather, I am just a young grasshopper trying to attain enlightenment. 

One of the most liberating feelings in the world is being happy amongst others: family, friends, coworkers, customers, and managers. The other is being happy with yourself. Find the balance between the two and the universe seems to open up, engulfing you in a sea of happiness [or something like that lol].  "They call me mellow yellow...quite right."

It can be something simple like standing around, contemplating the canyons. Or it could be something more complicated like meditation. Whatever way you find it, when you find it, try not to lose it. However, if you do, remember you can always pick up where you last left off.  Even life has a pause button.

"When you smile, the whole world smiles with you."

A day in November

Keeping up to date with this vlog style posts I thought I'd write another update lifestyle piece. Life has been kind of grueling lately. I haven't had quite as much time for myself, friends, or music. This has left me with a lack of self-expression. What I have been getting in time for is my intellectual pursuits, reading, although my writing has slowed down quite a bit. 

I usually write a lot of book reviews but lately, I haven't had time to do them. So instead I've been doing these vlog pieces. My life isn't very interesting but I find solace in writing about it here. I have been able to find time for a lot of reading. In fact, I've been on a reading spree for the last couple of years, very intensely. 

I just finished reading The Outsider by Colin Wilson, the 1960s view into the outsider in literature, art, music, philosophy, in modern society as well. The book gave me a lot of insight into selfhood, and my own feelings, which are definitely outsider friendly. I feel like an outsider myself in most social situations, a painted bird if you will, but that's a tale for another post. 

Work has sort of been taking over. The more you work the more you can see why the ideas of the outsider are so important. "Escape from the weight of your corporate logo," as Frank Zappa said. The money is good but will it save my soul? Of course not. That's why reading, writing, music, and friendships are so important to me. The more I work ceaselessly, the more I crave to enter into selfhood, into self-reflection, and meditation. To escape into the self.  

This time of year I get these sorts of flashbacks from the Midwest. From my past. Most of it isn't very pleasant but the coldness is something that I enjoy. The cold weather, not the cold feelings that occasionally arise. The cold air in the valley, the brisk, hard winds, remind me of Chicago and Wauwatosa, a simpler time. When I think about the past I don't know what to make of it. I just can't seem to forget it. Perhaps a bit of melancholia? The neverending work doesn't help. It brings it out more.

I plan on spending more time on creative endeavors to get out of this funk. More guitar playing, keyboard playing, reading, writing, music listening. Hell, I might even play video games again or something just to do something different. I finished a novel about my life not too long ago. It took me over a year to write. And I do plan on writing a second novel as well. I plan on actually having an outline and mapping out this second fiction novel, unlike how I wrote the first one, a nonfiction story about my life, a memoir. I haven't done anything with it because I wasn't quite happy with it, and am unsure if it would ever be ready for the real world, let alone my friends or peers.

"There must be some kind of way out of here, said the Joker to the Thief."

Weekend Update

Greetings everyone! Thought I'd do a weekend update, unfortunately not SNL style, but rather a vlog style summary of what's been going on in my life. Alright, alright. 

I've been working a lot at the retail gig. Forty hours or more every week. This upcoming Halloween week I only have one day off. That's kind of a bummer. But if I learned anything from the first episode of Futurama, "you gotta do what you gotta do." I've found that at a job such as mine you really have to stay positive and keep a good attitude. This is where all my improvements in thinking [from literature] come to the rescue. 

I've stopped drinking soda and energy drinks at work. Now I'm not nearly as tired when I get off work at one am, nor am I as tired during the beginning or middle of my shifts. Overall, I feel a lot healthier and better. I've lost a few pounds already only after a couple days. My body feels like it's going through some sort of detox from all the sugar I've been ingesting all these years. I have withdrawals and crave the sugary rush but when I actually have a little bit of soda I find that I'm not satisfied by it anymore. Ain't that a bitch? That sudden realization that I was drinking too many calories and in fact not overeating all the time that contributed to my weight. That hit me like a lightning bolt.  

I'll probably have to cancel my weekly jazz jam session, unfortunately. I haven't had as much time for music as a result. I haven't even been listening to as much music either. Oh well, things happen. I haven't done the open mic sessions for two months now. Sometimes I think about giving it up for good. I've done it for about two years straight and I would say that it's run its course. Thankfully, I got a lot of great recordings out of it that you can hear on my Soundcloud. 

In terms of reading and improving the mind, that's been my number one goal. Today, I'm going to go through some Jack Reacher short stories before work. Within the last couple weeks, I've read Against Interpretation by Susan Sontag, Tractatus Logico Philosophicus by Wittgenstein, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig, and now I'm halfway through The Outsider by Colin Wilson. I've been reading a lot in my living room on the couch, but I also read a lot at Starbucks, where although it's noisy [damn indie rock music], it gives me an opportunity to get out of the house. I really love the coffee there as well. 

I've been thinking a lot about writing [thinking about writing a second novel, I finished my first one a while ago] but haven't had the time to really do much writing on my usual subjects: literary criticism/synopsis, my main and favorite subject the last couple of years. I'm sure I'll get back to it, in due time. I really want to write a review for Colin Greenland's space opera from 1990, Take Back Plenty. Now that is a true science fiction gem. However, as you can see from the recent posts I've been writing, just not about books. Not a lot but I'm keeping a flow, a gestalt if you will. Lately, I've been writing posts like these, going into my thoughts, my meager life [lol]. This goes with all the books I've been reading, as they've influenced me in my life heavily, more so than my friends and colleagues. So when you see me writing about the dialectics of the modern proletariat [a recent post] that is definitely an influence from philosophy and extended readings. 

Lastly, I want to say that reading doesn't just help with my writing but also with my social interactions. I always experience status inconsistency wherever I go but I've also learned that when you get to the heart of the matter and really use all your social skills to max capacity, you will end up having more friends than enemies. 

Have an excellent end of October weekend. Happy Halloween! Free candy for everyone! 

February Update

Howdy partner! I've had a lot of free time lately, but haven't been writing as much. However, I've been extremely busy living an interior life, which of course involves a lot of reading and guitar playing. 

Usually I keep the blog updated very frequently but I haven't finished any novels, albums, or seen any interesting movies. However, I'm in the middle of a couple of great books and I'm even writing a rough draft for a novella, which I will try to get published, eventually, maybe in 2020 when I'm done with it. My goal is for it to be around 100 pages. Its about growing up in the Midwest in the early 2000's, very autobiographical. 

For starters, I've been reading this epic [457 page] science fiction novel by Cecelia Holland, a female historical fiction writer, called Floating Worlds. Floating Worlds is her first and only science fiction novel and it is quite grand. In a way, this book heavily reminds me of Schismatrix Plus by Bruce Sterling, however, this book was written in 1976, some ten years before Schismatrix Plus. 

Basically, the Earth has been run down by pollution. Anarchists control the Earth's government. There are people on other planets and even aliens [Martians and others], called Styths. Our female protagonist gets a government job [ironic b/c they're anarchists], and is in charge of writing a treaty between the anarchists of Earth and Styths, these 'black' aliens with mustaches, claws, and very tall bodies. The female lead ends up getting the treaty by sleeping with the Styth leader, and she even has a baby by him! I'm about half-way through the novel. Interesting to note that the Styths say the word 'nigger' a lot, usually in reference to humans. In addition, Martians and other alien races refer to the Styths as niggers. I imagine that this would upset a lot of the social media crowd these days.

The idea is a very popular science fiction trope: a grand space opera spanning many pages. However, the writing is unlike most science fiction space operas I've read. The writing is simplistic, sometimes even bare bones. Sentences read easily, in fact, you could say the book reads itself, although it is quite long. Its quite something to see that you don't have to be as technical as say William Gibson or even Bruce Sterling to write great science fiction. This is a great example of that. 

In addition, I've been reading Being and Time [1927, 500 pages] by Martin Heidegger, the modern German philosopher.  In Being and Time, Heidegger attempts to explain "what is being". He says that since the time of the Greeks, philosophers have avoided the question, instead referring to the analysis of particular beings. He goes on to explain and define the meaning of being. I can't say that I truly understand everything in Being and Time. However, everything written in it is so captivating that sometimes I can't put it down. It keeps my attention, and makes me think very hard about what he's trying to say, which is to definite being. 

One thing that makes it very difficult to understand is the fact that its translated from German, meaning that a lot of the words and phrases get lost in translation. If you truly want to study Being and Time, you would have to read it in German. The other aspect of understanding here is the fact that the ideas presented are so abstract, so abstract that you can get lost in thoughts, your own thoughts about the ideas presented, as well as the sentences themselves. This is the most difficult philosophy I've read, [and I've read bits of Plato, Aristotle, Sir Tomas More, Francis Bacon, Margaret Cavendash, Hobbes, Descartes, Adam Smith, Voltaire, and Bertrand Russell]. Nonetheless, its a terrific work that keeps me thinking and striving to understand 'being'.  Very motivating!

Moving on, and speaking of Germans, I just today started reading Man in the High Castle [1962, 240 pages] by Phillip K. Dick. I read half the book at the library and plan on finishing it soon. Its a terrific novel with a great pace. There is a show based on the novel on Amazon Prime but it doesn't hold a candle to the majesty of the novel itself. This novel won the prestigious science fiction award, the Hugo Award in 1963-well deserved! 

The Man in the High Castle is an alternate history novel where Germany and Japan won World War II. Now, the Nazi's and Japan share control over the world, including the United States. The book makes use of the I, Ching, an ancient Chinese text used for religion, psychoanalysis, literature, and art. The way its used in the novel is fascinating, a sort of book within a book, with extra variations and themes. Man in the High Castle has everything: art, philosophy, plot, character, suspense, action, and character. I'll probably write about it in my next post. 

Life is moving fast. I'm trying to keep up day-to-day with what is really important. Inevitably, this means that I haven't been playing video games, instead preferring to read, write, and nap [sleep is the best 'drug' you can ever use]. I'm finding that my time is becoming more precious so playing Overwatch just doesn't do it for me anymore. I still play Smash Ultimate with my buddies when I hang out with them. But when I'm by myself I'm going to stick with the more important stuff, reading, writing, napping, and playing guitar. 

Thanks for reading, I look forward to the next post about Man in the High Castle. 

January Update--2019

January is here and the new year is already stale. The government is shut down, and 800,000 people are about to miss their first check. If the shutdown goes on past Saturday, it will the longest government shutdown ever. That aside, I've been staying busy. 

I started working out more, mostly cardio. Starting 3-4 times a week, but eventually pushing it to everyday, a mile a day. 

I got a Nintendo Switch, so I'll probably try to get back to going to Smash tournaments, just for fun. 

I've been writing up a storm. I wrote my second short story called  der Weltraumkriegder, a science fiction military story (here). And I'm still reading a lot of science fiction, philosophy (Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations), classics (Iliad), and modern day journalism (miscellaneous).

I'm also learning html, css, and javascript, mostly for fun but also to edit the blog and make it pop, and eventually learn a programming language like Visual Basic. I want to see if I like programming before I try to think I could be a full fledged game designer or something outlandish like that. 

Also still working on music, a lot of jazz and improvisation. But I've also been working on Sequenza for guitar by Lusciano Berio since October. I'm starting to finally get the hang of the piece, but it will still be a while before I could perform it anywhere. 

Life is good! 

Hey Joe, Musical Update

Hello ladies and gentlemen how has life been treating you all? Life has been great for me. I've been really refining my jazz guitar chops. Unfortunately the metal band I was in broke up, now its just me and the drummer still jamming together. Yesterday I jammed with a jazz drummer and we're going to keep getting together to work on standards. He said he didn't want to do a band with me but that he wants to continue jamming. His reasoning? Said I have to work more on my time, especially my swing feel. 

That was a bummer but I think I'm going to take this opportunity to play with a real jazz drummer and improve my chops, particularly my swing feel and time in general. The metronome has become a true friend now. 

I've improved a lot and my music mentor, a new music composer named Frank Abbananti (find his music https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=labor+studies+cd+baby) has been teaching me music from across the country, via email. He's taught me many things about chord voicings, music theory, and practicing to become better in general. We exchange email often and I think about everything he says as if we were in an academic setting. 

He sent me a new music (avant-garde) piece meant for me to perform on electric guitar with distortion. I played through it today a couple times and my dad said it sounds like Robin Trower if he did new music. Pretty great compliment from pops. He's going to send me more pieces to work on and perform and my goal is to record it for my Soundcloud. 

In addition, he said the next time I go to Chicago I can perform these pieces with him on a concert. 

Anyways, why am I sitting here when I should be practicing?! 

But before you go check out this cover of Hey Joe, the guitar solo was especially inspired. Dig the Jeff Beck reference at the end of the tune!

 https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/hey-joe 

Garrosh Hellscream is coming to Heroes of the Storm

Everybody's favorite villain from World of Warcraft's Mists of Pandaria is coming to Heroes of the Storm. He's expected to hit the ptr on July 31st.

Heh, greetings. Blizzard has revealed that Garrosh Hellscream, son of Grommash Hellscream and former chieftain of the Warsong Clan, will be the next hero added to Heroes of the Storm. The studio said on Twitter that he'll be playable at the ChinaJoy conference next week, and it aims to have him on the HotS PTR for the week of July 31. (pc gamer )

A lot of players on the forums online are actually pretty disappointed with Garrosh being the next new hero in hots. The main problem is that the game is getting another orc. We already have a lot of orcs. It would've been a lot cooler to get some other Warcraft race character, particularly a Dranei hero of some sort. But even like a night elf would be amazing. I think hots definitely needs a dranei in the game. Maybe like a dranei warlock or something? That would be something.

I'm already stacking up my gold from doing quests daily. When Garrosh comes out I'm going to hopefully be able to purchase him with in game gold right away. I won't have to wait a super long time like how I did with Stukov. Stukov is a freakin' great character by the way, I've been really enjoying him.

Anyways, despite the haters on the forum I'm super excited for Garrosh Hellscream. I was still playing WoW (World of Warcraft) back when he was leader of the Horde so its cool to see a familiar face. We will have to wait and see how his play style fits into a moba. Should be good.

For the Horde! 

Overwatch anniversary! (soon)

Hello ladies and gents of the Internet world who read my blog. Its been a good minute since I wrote about Overwatch but now is definitely the time to get back into talking about it. In three days there will be an anniversary event for the game. It's hard to believe the game's been out a year already but time flies when you're having fun so in that sense its understandable.

For a few months I thought that if I wanted to get farther in music I had to put down the mouse and keyboard (gaming in general, even stopped playing smash competitively) but recently I realized that I shouldn't just go cold turkey and stop playing for too long. Gaming provides me fun, excitement, confidence, and stress relief that is different from playing music. Its kind of funny to say this but I need gaming in order to be happier. I'm glad I figured this out sooner rather than later because without gaming I'm a much different person. I take things too seriously sometimes. Get stressed more easily. Things like that. Anyways that's only a portion of what I wanted to talk about here.

Let's talk Overwatch. Last time I posted about it I wrote a piece about the newest hero to the roster, Orisa. Since her release I haven't exactly been able to figure out if she's even a part of the competitive meta. I see her a lot but I also don't see her a lot. She's a great hero for sure but she isn't exactly new or groundbreaking. Needless to say she's still a great tank character. The fact that she can shoot and put up barriers makes her like a D.Va/Rein combination with Zarya's gravaton projectile, the one where she can push you into the gravitational force of the projectile attack.

My actual gameplay experience this competitive season has been pretty hit or miss. Mostly miss. In one day my sr dropped by like 300 points and there's probably noway for me to climb back up for the remainder of this season. However, I've gained something in the time that I was away from gaming. When I returned (the prodigal son has returned!) I realized that sr and rank doesn't matter.

The only thing that matters is playing your best and getting better at the game, thus honing your skills and having fun. And in that aspect I've succeeded beyond my wildest imaginations. I'm super good at the game now despite not playing for a while. Something just clicked. Playing other games maybe? I've been playing Quake Champions beta...

I'm at an all time high skill cap for Overwatch and this makes me really happy. Being good is different for various gamers but being good for me (as a healers main) means not dying very often, escaping death traps easily and often, healing the majority of the time, and securing kills, sometimes a lot of them. I've been able to do these things pretty well for my skill level (silver-gold rank). I do plan on getting better and trying to reach platinum eventually.

Last thing I want to discuss is that they teased some new skins for the anniversary event. Check them out on the top of the page. These skins look pretty wacky to me but they are much different from whats already in the game so we gotta give Blizzard credit where is due. Nice job...(slow clap)

So yeah...Overwatch is a year old and there's a lot of stuff planned for next year. There's going to be three more arena (3v3 mode). Poppa Jeff (Jeff Kaplan, Director of Overwatch) has spoken out and said that the first year was all about adding new stuff. Year two will be about supplementing and improving upon what's already there.

Orlando's advice to Blizzard for Overwatch-Just make a summoner hero already!

New hero Orisa is live on the ptr

So Overwatch's 24th hero is now live on the ptr and you can try her out right now. She's a female omnic hero named Orisa that has a lot of utility. Here I'll explain her abilities.

Her basic weapon is the fusion driver. It's an automatic projectile cannon that delivers sustained damage. She is slowed while she fires it (like D.Va). There are 200 rounds in the magazine and it takes 17 bodyshots to take out a 200 health hero and 9 head shots to take them out. The farther away she is the more she will miss when firing. If enemies are close to you the gun will kill them pretty quickly. It is a projectile after all.

Her first skill is hault, which is her alternate fire ability. She launches out a graviton charge that can be detonated and then it will slow enemies and grab targets within line of sight (that are 7 meters away from location). It pulls targets towards the epicenter of the explosion. It's a crazy good ability from what I've seen in matches so far. That fact that it pulls people towards it is like Zarya's gravaton surge ultimate. Very nice.

Her second skill is protective barrier. Its a stationary barrier than can block enemy fire. It has about 900 health and its got a 12 second cooldown. It lasts for 20 seconds unless its destroyed. This is such an amazing ability. Its basically like a smaller weaker mini Reinhardt shield. So good!

Her third skill is fortify. She reduces damage she takes and she can't be affected by action impairing effects. It looks like it might reduce damage up to 50%. It makes her immune to things like Pharah's knockback and Mei's slow.

Her ultimate is supercharger. It releases a device that increases damage for allies by up to 50%. The enemies can destroy it and it only has 200 health points. You must protect it at all costs to get that full 15 seconds of damage boost.

I really like this new tank hero. I'm not a fan of tanks in Overwatch and I only play Reinhardt and Zarya when my team needs a tank. Now I'll be adding Orisa to that list as well. She has so much utility and she can do so many things. She reminds me of a mix between Zarya and Reinhardt but with a D.Va-esque weapon. They didn't really reinvent the wheel when it came to the creation of this character but I can see how they came up with something unique.

I am a little surprised at the actual look and style of Orisa. She has four legs and looks well....African. She looks African because she was created by Efi, an African child prodigy from Nimbani. But I think they could've done a much cooler stylistic and artistic design than what they came up with. I'm not a great artist or anything but Orisa looks a bit strange. I don't know, maybe its just me?

But her look doesn't matter. What does matter is that she has a cool kit and playing her feels fun and different from the other characters. In this aspect Blizzard has delivered once again another great hero.

You are advised to cease your resistance. 

Bastion Has Changed Significantly (on the ptr)

Bastion has received some significant changes, most of which are buffs. Lets break it down!

• Configuration: Sentry
  • Deploy time decreased from 1.5 seconds to 1.0 second
  • Bullet spread increased by 50 percent
  • Bullet spread is always at maximum (it no longer increases as the weapon is fired)
  • Magazine size increased from 200 to 300
  • Headshot damage multiplier has been removed
  • No longer deals critical damage
• Configuration: Recon
  • Bullet spread decreased by 25 percent
  • Magazine size increased from 20 to 25
• Self-Repair
  • Can now be used while moving
  • Now bound to secondary fire (formerly Ability 2)
  • No longer interrupted by taking damage
  • A new resource meter has been added that deplete while Self-Repair is active and recharges when not in use
• Configuration: Tank
  • No longer grants bonus armor
• Bastion has a new passive: Ironclad
  • Bastion takes 35% less damage while in Sentry or Tank configuration

Developer Comments: The goal of these changes is to move some of Bastion's power from Configuration: Sentry to Recon, while keeping its sentry mode a strong option, especially versus tanks and barriers. Overall, Bastion should feel stronger and more flexible with these changes.


So as you can see Bastion will be doing much, much better in ranked play if these changes go through next week. He will basically be a tank busting robot version of Soldier 76 maybe? That might be going too far but these buffs are very significant.

Usually when people play Bastion he's easily countered and killed, leaving tiny robotic bits scattered. Usually he dies super fast as he's healing himself or getting healed by a healer. Sometimes when I play him I feel like going into turret mode is suicide. Now he can do self-repair while moving! His new passive Ironclad grants armor while in Sentry or Tank mode, very significant and will make him stay alive much longer. His Recon and Sentry mode have received significant buffs. The only thing I can really see as a big nerf for this ptr patch is that Headshot multiplier has been removed and no more critical hit damage in Sentry mode. All in all that's not a bad trade for a longer surviving Bastion that shoots better, gets passive armor, and can heal while moving.

As Widowmaker says,"Magnifique".

Overwatch Getting Server Browser

Jeff Kaplan, Director of Overwatch put out a new video recently that outlined the new server browser that Overwatch is getting. It's currently being tested out on the ptr and I can't wait to try it out. For most fps veterans on the pc a server browser is something that should always be there. The fact that Overwatch launched and didn't have one until now is a bit baffling. Even for me despite the fact that I've only been playing first person shooters seriously (competitively) for almost a year.

Some things you can do on the server browser:

• Turn on/off individual hero abilities
• More customization on hero ability cooldown times
• Change payload speed
• Change capture speed on control points
• Allow/disallow individual heroes
• Enable/disable flag pick-up time
• Change CTF so a team’s flag has to be back at their base in order to cap the enemy flag
• Increase Pharah’s missile speed

Sounds pretty sick, right? Also, I should mention that Capture the Flag will become a permanent custom game mode. This is a huge step into the right direction for Overwatch. The game has become very stale and I think I speak for us all when I say that Sombra was a bit disappointing. I hope they can buff her up some and make her more viable in ranked play as well as release some new heroes and maps. I know they give us a lot of stuff for free but they should create more stuff at a faster speed. Perhaps the same speed they put into creating new Heroes of the Storm characters? They release new Heroes content super fast. Feels like its every eight weeks.

Anyways, this server browser will keep Overwatch alive probably forever. It'll become like Team Fortress where the server browser has kept it alive since 2007, astounding! It's going to be fun playing custom matches with friends and randoms alike. I would really love to have all Mercy pistol battles. 

'Bout time Blizzard

Overwatch PTR patch 1.7

Here I'd like to talk about some of the changes on the latest ptr (public test region servers) patch. There were major changes to Roadhog, Ana, and Sombra..

Roadhog's hook has been adjusted further. In the last patch they changed (nefed, but made more consistent) Roadhog's hook so that it would hook people right in front of him when he successfully hooked but it was the persistent line of sight from the position of Roadhog that was getting on peoples' nerves. People could hide behind a tree and the hook would automatically break. Blizzard decided it was too much so they're not making that extreme of a change to the hook anymore.

If part of somebody's body is seen during the hook, it will still hook them. It's not gonna break the hook. They're adding a heavy slow when hook applies. Also, they fixed it so that Roadhog can't hook you, spin 180 degrees and drop you off a cliff.

Applying a hook won't work against people you can't see. That's the major thing to take note. If you hook someone they will still be reeled in. Blizzard wants us to feel like when you get hooked, that its fair. This looks like a step into the right direction.

Ana saw a big nerf. The last patch reduced biotic grenade's healing (on allies) increase from 100% to 50%. On top of that the grenade only has a 4 second duration instead of 5. This is a way to combat the current tank heavy meta. Ana is a big part of this tank meta and weakening her might change things up a lot. This might bring Mercy back into play for competitive more so than Ana. However, I will still be playing Ana a lot. 

Sombra got a buff, yay! In the last patch we saw her hack time take 0.8 seconds instead of 1 second, and the cooldown of hack has been reduced to 8 seconds from 10 seconds. This means Sombra can hack a health pack, run away, and then hack an enemy player in combat. Hacking health packs and players has become easier.

I'm super happy about the Sombra hacking buff because Sombra is one of my favorite dps characters. I have 5 hours of play time with her and most of it was wins. She plays like spy from Team Fortress on steroids. It will be fun playing her when this patch goes live. Which will be sometime soon. .

I can't help but feel like the ptr is Blizzard's way of having us players test the game for them for free but it is refreshing that they're changing things about the game that the player base doesn't agree with like Roadhog's hook. 

Smell ya later Overwatch agents

Planet Cyber event success

So the Planet Cyber meetup I had with my friends went well. We were all able to play Overwatch on free accounts provided by the cafe. I didn't want to log in using my main account for security reasons. Anyways, we ended up only having a three man party of myself and two friends. I was hoping for more but I'm already planning another meetup next week Thursday to try to get a stacked six man team.

Overwatch worked fine and we had a blast. Talking on the headset was fun, the monitor was super nice, and the computer ran the game just fine. We played really well for our first time playing all together the three of us. I mostly played Ana and had fun. I'm ready to plan more of these Overwatch nights and recruiting more people for the cause.

After we played Overwatch we did run into some technical computer problems. We installed Team Fortress 2 (which took 20 minutes) but after trying to launch it kept giving my computer and a friends' a Steam error. The guy running the place couldn't figure it out so he gave us a lot more time instead. We used that extra time to play more Overwatch.

One of my friends was upset about how Team Fortress didn't work but hey technical issues happen. All the other gamers there were playing Dota 2 and none of them had any problems. I can tell that this pc cafe is a moba cafe because all the guys there play is Dota. Which is actually super cool. Dota is a great game. I used to play it when I first got my computer but I stopped around the time Heroes of the Storm came out. Because of the popularity of the game yesterday I decided to reinstall it last night. I think I'll give it a whirl again sometime soon.

Anyways, I'm planning more game nights at Planet Cyber solely for Overwatch. If I get more people (just five for a full team) then that's all I'll need to get an amateur team going. It's going to be hard because I have to be a community organizer. I might have to resort to Meetup.com and Craigslist to find more players.

Wish me luck!