So, I have a blog.... Remember?

Hello people of Earth!

Remember that long ago time in an age long past when a young whippersnapper of a college student started this thing called a "blog" on the interwebs? That lad was, for all intents and purposes, dedicated to creating an interesting, stimulation collection of entries focusing on a wide variety of topics, discussions and ideas. That was this blog, and believe it or not, I am, indeed, that person.

However, in the last 5 years that I have been doing this, there has been a [huge] flux and flow in the frequency and depth of my blog posts. For the past few months, I have, well, not done anything at all with my blog, and that fact saddens me greatly. I truly love posting my bizarre thoughts, reviews, comments and ideas here on my blog, and I have been slacking in that department for far too long.

First, let's examine who I am now. I recently graduated from university, which is a huge achievement and I am extremely proud of that accomplishment, and thankful to so many people who helped me through the process - especially my fantastic parents who were there for me through the entire process.

Now that I am a "free" person for the first time since first grade, I am really enjoying life. Sure there are struggles and issues that have come up that I have had to work through, but I am now at a point in my life where I can really begin to start working on my future and begin the process of figuring out what my calling may be.

But what does all this mean for you, dear reader? Well, I shall enlighten you! My blog will become the pseudo "hub" of my internet presence, from which you will be able to access all of my internet sites, like YouTube, Twitter, etc.

But what this also means is that I want this blog to be active. Because my goal is to make this the hub of my little network of websites and social media outlets, I really want this to be a full fledged blog, with regular content and consistent posts. So, because of that, I have decided to create a challenge for myself, namely to post at least 1 post here per week. Perhaps a review, perhaps an update, or perhaps a short story. Really, the point is to build and shape this blog into a kaleidoscope of content that reflects me and my personality.

So please, join me on this journey to create a new and improved blog experience. We will create some content and tell some stories, which is really what this place called the internet is all about.

Thank you, and I will talk to you soon.

I'm a strange one...

I often find myself reading some of the most bizarre things, and not for any reason, per say. I was not assigned these readings bey a teacher or professor, nor am I required to read things for work. No, I genuinely enjoy reading some of the most "boring" things on Wikepedia. For instance, I just finished reading the - in my opinion quite interesting - entry on the International Civil Aviation Organization's airport and aircraft identification and naming conventions.

I genuinely find these types of things interesting! Am I weird? Perhaps. But I think we all have interests that are a bit off the beaten path, existing on the fringes of what might be considered "normal" or "mainstream" and I think that that is wonderful. Let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading,

- Dave

Explanations and Excuses

Sitting in Starbucks, I realize that I am far, far behind on this blog. Why? I have no idea. Nor would I attempt to utilize half baked excuses that do little to right the wrong that is me not posting content to this blog. O.K, perhaps not quite so dramatic, however I do feel a sudden desire to post something here and to explain myself and my long absence.

As for the absence, I have begun the fall semester here at school, and, although exciting to think I will be graduating soon, the coursework and number of classes that I have to take in order to graduate when I want to is steadily growing. As such, things like this blog and my YouTube channel have, sadly, taken a back seat. Today, however, I am filled with optimism as I recently got A's on a paper and 2 exams, and realized that perhaps the semester is not all that bad, and I may, just may, have the time required to devote more of myself to endeavors such as the Daily Digit.

In addition, I have, for a long time now, wanted to share my love of all things media with the world through my YouTube channel, however because so mush of what I am interested in is intellectual property of people who are not me, the things that I am able to post on my channel are quite limited in that department. Because of that, I have decided to make this blog all about media, such as film, TV shows, music and the like, and my channel will be dedicated to design, software and educational things (like video tutorials,) as well as, of course, occasional random vlogs and videos.

As we move forward into the fall, I hope to become active once again both on this blog and my YouTube channel. Anything you would like to see either here or there is greatly welcomed as a suggestion, and I would love to hear your thoughts on what I should post here and make videos about over on YouTube.

Thank you all for sticking with me, and I hope to make the long wait for my return will worth the wait. Thanks, and I will talk to you soon.

- David

Building a Website

I am in the process of creating the website for Purple Owl Media, a design and digital media company that I started a few months ago. I have found, however, that I am far too ambitious with my ideas. What I mean is that I start designing a site with so much promise, only to find that I have created tons of pages that I have no content to fill! WHY? Well, I have no idea. However, I do know that I would prefer an over ambitious approach to an under ambitious one, although I have found that both have their disadvantages.

I know this is a short post, but I thank you for reading and I will talk to you tomorrow.
- Digit

I am tiredness and such things as these and such

I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired. I am tired.

Yes, yes indeed. I am ready for next week off! I need to catch up on some sleep! I will write a full blog post on what I have been doing this summer sometime next week, and let you all know what my experience has been. Despite the tiredness, there is a lot of great things about this job, so I will elaborate after the completion of work this Friday (2 days and counting!)

Talk soon,
- Digit

A Plan + About Monday...

Hello! The first thing that I want to do is talk about yesterday. Yah, sorry about the short, useless post but I felt weird not posting anything, so I decided to do a short post just to let you know that I have not forgotten.

With that out of the way, however, it is time to talk about a plan. Yes, a plan. You see, for the past few weeks (about 7 weeks, to be exact) I have been working as an overnight camp instructor at a great technology summer camp and I have been having a blast. That being said, I have literally no time, no life and am 100% exhausted 100% of the time. For that reason, I am not able to dedicate the time that I would like to things like this blog, or my YouTube channel.

But, this is week 7, and thus is the end of the summer. So, I will shortly be having a bit more time to put into developing my internet presence, specifically the "This is Digit" and "Daily Digit" brands. So, I have devised a plan of attack for next week, as well as the near future.

O.K. First off, I am notorious for NOT adhering to a schedule, so I will not make one. I will instead create a template or outline that I will use to guide me in my creative process. So, Monday through Friday, I will be posting here on the Daily Digit, as it is really quite therapeutic and I have really enjoyed it thus far.

Over on the YouTube, I will be posting 2 videos per week, with the potential for more. However, 2 is the number that I will be aiming for. As far as the blog posts for those days, they will relate to the video posted, and if a video goes up on a weekend day, there will be an extra blog post for that week.

So that is my plan going forward, and I am really excited to get under way.

Also, fear not, as I will post again really soon about music, so expect that.

Thanks so much, and I will talk to you tomorrow.

- Digit

Too Tired

Hello all. I am too tired to write anything intelligent tonight, so I will talk to you all tomorrow. Thanks,

Ahh, rest.

I am coming off a week of really tiring work, and there is something to be said for simply being able to sit back, relax and watch a video or two, without knowing that you have to wake up in the morning. I dislike morning time not because of the fact that is is morning. But more because it is the beginning of the day, whereas evening is the end.

Now, you might be asking yourself, "Why does he like the end more than the beginning?" Well, because the end is the culmination and conclusion to the story, or in this case, the day. The morning is great, because it starts off everything, but the evening and night are my favorite because they are the times when the world is asleep (Not literally, of course, due to the Earths rotation and such, but you get the point.)

This magical time when you are the only person crazy enough to be awake is one of my favorite feelings. To take a walk at 2 AM is an experience like none other. But there is another reason that I love the night time, and that is because it is a time of sleep and rejuvenation. I love sleep, and the night is generally when sleep happens.

So yah, the nighttime, and rest, are pretty darn awesome!

Thanks for reading, have a great weekend and I will talk to you on Monday.

Live Music

I know that in this world of perfection, we can often lose our appreciation for really good live music. I have been thinking a lot about this lately, as I myself have looked at different show tickets for some of my favorite artists and thought, "But that is so expensive, I can just listen to their album." But what is lost, you might ask, by listening to music solely on a digital disk or the internet?

This is a question that I have been asking myself recently. When listening to music on the web or in a polished, well produced medium, we hear exactly what the artist and production team want for us to hear, right? Well, yes, but we also lose the chance to see AND hear that song. Sometimes I wonder if the real experience IS to see that song preformed live. There is no false sense of perfection, and there is no disconnect between the artist and the listener. So, maybe the real experience is the live performance, and not the finished track.

I know that shows are expensive and that they require far more effort on your part to actually drive to a venue, find a parking space, actually get tickets, and all the rest that goes with a live show. But even that is part of the experience. That, I think, is the real difference. When listening to a song on a CD or YouTube, you get just that, a song, not an experience.

That is my thought process, anyways. I hope you enjoyed reading this, and I will talk to you tomorrow.

Quick Update and a Song

I am typing with no idea what to type about. So, lets begin, shall we? Ok. Welcome to Wednesday! I know this is being posted late, but I have had a rather hectic day. I currently work as a camp counselor, and as such I work with kids. Almost all the time, they are great, but with each week comes a new group of kids, and lets just say that every now and then, you get a few, well, difficult ones.

This week is no exception, and sadly, there is more than one. Because of this, I am extremely stressed and tired and exasperated at the end of every day, an therefor cannot really think straight. This blog is actually helpful, as I am able to combobulate my thoughts and get them out to the world. So for those of you reading this who would rather just jam out to some music or, in other words, forget about this somewhat downer of a blog post, here is a video you can check out. Thanks for reading and I will talk to you tomorrow.

- Digit

I almost forgot this one!

I really just blanked on one important fact relating to this blog. It is, in fact, Monday, a day on which I am to post to the daily digit! At least, it is according to my own rules. At any rate, I guess I am still stuck in the weekend, as I completely forgot! But not all is lost, as I remembered in time, as as such, here we are!

Today, I want to talk about something that has been on my mind for a few days. That is, the school season. For some reason, I am oddly excited for the fall semester to start at my university, and I think that the reason for that is three fold. First, and perhaps most importantly, the classes that I am taking, while potentially difficult, are all in all, quite fun classes. Or at least, they should be, given I have a decent professor who actually tries! But that is only one reason. There are a few more as to why I am so excited.

Another reason for my seemingly baseless excitement for the return to school is the fact that I only have one year left. What! You might ask! Yes, only one year or two more semesters and I am done with by Bachelors degrees. Insert excitement here! I am stoked to be finally finishing up with a degree that has been five years in the making. Yes, I beat around the bush at community college, taking random classes at first to test the waters and see what I enjoyed doing. But still, I am ready to be out of school, at least for a while. I may go back in the future and get a masters, but well see.

And finally, the last reason that I am excited to return to the classroom is the fact that I will get to be back on a college campus. I am not sure about you all, but for me, a college campus is a magical place of learning and knowledge, and the peace and quite one can find on campus can be one of the most relaxing and tranquil experiences ever! Yes, I know I am a little odd!

At any rate, I am excited to pick up the books, pack the bags, and hunker down for the last two semesters of college. I wont be sad to leave, but I am not all that sad to stay, either.

Thanks for reading, and I will talk to you tomorrow.

Some Pictures about a Campus

Today, I had some time to walk around my local university and take some photos. I picked a few that I thought turned out rather well, and decided to share them with you. These are not edited at all, just straight from the camera, so I realize they could be better, but anyways, enjoy!

An emergency call station at dusk.

A Tree

A Rusty Railing by a dumpster.

A Flower on a bush.

Art Dept. Staircase.

Art Dept. Lockers.

I hope you have enjoyed these photos, and I will talk to you tomorrow! Thanks for reading,

- Digit

10 minutes

I was issued a challenge earlier today, to write a bad horror video game based story in 10 minutes. Well, here is the result. Enjoy!

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Soda and Head Crabs

As I walked across the road, I saw something strange. Happily, I strolled, every day for six years. However, this time, something was amiss. There was some sort of pod that had seemingly been dropped from the sky, and inside and around the pod were some bizarre little creatures. They reminded me of headcrabs from half life, but that was clearly imposs… no, nope, they are actually head crabs, my neighbor Horton just got attacked. Oh, my, this is not good. Things took a turn just then, ok, will, i should run. Still, I could go for a soda, there is a vending machine around here somewhere.

I found it, a vending machine, but after I inserted my money, the machine dispensed an empty can. Strange, but I guess. . . OH MY GOD, ANOTHER HEAD CRAB!

Running, running and bloody, no idea what the blood is all about, I don't remember getting cut, oh, it is just grape juice, thank goodness, I guess I can take this shortcut, Ouch, now I really am bleeding! Those head crabs can’t smell blood can they? I dont think so. “Yesss, they can,” said the slender man, standing in the shadows. He is there every day between 4 PM and 6 PM. What he does, I do not know, but [he is a bit odd. He has nothing to do with the missing people. obviously, just thought I would point that out, you know, to clarify. Actually, now that I think about it…

Ok, better. I have escaped the head crabs for now. Could have been worse, obviously. Anyways, I really am bleeding pretty bad now, should find some help, but I might meet some more head crabs, better to just bleed out here, in this cozy dark depressing and slightly smelly alleyway, well, I have lived a good… Well, I have lived a life, so ...yah.

Death is better than one might think. There is a lot of juice, apple. orange, grape, OH NO, GRAPE! I AM STILL BLEEDING. Then out of nowhere, jumps a headcrab. Seriously, in heaven. I am dead, and I still have to deal with this. Seriously, I am dead.

+++

Let me know what you think, and have a great day!

A crash in an airplane - FSX

I love flying around my home airport in Microsoft's Flight Simulator X (FSX), however there are some things that even the most avid gamers can't grasp. For me, that is landing a plane in FSX.

Almost every time I come in for an approach, something seems to happen that results in me, well, crashing. From time to time, I do sort of land the plane, but more often than not, my landings are less than perfect. This can be aggravating, as all I want is to be able to successfully land a plane! But it is something that requires practice and skill, things that are less than apparent in some other games these days.

This is, after all, a simulator. Well, technically it’s a game, but the underlying physics and gameplay make it seem like a simulator. Yes, one could jump into the cockpit and just apply some throttle, but the truly dedicated spend hours perfecting the art of simulation. They practice takeoffs, landings and everything in between. Why? Because they love the experience and the process. The goal of many is not simply to fly an airplane from point A to B, but rather to capture the experience of flying, with all it’s challenges and rewards.

So why can I not land an airplane? Perhaps because I suck at the game. Or perhaps, because I have not given it the time, dedication and respect that flight simulation demands. Either way, I love this game