All Hallows Eve

I keep not being able to view my followers for some reason despite it telling me I have them. Finally messed around with my NoScript settings enough to get them to display... I just noticed that the new Morningstar is watching my blog. I'm gonna admit, I choked a bit when I saw that. Not really helping my day...

Ugh... I think I'm starting to get stir crazy. I mean, I'm used to living by myself, but I'm certainly not used to the whole "staying in the same room forever" bit. I guess this is gonna be harder than I thought. Would probably help if I could stick to my routine a little better... I gave myself a headache last night for staying up three hours longer than I meant to trying to get the Halloween Achievements on Team Fortress 2. Cause hey, last chance I'm probably gonna get, right? About all I'd say I earned from the experience though is the knowledge that getting "Gored" is frakking impossible and the reminder that the game is far to frustrating to play for any length of time. Oh... and the headache. I earned that pretty damn well.

So needless to say, I'm not feeling my best this morning. Trying to get myself straightened back out and into routine, but I think I'm going to have to make a few adjustments here and there. For starters, I don't think I'm going to be doing any reading today. The knowledge is helpful, but it's not helping me sleep at night. I need a break. So I'm gonna find something else to do. Probably dig through the stack of books I've hidden around here... somewhere... <.<; Uhh... yeah, I'll find them eventually... Just anything to keep me from staring at this screen all day. I can not afford to come down with the Black Shakes.

I'm gonna keep my blog open though. Try to keep a look out for comments. Seems like I've neglected those for a day or so. So maybe I'll just open the field for questions... I think I'm up to speed enough to answer any questions and throw out some theory.

Oh, and I thought it was on my profile, but I can't find it, so if you wanted to reach me outside the blog, my gmail is "gargoyleunderground"


Oh right, the title... A day early I know, but that's because I had a question. I haven't noticed anything that screams of "attack plans" for tomorrow, so I guess I was a little confused by that. Then again, people could just be keeping them under wraps... But anyways, I've noticed that a lot of people made a big deal about staging big battle plans for the Winter Solstice. Because one of the Sages had theorized that it was a day that Old Gaunt would be p-

Siiigh... Okay... no, lets just stop right here for a second. I've had about enough of this. I’m not going to sit here and play Slendy-Moniker Roulette every time I need to type this thing’s name out. Let’s just decide on a term right here and now and be done with it. The Construct. There. That works just fine. I liked that terminology since I first read it. It works. It fits the monster, describes him in base ideological form without having to use his actual name. It’s not insulting or making a humorous jab. And it’s not making him sound like some sort of god to be worshipped. Construct. Okay. That’s settled. Moving along.

So Construct is supposed to be weakened on the Winter Solstice, so everyone made a big deal of trying to go after him and his entourage during this time. Also resulted in Construct coming after a lot of the Runners and Fighters of the time, so there would be less of them to oppose him when the time came. (Or at least that would be the assumption for why he did all that mess.) Didn't exactly work out in the end, but a lot of effort went into it. And I'm kind of expecting something similar to happen later this year... but then what about Halloween?

Maybe everyone just forgot because the Winter Solstice took such a heavy emphasis... and maybe Halloween just came too soon or had already passed by the time it was brought up... but that Robert Sagel guy clearly indicated Halloween as being another day which the Construct would be potentially weakened. In fact, I think he mentioned that day First, before he brought up the Solstice. So I guess I'm just surprised that this big date is coming up and no one seems to be working to take advantage of it.

Just... thought I'd throw that out there, I guess.

Routine

I've been trying to work myself into a routine to help myself get settled in. It's not easy being locked up in a cell of your own design, but I guess I'm managing. Definitely missing fresh air though. I can't say the same about my arch nemesis The Sun however.

Uggggggghhhhhhhh.... Moan, moan, bitch, complain....

ANYWAYS. Thought I might give you all a little picture of my mornings. A "Day In the Life" as it were... (God, I still have to catch up on all of those vlogs too. This mountain of data is Endless!) I don't know if it will be helpful to anyone or not, but hey, something to fill time with until I have actual theories to post. Or I force myself to finish my own damned story...

I'll have to apologize upfront for being vague on my timeframes, but I'd rather not give any exact hours. Trying to make it harder for any would be proxy hounds from following my trail. Even picked the timezone settings for my blog at random to throw people off. Though in retrospect I may be the only one who can actually see that... Hm.


Mornings begin about the same time every day. It's important to regulate your sleeping habits when you're trying to maintain a schedule like this, regardless of your particular reasons or goals for starting up a daily routine. I'm not much of a morning person, so you won't see me around at the crack of dawn, but I still aim for "early enough."

My first hour of consciousness is spent trying to keep my body in shape. I don't have a lot of room to move around in, but there's enough space for basic exercise. Push-ups, sit-ups, whatever... I've got a small pair of weights of in a corner, but I haven't really worked them in yet. Wanted to look up some proper weight lifting techniques first, keep forgetting about it. The narrow walkway from my room up to the exit isn't the best training space, but it's enough of a stretch for me to run back and forth along it and feel like I'm accomplishing something. Plus it's sloped going back up towards the door, so I think that's supposed to be beneficial... so long as I don't fall down it on the return trip.

Once that's done, I spend a few minutes deciding how to manage my food for the day. Which is usually just an effort in MRE roulette, followed by digging out a bag of trail mix and heading for my computer. My trail mix is awesome by the way. Thank god for Rant Radio and my angry youth days. As soon as Onewinged had told me to start gathering up food supplies to last for months, I knew I was making me some trail mix. Stuff doesn't seem like much, but it'll really keep you going through the day if you know what you're doing with it. Got a great instruction video from Patrolling with Sean Kennedy, can check it out if you want over here @7:35.

I spend the next several hours going back and forth between Onewinged's notes and various blogs they link to. It's a slow process. I mean, I don't think I'm THAT slow of a reader, but some of these posts can be pretty long and add in the comments(which are generally important by the way, don't ignore them; unless, you know, it falls under the category of Six Months Later Proxy Trolling, as outlined in a previous entry) and you've got quite a bit of material on your hands. Realistically speaking, it can take a full hour to read through just 3-4 blog postings, depending on the blog. (The Tutorial can take an hour to read ONE with all the freaking comments on some of them.) I'm trying to take a few notes of my own here and there as I go along... As well as constantly cross-referencing to other blogs by following the frequent commentators. That's how I'm finding most of the people that are still alive and kicking... Most of the people Onewinged pointed me to have disappeared as of late or otherwise been confirmed dead.

I finally clued in to using the "Follow" button at the top of these things too. Helps me keep track of things easier without having to constantly dive back into dead blogs to look for links again. So if you're seeing a blog in my "Blogs I'm Watching" list, then it probably falls into all of the following categories,
1) The blogger is Still Alive. (Always Beneficial)
2) I consider the blog to be "Important" to current events. (Or at the very least, helpful to my research)
3) I'm probably no where near finished reading it. I've probably gone over the most recent posts, skimmed here and there, and I'm working out a time to actually go back and read it from the start. But hey, you're bookmarked now, so I'll get back to you.

I'll add more as I encounter them. If it matters, then I'll note that I started with The Tutorial. Onewinged's notes suggested it was the best place to start and the logic behind The Rules seems to relate significantly to my situation, in a sort of reverse psychology kind of way... I guess? You may have noticed the "joke" by now... (I was tired and it sounded funny at the time, leave me alone.) From there, I went through Just Another Fool, Seeking Truth, and Dreams in Darkness. Then I started pouring over the Sage blogs and I've been bouncing around from there ever since.

Every so often, I'll switch it up and watch vlogs for the day instead. There are fewer of them, but watching them can be just as time consuming. For now, the only one I've completed in full (to present date anyways) is Marble Hornets. I was informed that was the best place to start. In case you missed my reference earlier, I'm mulling through EverymanHYBRID now.

Before I cut out for the day, I'll make a post to my own blog, if I have something worth sharing. All that typing takes about an hour, so I set aside time specifically for it. (Weird how something that takes less than five minutes to read can take fifty minutes to type.) If nothing comes up, then I either spend a little more time reading/watching or just switch off for a while.

I take about an hour after that to just sit back and ponder over things. Try to sort out all the information I've absorbed for the day and compile it with everything from the days prior. I'll probably start allotting more time to this process once I'm finally caught up on everything. Sometimes I'll write down some notes or take a short nap, but just in general it's a time for thinking and not staring at a computer screen.

I usually will try to spend about another hour doing light exercise again after that. Sitting around all day isn't good for the body, so I have to make sure I'm moving around enough to stay in shape... in case I ever have to start Running.

After that, I'll "warm up" my MRE and dig in to that. Those things are not the tastiest things in the world, but I guess they're okay. Edible at least. But hey, it's Fuel, not Food.

I'll spend my last few hours before climbing back into bed cleaning up and messing around on Newgrounds or Steam. Basically just getting my mind off of everything before I go to bed. I don't need the last thing I was thinking of before closing my eyes to be a faceless humanoid abomination. Already tried that once. Didn't sleep a wink. Thanks a lot Jay. Thaaaaaaanks a Lot.