Game Maker Desert Blog - Desertdweller Gets His Game On with a Blog

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Blog Page Number: 1 Later Entries

So, I took the SAT test on June 6th, and just now got my results.

Critical Reading: 670
Math: 760
Writing: 770 -> 80/80 multiple choice, 8/12 essay

Core score (math and reading, the main two colleges look at) -> 1430/1600

Total score: 2200/2400!

Note that in this comment I mentioned that I thought 2200 was the absolute highest I could get, and I got it. For that I am excited.

Now, about that math. A 760/800 means I missed one, maybe two question

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Posted on Thursday June 25, 2009

Music I Listen To

Note: I am aware that the main blog page isn't working. I'm working on fixing that.

Music I listen to runs the gamut, with the exception of country music, of course. :P This post will include a couple of my favorite songs and a brief description of them and what they mean to me. Google the title for more info on the song.

Soundtracks. I love to listen to them, and some are really beautiful.

Define Dancing:

This song you would probably recognize from the movie WALL-E. Remember the part when WALL-E and Eva are flying around in space, with WALL-E using the fire extinguisher? The music that plays

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Posted on Tuesday June 16, 2009

The SAT Test - Results to Come

As the title implies, I took the SAT test Saturday. For those of you who don't know what the SAT is, it (along with the ACT) is basically a standardized test that high school students intending to go to a four-year college take to demonstrate their skills in mathematics, critical reading, and writing.

I've had much success in mathematics in previous years (#1 junior high math student in the state in 8th grade) so I'm definitely hoping for an 800 (perfect) score in that section. I also have little trouble detecting errors in grammar and sentence structure, so the writing is also on the easier side for me. The two main difficulties were the critical readin

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Posted on Sunday June 7, 2009

Being Cross-Dominant

As the title implies, I am cross-dominant, mix-handed, hand-confused, or whatever you want to call it. Essentially, I'm a variation of the ambidextrous trait in which the hand that is "dominant" changes depending on the situation. In general, the trait is that my left hand has more style and control, while my right hand has more strength.

As such, I write with my left hand, do just about anything swinging (tennis, racquetball, ping-pong, baseball, golf) left-handed, and hold utensils with my left hand primarily. However, anything having to do with hitting or throwing is right-handed, so throwing a baseball, (American) football, frisbee, or hitting a voll

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Posted on Friday May 29, 2009

Stanford or ASU?

So, I've been selected as one of the ~50,000 qualified students for the National Merit Scholarship Program. As such, I was given the opportunity to select two colleges/universities for the NMSP to recommend me to and to send my scores on the PSAT to.

I determined the two based on a just a couple of factors:

Prestige of the school
Quality of the undergrad bioengineering program (which is the typical route for a bio-medical engineering career future)
Availability of club volleyball (whether through the college or not since I would be still under 18 and eligible to play club elsewhere [I think?])
Likelihood of my obtain
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Posted on Tuesday May 26, 2009

Gay Gene Suddenly Vanishes

Link: supposed gay gene still not found.

Nobody is born a homosexual; it is a learned trait. No, I'm not a homophobe in that I'm not afraid of them, but the fact that scientists are just now starting to agree that people aren't born gay makes me irate. Mere life itself testifies of a Creator, and in my opinion the best argument for Creation is in the heart. The knowledge of the difference between right and wrong, and the conviction when sin is committed is a self-witness for Creation.

A couple of verses come to mind which I just read recently during a Bible study:<

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Posted on Saturday May 16, 2009

Web Browsers

So I've worked with three web browsers a lot recently: Internet Explorer 8, FireFox 3, and Google Chrome. I use each for very specific purposes.

FireFox gets about 90% of work I do on the internet. Every once in a while however, FireFox just plain doesn't do any formatting with a website, [example: AdBrite] at which point I use Google Chrome, and finally IE if all else fails. (And since every site has to cater to IE it rarely doesn't work clearly at that point)

Google Chrome (and I don't know exactly why) just seems faster with just one tab. For this reason I use it when watching a movie online,

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Posted on Friday May 15, 2009

Why My Site Is Named So

You might have been coming to my site for a short period of time, when you just had to ask yourself the question, "Why The Game Maker Desert?" Well, that's the whole joke here where I live in Arizona. Right now, it's early May. If I remember correctly, the temperature first hit 100 ^oF in late April, and today it hit 104 ^oF in the late afternoon. So I guess you could say "It's Hot Out Here." In fact, I never have to wear more than a pair of jeans and a windbreaker to keep warm unless we leave the county. (Usually this is when we occasionally go to Flagstaff, in northern AZ, which is colder and more elevated)

My sisters boug

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Posted on Sunday May 10, 2009

School . . . Finally Ending

You may have wondered why I haven't posted recently. You may also be wondering why I always write about how I don't post often anymore. :) Anyways, it's been crunch time. I had a 10-page project due on Monday for political science. Being the procrastinator I am, I waited until Friday afternoon to begin really writing the paper, so I rushed out paragraph after paragraph of text to fill the ten page requirement. However, just today, my professor spoke to the whole class:

[quote]I started to grade your papers, but ran into a problem. Half of you didn't cite your sources in a page at the end of your paper; half of those who did neglected to make in-line

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Posted on Wednesday May 6, 2009

Why I Am Not Going to Use BlitzBasic

If you've had any sort of one-on-one discussion with me recently, I probably mentioned that I'm trying out the demo for BlitzBasic to see if that better tailors to my needs than does Game Maker. I am not being one of those people who say "I'm moving on to a real language like C++," I'm just keeping an eye out for alternatives. Especially what with repeated disappointments from YoYo Games at repeated failure to meet deadlines and estimations of deadlines, I've been trying to find something comparable to Game Maker that is better updated.

Simply put, it doesn't, at least for me. There are a couple of things that compel me to stick with Game Maker.<

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Posted on Wednesday April 22, 2009