k42

Mohammed, 21, Kuwait. I play videogames regularly, I watch movies casually and I drink coffee constantly. To extend upon this, my favorite game of all time is Super Metroid, my favorite movie is 2001: A Space Odyssey (directed by Stanley Kubrick) and my favorite type of coffee is Nescafe. When I'm bored of life and games I'm usually reading in my bed, sipping through my own cup of misery. I work in a very dull environment surrounded by some very dangerous equipments that could blow the country to pieces. I dream of creating an 8-bit game with some interesting gameplay mechanics in which I already planned. But that's not gonna happen. That's why it's called a dream.

Feel free to contact me anytime regarding any subject; colorization [at] gmail [dot] com (this is to prevent spam).
Oct 15
Permalink

Back to basics

Yeah, this is what my new desktop looks like, powered by Linux Ubuntu. But no, I’m not trying to be a smartass by talking low upon Microsoft and Apple just because I started using Linux, because I’m not happy with it. 5 days ago I lost all the data on my PC and I still don’t know why. A program asked me to reboot, I clicked ‘Ok’ and went to breakfast with one of my friends. Upon entering my room I noticed that the monitor is bitch black with a small flashing cursor, so I restarted (force restarted, to be clear) and the same thing occurs, and strangely enough: I can’t access Safe Mode, which means I have no direct access to any data inside my PC.

I downloaded Ubuntu through my sister’s laptop. Why did I use Ubuntu? first, it’s free. Second, it’s small compared to Vista (600 MB). 3rd, I don’t have a valid key to Vista nor XP, which means Ubuntu is the ideal choice. I had to format the drive and therefore lose every single file I used to have for the past 3 years (never formatted my PC since I got it, except for installing Vista). I used to have more than 7000 music file and now I’m left with one single remix I downloaded from OCR. Pictures, videos, Photoshop projects —everything’s gone :(

Let’s add salt to the injury. Right before I rebooted my PC (when it was functioning normally) I was clearing some space by removing unwanted games and applications. When I saw Outlook I said to myself “What the? why did I download this junk?”, and since I use Thunderbird to manage my emails I thought I wouldn’t need Outlook at all. Uh, wrong. See, I have an HTC mobile which uses a Windows operating system. My contacts are synced automatically with my PC, and stored inside Outlook files. That means, I can add new contacts on my PC and when I connect my mobile it will be updated automatically. But what if I uninstalled Outlook in the first place? well, you guessed it right. The phone, upon connecting, will try to look for Outlook, and if it couldn’t find it (meaning it couldn’t find the synced file) it will think that I deleted the profile and therefore delete all my contacts. My day couldn’t get any worser huh? Both PC and phone are dead at the same time!

I don’t think I will recover quickly from this tragic digital-accident. Losing all this information on a short period of time is devastating to me, but I’m managing through. Currently I’ll be installing Windows XP, but I am seriously thinking about getting a new Mac. I never thought of getting a Mac because, well, I don’t need to. But seriously, I just can’t risk losing all my stuff again. I want a secure platform. Linux is secure, but is both hard and demanding on me. Apple’s products are overpriced, I’ll give you that, but I’m hoping to safe land on their platforms without thinking twice about the safety of my digital life. I think I will go with the new MacBook (not Pro), and certainly will post my impressions and all when I purchase it (though it’s gonna take awhile).

Ok so let’s head for the good news. First of all, I want you to wish me all the luck for that I am now officially hired at KOC (Kuwait Oil Company)! They will contact me next week for more details (and preparations, such as medical examination) and I hope to start working there as soon as possible. Haha it’s really funny because I know that my first paycheck will be spent on day one. Not just the first paycheck though :P Uhh can’t wait to start digging there!

Also, I got some new games to keep me occupied and left my spirit a bit. I got Ace Combat 6 (Xbox 360), Final Fantasy 5 Advance (GBA), Captain Tsubasa (GameCube), Wario Land: Shake It! (Wii), Mega Man Maverick Hunter X (PSP), Mega Man 2 and 3 (both for GBC) and Super Robot Wars Z (PS2). SRW was a pain to pay for though, 110$ through our locals. Yeah, no kidding. I also got 6 games on the Virtual Console, can’t remember them all but from the top of my head: Ghosts ‘N Goblins (NES), Castlevania (NES) and Adventures of Lolo (NES). I will be getting Shining Force 2, Secret of Mana and World of Goo as soon as I fix my Visa card problem.

Final note: I’m currently playing The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and it’s my first time playing it. Just reached The Dark World, and to sum everything in one sentence: Holy god Nintendo, how did you design this game? Flawless. Perfection. Ahh, gotta rescue Zelda for now!