4 Life lessons I learned from Left 4 Dead 2

4 Life lessons I learned from Left 4 Dead 2

#4 Everything in life is out to kill you.

Nature and time want you dead. Whether it’s a crazy serial killer in the forest, some malfunctioning elevator or a bad case of being really old, you’re going to die eventually. The first time I played Left 4 Dead my character was sitting quietly in a hallway and randomly a horde of extremely angry,  athletic zombies came pouring out from what seemed to be every direction. At that moment I realized I had three options. One, I could freeze up and die. Two, run for my life and hope I don’t die.  Third option, engage in a good old fashioned zombie beat down fighting my way through.

 
creativedoxfoto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
(Sheesh, how many numbers are gonna be in this thing? 13, probably. I haven’t finished writing yet.)

I’ve responded in each way at some point. Heck, I still freeze up if a wasp gets near me. My first instinct during my teenage years was to run from problems or act like they weren’t there. Hint: Neither one or two are good ways to approach a problem. Well, I guess it’s OK to run from the Guy on a Buffalo, or if the problem might kill you. Definitely run if the problem is trying to kill you. When I got to my 20’s I hit the ‘fight through it’ phase which I am currently in. Things aren’t perfect for me but they are a hell of a lot better than when I was running from problems and standing still around wasps.

 
(Rosemary Ratcliff) (That bastard.)
 

#3 Spending a little time looking around may save your life.

Patience these days seems to run pretty thin, for the most part we live hectic lives and when we want things, we want them now. Which I imagine is why there is a drive thru almost everywhere.

 
creativedoxfoto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
(Hi honey, Macy’s now has a drive thru!)

Many people say time is money. In Left4Dead, time is life or death, because every second spent doing anything but running towards a saferoom is increasing the odds that a decaying flash mob may try and rip your face off (or do a musical number, only time will tell). Sometimes we need to take a minute and see what is off to the sides. In the game you may find pills or an item that could help you make it out alive, even if you’re limping and about to crumble.

 
(phanlop88) (In real life random pills and shots will most likely not help you.)

As someone who occasionally has to live on a tight budget I began looking for better ways to buy things, be it food/electronics/whathaveyou. I saved a ton of money shopping online, to the point where I can’t walk into many stores without being completely horrified at their prices. This strategy got me through tough times, even though finding good deals and waiting for things wasn’t the path of least resistance.
 

#2 Some people will screw you over for no reason.
 

Not everyone has the ‘fight through it’ attitude, an example we recently saw on The Walking Dead when Shane shot his comrade in the leg. You might think in a video game, where the worst thing that could happen is fake dying and starting over, that people would always try and help their team no matter how bad things got. Well, that’s not the case. Some people you don’t know may shoot you for no reason. In Left 4 Dead the most likely case is that a teammate gets nervous and ditches you when you need them because they want to make it, even after you give them your pills.

(renjith krishnan) (Once again, random pills do not solve life’s problems.)

 
What I thought was a good friend of mine for a few years, one day confessed to me that she had skin cancer and asked me if she could borrow $100. At the time I had a crappy job and was going to community college, she was asking for a lot but I was able to scrape together the money. She then took it and went MIA for a few months.

 
http://morguefile.com/archive/display/671162 (That bastard.)

The next time I saw her she had leased a brand new Jetta and was moving into a nicer apartment. The borrowed money was never heard from again. Also the cancer was gone. A few years later a co-worker of mine pulled me aside one day and told me how he was in a tough spot and needed to borrow $200. I knew it was serious when the tears began to flow. I told him the best I could do was $120 and even though he never got back on his feet, as far as I know, he managed to pay me back $80. He did this even after I had repeatedly told him not to worry about it. Point is, in times of panic, people show their true colors.

 
 (David Castillo Dominici) (Purple!)
 

#1 Good friends will stick with you, even if it means you all go down. 

There are a few people I really enjoy playing with online. Not because they have silly voices or always win because they play way too much. I like to play on their team because I know that when piss hits the fan, they’ll stick around until we either make it through, or die trying.

 
(Piss hitting the fan.)

I have a few select friends in real life that fit this category. Even if one of us makes a mistake or acts like kind of a douche, I know they won’t throw me under the bus. (I did find a picture of someone being thrown under the bus, but it wasn’t pretty. Neither was the douche picture.) I’ve learned that in life you need to find those kind of people and get them on your team. I also recommend finding a special someone with those qualities. If you get around to it after all that, kill as many wasps as you can.

 
(The more the merrier.)

Daily blog, for 10 days

     Awesome. I am going to be responsible for writing about something every day for 10 days straight. That's never happened before so this should be interesting. Well luckily for you there's actually been things going on lately. Most currently I have been working on a kickstarter video for a friend of mine who is working for a major mobile app company. He is an old mission companion of mine and has seen some of my past videos and knows I am currently in the digital media program at UVU. I accepted the challenge to basically take full responsibility for this film. From the script to the final product I will be in charge. The nice thing is I can make a few grand if they meet their goal. If they don't however I leave with nothing but a video for my reel. Either way I consider this a win win situation. Having a video that makes good money that is virtually free to produce will be a big credit to me. I was very cautious about taking the offer at first because I wasn't sure if I could pull it off. They want to finish this by October and the closer it gets the better I feel about where and how things are working out. I asked a teacher that I had if I could use his office to shoot in since that is where a lot of the scenes take place. We went to check it out today and it looks awesome. I think the video will really gain some validity using this office as if its our own. I had to leave but I guess my friend and his associate talked to him after I left and he offered the use of his delorian for the shoot. People love that stuff, giving our video yet another edge to succeed. I am almost done with the story board

 and will then be creating the animatic most likely tomorrow. Hopefully I can use it and get credit for it in my storyboarding class as well. That's all for today and I guess I'll end it the same way I end my youtube videos, over and outie.

Reverse psychology does not work

So, 2 weeks ago I decided to use my finger to write 'Please do not wash, this is part of an experiment' in the dust on the back window of my car.

People did not wash my car, perhaps it was because I was so polite and used the word 'Please', either way I had to get it cleaned on my own.

Anyone else have someone at work that just bugs them?...OK good, just making sure.

On a side note Shelby asked me to be the featured 'blogger of the week' which is awesome. Her blog is great, funny and REAL which is what makes it worth reading. I wish I could be so uncensored. I'm not much of a writer, I mostly vlog/make up videos on youtube. Some are funny, some are duds, such is the life of comedy. Please check it out here. My most recent video is a parody of the Phil Davison speech, which if you are unfamiliar with you should definitely become familiar with it before watching. It is epic. The original Phil Davison Speech is hErE. My parody is here.

I am a youtuber through and through, Jake and Amir, Tobuscus, Nigahiga(however not so much as of late), Key of Awesome, you name it(there are tons more). I even go as far as finding new musicians I like on youtube like Catrien Maxwell. If you have not heard her version of 'Breaking the Habit', you my friend, are missing out. I don't know what more to say really, I am not the most energetic crazy person to watch but if you check out my videos you will most likely be entertained by some of the stories. Poop on the face is probably the craziest, and yes, I tell the story twice in the same video because it was really that crazy. I guess its time for some personal stuff, and by personal I mean personal, you know what I'm saying? You picking up what I'm laying down here?

In my car the volume must be set at 9,13,16,23,27 or 33. I can literally tell if its not.

I hate the radio, with every passion that I can perceive, if you ever ride in my car and ask to listen to a certain station, I'll most likely tell you the radio is broken. Avril Lavigne is my arch-enemy, someday we will have a death match.

I once made up a song off the top of my head that was entirely about chicken. I then made a music video to it, and yes, its on my 'Fox's Den' youtube channel.

I wore a fake mustache and a wolf shirt to a friends bachelor party at a bowling alley and winked at girls that looked at me. It was hott.

Apparently Shelby wants me to give out some awesome links, so here goes. Boredom, prepare to be conquered!!
StumbleUpon
Engrish
Notes from Chris(not me)

Feel like helping me and 2 other people fight off the zombie apocalypse? Play Left 4 Dead, it's awesome. Poor Bill.

Thanks Shelby for featuring me on your blog. To all others reading, 'ya'll need to hide ya kids, hide ya wives and hide ya husbands cuz they rapin' errbody out here'.

hmm

Republicans
Circle I Limbo

Democrats
Circle II Whirling in a Dark & Stormy Wind

Steve Jobs
Circle III Mud, Rain, Cold, Hail & Snow

Goths
Circle IV Rolling Weights

Rednecks
Circle V Stuck in Mud, Mangled

River Styx

Parents who bring squalling brats to R-rated movies
Circle VI Buried for Eternity

River Phlegyas

PETA Members
Circle VII Burning Sands

Osama bin Laden
Circle IIX Immersed in Excrement

Nancy Pelosi
Circle IX Frozen in Ice

Design your own hell

Found the car!

have no fear. they found it, probably can be fixed. everything inside is missing, including dirty pillows. jacket from DI, marshmellow guns, mcdonalds toy, dex, sheila the gps. my tennis racket. granted the last two are worth something. why take the rest?!

Car stolen

Today was a rough day to say the least. First of all I've had a hard time managing myself while being unemployed. It's the worst, there is nothing to do and then I sleep and then my schedule is all out of whack and then I don't exercise as much as I should and then I get depressed. And then I walk outside and my car is missing.

Yeah, its a terrible feeling. Its kinda like when you get to the check out counter at the store and realize you don't have your wallet. Not only that but you remember having it when you left the house and you know its not in the car. The difference is that you have to replace the wallet with your car and the check out counter with the parking lot...yeah, I think that works. Anyways its one of those 'nooo, thats not, no, its gotta be, um, its not gone, one of my family members must have driven it somewhere, or maybe...no, this isn't happening, it can't happen' moments. It's actually one of my biggest fears, second to walking out of the store to find that my car is gone. So I guess that's a bonus right?

I still don't think its set in all the way. I mean the keys are in my pocket, I locked it last night when I got out. How, how could this happen? I mean I was also disappointed because there were things of sentimental value in there. My tennis rackets, my little purple robot man that got fried in the sun last summer, my green rugs, my little McDonalds milkshake man. My GPS, oh Sheila, I will miss so much your accent! Even if they find my car, I know the GPS will be gone, probably my good tennis racket, and also my brown hat that a friend bought me for my birthday 5 years ago. OK maybe the hat will still be in there, but its just sad. 

The thing is that as sad as I am its not really that bad, I still went home teaching, still hung out with Jake and Fefi. The car is just a thing, the stuff in it is just stuff. Its been neat to just feel the calmness of it all that comes from knowing the purpose of life and that these trials are momentary. Yeah, its gonna suck for a couple days at the very least. I don't have close to enough money to buy a car right now but you know what, that's OK. Life isn't about smooth sailing and easy answers. It's about learning and handling different situations. I could freak out and think its the end of the world. But there is a calmness that the Spirit brings that just helps you to know things are gonna end up OK. Now I didn't say that I felt like things are gonna end up OK now, things could definitely get worse before they get better but that's life and how its supposed to be. I know everything is in God's hands, seriously I was just talking to Jake yesterday and I said, dude if my car went out right now I would be so screwed, I don't have near enough money for a new car. 

I awaken the next day, go outside and realize, I am so screwed.

Maybe its a blessing somehow, I guess time will tell. Sometimes I feel like my emotions are broken or something. I mean you see people on TV freaking out about the stupidest little things, but this happens and I am like 'well this sucks, lets go to A&W'. Obviously I am not saying that to be like 'oh my car is gone? who cares I'll just get another', but I am saying that I almost expected myself to get angry or I'm not sure. I just felt calm, I guess I probably would have freaked out if I didn't have the church in my life. Well I'm done talking about this for today. Happy Holidays guys!

Van Helsinglike Dreamagination

So first off i'll start with the attire, to set the mood. Naturally. Imagine a mix of that trench coat on van helsing and the suit on that swat looking guy, there was also just a black ski mask instead of a helmet but it didn't have a mouth hole and we had black goggles instead of that faceplate...thing. I also had a shotgun hanging from the trench coat and we were loaded with guns and ammo.

Yeah pretty great right. So it starts out and me and this girl with a black ponytail are dressed exactly the same and look identical, with the sole difference that her ponytail is poking out of the back of the ski mask, we are in the middle of a huge hay field on a clear sunny day with a slight breeze blowing past. I assume for visual effect. We walk a few steps and find a trapdoor which was made from old thick and heavy timber, i'm guessing it was about 4ft x 4ft wide, i grabbed the metal ring handle and yanked up the door. My partner immediatly jumped down into the dark.

I heard gunshots and saw the flashes of light from them. I jumped down and we were in a hallway. We ran back and forth across the opening shooting at vampires that were attacking village people in this gigantic dirt room. It was cavernous and looked like i would imagine the inside of a pyramid to look lit with really really bright torches. 

I was using an uzi at first but then when that ran out of ammo i switched to the shotgun and then to pistols. Eventually after running out of ammo and having a really cool fight scene, i ran in and noticed that there was just one vampire left. The villagers had her corned with pitchforks and she was hissing at people, i walked over and grabbed three wooden crosses about the size of my hand and juggled them around her. she then turned back to normal. I walked up a really long flight of stone steps and came to a piano in the center of a small room. A man was sitting at one end and there were keys on both sides of this piano. the notes were assembled on top of the piano on little tiles like scrabble pieces. I sat down and he said 'play!' I began to play and after a few notes, made a mistake. He yelled, 'AGAIN!' I tried to play and messed up again, so he yelled 'again' and i tried again, messing up. He yelled 'again' and i quickly arose and yelled back, 'Tell me where dracula went!'

He responded, 'to the west'. then got up and walked away. I went back down the stairs to the village people. I said that dracula had gone west and they fearfully replied, 'that WAS dracula!' I yelled, 'NOOOOO'

Thats it.
Click the drawing for a close up that you can read better.