The Wheels of Time

Turn and turn...

Today, we said farewell to Jonathan as he embarks on his adventures in basic training for the US Marines.

To some of you, this may come as a surprise, but it didn't come as an easy decision for him. It does explain, however, some of the behaviors witnessed for some periods of time recently.

Regardless, I'm happy for him. Jonathan would have graduated this April with a BS in physics, but this shift to the military will allow him to finally do something he's always wanted: aerospace engineering.

This got me thinking about the past year and half. Many things have happened to me; starting with moving in with the guys back in September 2012. Not to discredit my experiences with my former roommates, the move with the guys was a hallmark in my university career. For once, I was insanely content with life (despite of my occasional temper tantrums from lack of sleep).

This was especially true for this spring and summer when none of us had classes and we just did all sorts of stuff with the time we had on our hands outside of work. I am glad we all did that because that kind of opportunity will likely not happen again.

Since then, Dalin and Ammon have gotten married. TK left in search of himself. And now, Jonathan has departed to chase his dreams. I'm still with the guys! Klint and Alex are definitely nothing to scoff at, especially they are part of a circle of friends we all know. John and I had a conversation tonight. We, along with Nick, are the only three left from the original six at IX. Here at our house, we will always choose who replace a leaving member.

Funnily enough, I think I may be the last one out from the original group. It's just a hunch, but more than likely. Unless something keeps me from leaving Provo (or the general Utah Valley area), I am determine to venture out by the middle of 2016 latest.

That's enough of me moping around. I hope y'all had a great weekend!

HabitRPG Experience

Have you ever tried to set a goal only to find yourself abandoning it in progress? I'm sure many of you have done it and I'm one of them. Today, I will talk about a slightly funner way to keep track of your goals and daily routines. It is called HabitRPG, a way to "gamify" your life!

Without going too deep into its origin and history, HabitRPG started off as a Kickstarter project with the aim to make habit setting fun and social. For a retro gamer like me, a RPG game seemed like a great idea to get myself into shape. The way it works is you have to hold yourself accountable for completing daily tasks while your peers reinforce your resolve to get things done.

The main screen for your character

On your account's main screen, you are greeted by your character's avatar and the lists of things that require your attention. As of now, HabitRPG divide the tasks into your Habits, Dailies, and To-Dos. Like many RPG games, the basic elements are the same, except most of the drama revolves around whether or not you stick to your routines. I'm not going to explain the basics behind a RPG game, so I'm going to assume everyone knows what it is and summarize the general features of HabitRPG.

Health: or HP; in this game, you lose health whenever you leave one of the Dailies unchecked. When your HP reaches zero, your character "dies" and you lose a level plus a piece of equipment.
Experience: shows how much XP before you gain a level.
Mana: or MP; they are used for using certain class-specific skills which could aid you or your party (if you are in one) to gain bonuses or reduce penalties when performing tasks.

Habits: these are things you do regularly. They can be of good influence, or bad, depending on how you set them up. I put something I do weekly or more than several times a day in this category.
Dailies: these are things you need to do everyday (or multiple times a week depending on your settings). Failure to do so will result in your character taking damage.
To-Dos: you know how you mark your calendars? Yeah, it's similar in idea. There's generally no time limit for this category unless you desire so.
Rewards: whenever you complete a task, you gain not only experience, but also gold and silver. These are useful to buy equipment unique to your character class and healing potions to recover from damage. You may also set up rewards yourself that cost gold for your own good behavior. I have yet to set this up since I haven't put too much attention into what I treat myself with when I've been good. Sad, I know...

You could adjust the difficulties and categories of each task according to your desire. Difficulties will affect the reward and damage potential. Categories are more for accounting purposes and for more seasoned players to develop their habits/characters in certain fashions.

You can join parties or guilds

Of course, tackling bad habits by yourself is a huge challenge. The game has also implemented party and guild systems to help people be more accountable for their actions. Peer pressure, though viewed negatively in most cases, can actually be beneficial when the said peers are pressuring you to become a better person.

Party: a classic RPG idea. You can live or die with the members of your group. Things you can do with party members include quests, challenges, and a message board. Nothing gets your teammates more riled up than having everyone take damage during a quest because you couldn't get your Dailies done each day.
Guilds: another constant in many RPGs. These are groups of people with similar goals that they are working on or distinct demographics with similar lifestyles and circumstances. They often host challenges while serving as a forum to like-minded individuals for social and self-improvement reasons.

I'm not in a guild at the moment, but certainly a member of a party of friends.

Modify your character!

Aside from the main purpose of HabitRPG, it offers fun little gimmicks to make your gamified experience more bearable. You can change how your avatar look as well as your settings for character development, etc. You also have achievements, pets/mounts to collect, among other things. Some things require gems, which are special currencies bought with real money. For a $5.00 donation, you receive 20 gems. Guilds often offer gems as rewards for completing a challenge.

HabitRPG is still in beta at this time as it is constantly evolving. More updates and features will come in the future. The staff has encouraged users to contribute either monetarily or contents to help improve the experience. You will be compensated for your time and effort, but it is not mandatory.

It is easy to cheat in this game because it expects users to be honest and accountable for themselves. For me, I don't see the point in cheating in HabitRPG because you'd be wasting your time. In addition, you are not improving yourself, but creating an illusion of someone staying on top of things.

Currently, HabitRPG can be accessed via web and smartphones. Smartphone apps tend to lag behind in updates compared to the web version. Be aware! I use both the web and iPhone version of this game.

I like HabitRPG because it helps me a way to keep track of 95% of the things I need to be doing and eventually develop good habits out of them. I highly recommend it to folks who has some sort completionist, or even OCD, when it comes to games. If you can put that drive into something useful like this, you can most definitely become a better person in time.

What are you waiting for? Go explore at https://habitrpg.com

Pinecone Revamped

Alas! We salute these two!

After eight months of madness here at the Pinecone, we, once again, have to change the line up as our dear friend Ammon is now wedded to his missus. No worries, though, I'm sure it's not the last time you'll hear about these two in all their glories.

Since T.K.'s premature departure, we had to fill two spots here at our house. Naturally, we chose who we wanted to live here because we are past the point of playing roommate roulette.

As usual, I get to write a quick synopsis of the state of the Pinecone on my blog.

Me at Ammon & Julie's wedding!

Now that Ammon has moved on, I am the oldest person in the house. As usual, I try to set the standards and code of conduct. But most importantly, I have cooperative roommates with similar values.

I'm onto my last semester of medical laboratory science and will be done with all my coursework by this April! Then, I'll embark on an internship in Murray, Utah this upcoming summer until the end of the year.

I'll probably be around Provo, or at least the Utah Valley for another year or two as I have unfinished business around here.

Jon (and bro) during his family road trip in the East Coast

Jonathan, our resident physicist, has had exciting changes in his life. Be sure to ask him about it! He's got some big plans and an unexpected change in course in his studies.

Don't get me wrong, he's gonna use all that physics he's learned, but he's found a way to utilize it more in the long run.

In addition, talk to him about his recent experience/run-in with B-money here at Provo. It's a pretty funny story.

John as his usual creative self

I'm not sure how many excellent costumes for cosplay has he done since the last time I wrote about him, but you can't deny that John is not handy with these sorts of stuff. He did all that in the picture while under the intense pressure of the BYU Information Systems program.

This man landed himself a nice internship with the Church this summer and will soon be using his acquired skills in the real world when the time hits.

This is the one of the only persons I know who has the abilities to do almost everything he wants to get done in a given time while having a tough schedule. I think he's secretly a jedi. And no, he's not single.

And the winter cheer continues

One of the most monumental things that happened to Nick recently was being accepted into the BYU Film program. From now on, he can kiss a lot of time goodbye.

The good fellow from Missouri is adept at making films and Photoshop; something I witnessed myself as he put forth hours after hours refining his skills in these areas.

Needless to say, this is one good-looking dude who is not single. Like I mentioned before, he's got a time sink coming up as he strives to finish not only complete his degree in film, but also take on a business strategy minor from the Marriott School of Management.

He's just as I remembered

Klint may be a newcomer to the Pinecone, but he is no stranger to me. Both Ammon and I had lived with this man before he was a returned missionary.

Having served in Germany, he's at least bilingual and hopes to keep his language skills up. He is hoping to get into the nursing program here at BYU. Since his exposure to the European culture, especially after the study abroad to Austria, he's got some style, literally!

In many aspects, Klint is the combination of all of us. That's why we get along with him so well. As for the ladies, be sure to look this guy up. I promise you that you won't be disappointed!

He loves his cars

Looks like our house can never be without people from Missouri. Alex is from Liberty, Missouri and already knew likes of Ammon, Dalin, and Nick since they were boys.

He's studying mechanical engineering here at BYU and he's got some ambition as he plans on taking on another field of engineering simultaneously!

He is a car fanatic (have you seen the rims on his car?) and is absolutely enamoured by them. This man is definitely one of the eligible bachelors we have at this house.

The many seasons of life and the many faces of roommates I've encountered during my lifetime here at BYU. I'm looking forward for another ridiculous semester with my friends and roommates here at the Pinecone. I'm going to enjoy my time as I don't think I'll be enjoying my semester very much this time with the sheer amounts of work and tests creeping up. Don't find us! We'll find you.