The Weekend Fishing Get Away

 A few weeks ago I was talking with my Mother and I mentioned a lake in Virginia I remembered from when I was about 12 years old. My father, his friend, my brother and I would go there once or twice a month and spend the day on a boat fishing. Those were great times. Not only because the fishing was amazing, but my father was still alive. Fast forward 50 years from that day. My Father passed away in 1999 and other chapters of my life have opened and closed.

Anyway, we planned a trip to the lake so I could go fishing and bring back the old memories. My Mother and I just got back from there today. The reservations were made, the planning was done, and everything was set for us to take a couple days ago on our way there. We arrived midday on Friday. We couldn't check in until 3pm so we decided to go check the park. To my surprise the bait shop and marina were closed. Their operating hours had been adjusted to weekends only, but just Saturday and Sunday. I decided to chill and plan my fishing day for Saturday. The lake had a good variety of fish to include Bluegill, Yellow and White Perch, small and largemouth Bass, Black and White Crappie, Channel and Blue Catfish, Muskellunge, Walleye, and now Northern Snakeheads. Although at this point is seems like it was fished pretty extensively. I asked others about their day while I was out, and they caught very few also, and they were small.

I got there early enough to enjoy the views and wait for the shops to open so I could get my permit and a boat. I loaded everything onto the boat, and off I went. Being property of the lake and the park service, life vests were required at all times, so I had to keep it on. It was a bit bulky and took some getting used to with all the casting and moving around. They do send boats to patrol the lake and make sure the rules are enforced. On this lake only trolling motors are allowed. No outboard engines. So getting anywhere takes more time. It was fun motoring around the lake and doing some casting and looking. I found out pretty fast the the wind and lake currents moved the boat around at a brisk pace. I spent half of my time steering the boat, and the other half trying to fish. As the day progressed, it got hotter and hotter. Around noon it was already 90 degrees, and the wind was very light at times. So it stayed very humid, and along with the sun reflecting off of the water, it was getting pretty hot. With the combination of the reflective heating and the life vest, I started to get a headache from the heat. I pulled up to the bank and ate a sandwich while drinking an electrolyte drink and a bottle of water. When I got up to grab something from the cooler, I stumbled a little and sat back down. After I ate I got up and sat on the uncovered seat in the middle of the boat to untangle 2 poles. I found out quickly that the front seats and boat rails were so hot that I could have cooked a steak on them. Far to hot to touch. My ass was burning from the hot metal as I hurried to untangle the hooks, so I quickly got back onto my seat cushion. I looked for a few spots where I could drift fish and cool down a bit. I was sweating and my sinuses decided to open up. There's nothing like a runny nose on a hot day while you're trying to fish lol. At that point I was so hot and uncomfortable that I decided enough was enough. I determined in this situation I could either steer the boat, or fish, but not both. There was no anchor with the boat so it drifted (and spun) all over the place when the motor was off.

After another half hour of fishing I decided I had enough. I was on the edge of heat exhaustion/stroke. I was getting a bit weak and dizzy. I was alone on the water, and since there would have been no one there to help me, I couldn't take the chance by staying out, as I would have drifted aimlessly until I was found. And as hot as the metal in the boat got, there could have also been 2nd degree burns from laying down or passing out. I'm glad that didn't happen.

By the time I got back to the marina, I could feel my strength draining away. I barely had enough strength to gather up my gear. I got everything in hand and started walking back to the car with both arms loaded with poles, cooler, tackle box, net, and trash (while still getting my land legs back). Someone stopped me asking to see all the fish I caught. I was so out of breath I could barely talk. It was only a 100 yard walk to the car, but half way to the car I was panting like I just ran a mile. I kept walking, and about 10 feet away from the car, my tackle box detached from its' handle and landed upright on the asphalt. So happy it didn't pop open. I didn't have the energy to pick up hooks and lures in a hot parking lot in the sun. I got everything back in the trunk and started the car as soon as I could so I could get the A/C going. I just sat there with the air on full for about 20 minutes until I could feel my core temp dropping. I drank another bottle of ice water while I waited. When I cooled down enough, I drove back to the hotel. After a cool shower I was ready to relax the rest of the day. My hair was also a knotted mess from getting tangled in my life vest and the chin rope of my jungle hat. I was also wearing a long sleeve shirt and full length pants to keep the sun off. Wearing that along with the life vest was like wearing an overcoat as well. I had stopped sweating which usually precedes the 'cold chills' effect. The body pulls all of its' blood closer to the heart to protect it, similar to the effect seen by hypothermia.

I only caught one fish which was far less than I hoped, but I was happy anyway. I was able to bring the memory of my father, back to the lake we had the most fun on.

I had originally planned on going back for a bit of night fishing, but after the heat nearly done me in, I didn't want to take the chance. I also ate a spicy shrimp ramen for dinner, which had more salt. My Mother ended up not fishing at all due to the heat. So we will plan a day trip for some bank fishing in the near future.

On a side note, I'm sure I had enough salt. I had a 10" pepperoni pizza the night before, and an Italian sub while I was out. My condition was caused by 5 hour exposure to direct heat, humidity, sunlight, and conductive heating from the aluminum boat, which begins to heat up the brain. When your brain reaches a certain temperature, it begins to shut down, similar to running a very high fever. At that point your body is already trying to extract water from the circulatory system to avoid dehydration of vital organs. Electrolytes, water, and light clothing are the best bet, but sometimes the causative conditions go deeper than that. The moral of the story is, if you get too hot, find a place to cool down. It's not always just about sweating and drinking water. Take care of yourselves. In my case, there was nobody nearby to check on me, so following good advice is always a plus.

T'al Kothia Unity3D Project

Hello from CMP Land. It's been a while since my last post, so let's jump in to my latest Unity3D project. It's called T'al'Kothia . I'm awful at names sometimes :)

I started a new scene inside the current project simply because all of the needed assets are already loaded. I enjoy making scenes so a standalone project isn't necessary. Besides, I installed Unity 2021 a few months ago and it didn't like my system, so I uninstalled it. It left a bit of damage behind that I still need to address, but 2019 works fine for me. In the beginning, I created an island and set the environment parameters using Gia Procedural Worlds. I turn the Fog off as I work at distances, so clarity is better for now. I can always turn it on later. Sometimes on a project I just dive right in and get started building; like I did with this one, and forgot about screenshotting. So the first pic below is the the first SS, which is inside a Temple inside a much larger castle platform on the edge of the ocean.

After Putting the temple together I added a few lights to set an ambience, but at this point it is mostly stock directional lighting. I did add the spotlights for up/down lighting dynamics as I didn't want to overpower the scene lighting to illuminate everything. Doing that creates some rather blinding angles along with more difficult lighting baking. The 2 pics below are also of the Temple. I thought the exterior turned out pretty good. I did add more to the architecture and detail later, which you will see.

 

Above are some random shots around the property in 3rd Person game mode so I can test the colliders and aesthetics. I also run around everywhere to make sure there are no seams showing, as well as test the stairs and entries. I always start with stairs, but end up adding a plane to turn it into a ramp as it is easier on the inclines and tripping animations. I also start filling in areas with town structure to get a feel for the NPC flow and town dynamics for visuals. I also decided to add the smoke particle effect to the houses to give realtime chimney smoke. Little touches here and there make the experience more vivid for the player, and encourages them to explore more. I also have a thing about symmetry. Everything looks balanced and visually stimulating, instead of just running in to a sparsely detailed building.

After roughing in the layout, I jumped back to the Temple and started putting in details and working on the visuals.

 After a short break I started back at the details and bringing the lighting more into standard using realtime torches, chandeliers, and tweaking the spotlights to enhance the coverage. I also added in the lighted Cathedral windows to create a translucent lighting effect and bring a bit of realism to the scene. I may put some Sun Rays in at a later time, along with dust particles, but it's taking shape.

 As for the exterior, I wanted to add an architectural element to break up the boxy look of a large and very tall structure. In real world terms they are called Flying Buttresses. The are usually an addition to help support the sides of unusually tall constructions. The supports add an element of architectural engineering to the build. I also added in some trees and shrubbery around the perimeter for a lush visual. I try to use only trees that react to the Wind Zone since they are more realistic. I do not have the funds to buy the SpeedTree assets for every one, so I have to adlib :)

 More structures being added to the scene. I try to create a purpose for every empty spot I see, so there will be player/NPC flow and great scenery to view.

 This set of pics are mostly more structure shots, but I detailed the entrance to the Inn. I also created a raised campground platform as well as accompanying stables. Then added guard towers to the Main Gate. Behind each guard tower is a small habitable area complete with fireplaces for heat. Then I added another village structure (A Mage Village if you will) as well as started detailing the existing houses. The stairs are now bricked over creating an incline for smoother navigation to the 2nd tier.

 The 4 pics above are of a Mini Mall of sorts. It houses a dozen or so vendors like Armorers, Specialty vendors, stash, Financier, crafting, and such. I added some specific lighting and a few trees for depth and visuals.

 These 5 pics are of another structure I put together of an Elven Villa with an undercroft. The house is for an Elven Ambassador while underneath is a series of large archways. Underneath the living dome in the center is another large indoor area, complete with lighting at this point.

 Added more housing and worked on a bit more lighting. I also added some detail to a barracks unit.

 At this point, this is what the birds eye view of the area looks like. I tend to build in large squares due to the difficulty of working on sloped areas without being able to use a spline system. I don't use anything in geometry mode, so it's more difficult to lay in a proper wall or fencing system and make everything connect properly. I also laid in a walkway to create a flow through the structures to connect all the different areas. After I put the new stone floor walkway in, I went back and 'edged' the walkway on all the pathways. It was tedious and took over 600 boards, it's done and sets a good detail.

 These are different views of the walkway after it's completion. I also decided to put up a couple windmills to create the civil engineering effect of a water system. When I build, I try to look at it from an engineering standpoint also, as if I were also the Civil Engineer of this build. While this castle was built on the ocean;s edge, going out a short distance would run out of territory, so I decided to add another 8k square meter territory to bolster the transition through the castle out to the pier/docks on the other side.

At this point, when the project is opened, it takes 6-9 hours to generate all the lighting/geometry/reflection calculations.There are a few million Texels to account for, including trees, leaves, water reflections, lighting glows, and typical scene lighting. So it consumes 98%+ of the CPU and over 85% of the RAM. My system runs 32Gb of SODIMM RAM, an i5 Quad core processor, and a Radeon graphics card with 4Gb RAM. So it puts a heavy burden on the motherboard. I will take a break from it for a while and let my system 'settle' after crunching numbers just so I don't cook the CPU.

I hope you enjoy the progress of these projects, and this one has a long way to go. There is still an 8k square meter island to populate, as well as the additional 8k square meter terrain that is currently underwater.

Busy month

 It looks to be a busy March this time around. Beside the fact that my Mother turns 80 this month, I wanted to give her something unusual. So I ordered a new Delta kitchen faucet with sprayer. I will replace it myself, because I'm handy like that. I wanted to replace the entire kitchen sink but she talked me out of replacing the sink itself. I will replace both the strainer baskets while I'm at it though. I will also grill up some of my world famous Ribeyes and baked taters for her B'day lunch.

I also have a dental appointment to have Wisdom teeth pulled along with the one that has been broken in half for 2 years. So I get to nurse maid that for a while, but it does give me an excuse to basically not eat for a few days, so maybe I can get a bit of Ketosis going.

I also ordered a Home Gym, so that will have to be carried in and put together. I will be able to work out more often without the 50 mile round trip every time. Plus it will save me about $1500+ a year in gas, let alone the wear and tear 600 miles a month puts on my truck. As many experts have written, the belly fat is the hardest to lose. I have about 4 or 5 pounds there I can't get rid of. I have rock hard abs, but the belly is insulating it. There's a 6 pack under the fluffy exterior 😁 I can enhance my workout routines so that I trim my body mass index down to less than 5%, and now that I have good muscle tone, I can start working on definition.

I am also ramping up my Tokyo vacation preparations. I made a list of things I need to take, take care of, and consider so I have what I need for a month. I also have a list of things I will need to buy when I get there, along with shopping. I'm also trying to time my visit with some live concerts, and visits to many gardens, shrines, and Guitar Shops. I'm also looking forward to seeing all the Cherry Blossoms.

I am also looking to do a collaboration with an accomplished guitarist, so I spent some time exporting WAV stems to send over when his schedule permits. I created all of the backing music and gave him free reign over guitars and vocals/lyrics.

Sometime this month I will also be re dying my hair. Currently it is/was a beautiful Sapphire Blue. It has faded and I am looking to re color it to a Midnight Purple before my Tokyo trip. Presently my hair is down to my waistline and it looks cool with the color. I will also keep the gray streaks for character.

I'm hoping my wrist is also in better shape this month so I can practice Violin. The fracture has begun acting up, and it is in the bone/muscle group that one uses for vibrato, so I'm hoping it mends a little more.

That Book I'm working on...

  Welcome to another brand new blog! After so much time researching and working on my 2 volume set, it had not dawned on me to create a blog, so that others could get an idea of what material is in my book(s). I had posted about it a few times on social media, but I did not want to randomly post from my research without a conceivable direction to those posts.

 The name of the book set is called Genesis X (Vol 1 & 2). The content at this point covers over 600 pages of photos, charts, timelines, and tons of information that bears light on a great many subjects. Instead of adding in all the information, I have pics of the contents, and it would be easier to share this way

 

 

Volume 1 

Chapter 1 is a Preface like script setting the pace and concept of the series.

Chapter 2 is a look at a wide variety of Creation stories from around the world. To understand where we are going, we need to understand where we came from.

Chapter 3 is a research into how far back humanity can be traced by records written millennia past. Texts, manuscripts, and physical evidence suggest that we have been through a few Extinction Level Events, and we now live in a continuation of civilizations. Records referring to 'Advanced' civilizations go back many hundreds of thousands of years.

Chapter 4 looks into still misunderstood technology of the ancient Kingdom such as the Dendera Bulb, Sphinx mysteries, Great Pyramid mysteries, and other things that don't quite fit the narrative.

Chapter 5 is a more in depth look into Ice Ages, Global Climate change, and the cycles that repeat through the ages.

Chapter 6 covers the topic of MesoAmerica and the cultures that achieved such precise engineering, architecture, language, astronomy, and more.

Chapter 7 cover a brief account of Mesopotamia and the Indus valley. It's a rather short chapter as Sumerian lore is referenced throughout the book series.

Chapter 8 is a visit to many of the massive megalithic structures found around the world. The insight is not merely the size of these megaliths, but how would they move and place these massive objects.

Chapter 9 - Cycles within Cycles. Once you see the clock works of so many processes and events, you begin to see the patterns of timing and inevitability. Planetary cycles, climate cycles, geologic event cycles, event precursors, and so on. 

Chapter 10 is a look at our Milky Way Galaxy as a whole - our place in it, how it affects our Solar System, and more

Chapter 11 is a recount of the many 'Great Flood' events and stories from around the planet. They all happened at different times at different locations, so causative factors are also examined.

And below is the info for the second volume

 

 Volume 2

 Chapter 1 is a discussion and philosophical approach to what are termed OOPArt's, or Out Of Place Artifacts. These are discoveries of manmade artifacts that ironically date back many millions of years.

 Chapter 2 is a general approach to the stories and findings of human skeletons that have been recorded as being up to 14' tall, and occasionally taller. Stories of cultures that have encountered these very tall beings, and theories about their origin are examined.

 Chapter 3 discusses the accounts of ancient radioactive cities, and the weapons used to do it. Here we consider how ancient cities such as Mohenjo Daro ended up having vitrified stone inside a radioactive area, where the inhabitants seemed to all die at the same time, without warning.

Chapter 4 examines some of the ancient technology that we overlooked in history, such as the Antikytherum Device - mechanical computers that are still accurate to this day. We also marvel at the extreme accuracy of the Mayan Calendar.

Chapter 5 is a theoretical discussion on how we think the continuation of what we do will produce different results. There are lessons from the past that we should have already been deeply involved in changing.

 Chapter 6 looks at a great many cities that we have found in the depths of lakes and oceans. It does loosely tie in with the Great Flood topics, but these places were presumably built when the ocean levels were hundreds of feet lower than today. I also glimpse at an underwater empire over 1/2 mile deep off the coast of Cuba, which is the image on the cover of this volume.

Chapter 7 is a very lengthy and detailed account of many of the planetary events and insights to our history going back to the Big Bang. I have recorded geological events, volcanic events, meteor strikes, supercontinents, ancient human activity, flood events, historical events, OOPArt dating, and more.

Chapter 8 dives a bit deeper into the Ancient Alien Theory, that extraterrestrials have always been here, what they're doing and why. It also discusses the accuracy of some theories as well as a current state of our species.

Within these 2 volumes are also hundreds of pictures. I tried as much as I could to use media that is within the Commons regulations. I made every effort to try to use Public Domain imagery in order to avoid issues with copyright laws. Presently, there are only 2 copies of this in book form. I had them test printed so I could also reference them while I was away from my electronics. At this time, there are no publications available, as it is still a work in progress.

There are about 10 copies of the previous version of this work, called Genesis Mirror. It also, was/is not in distribution. With my current print status and publisher limitations, the maximum size of the book could not exceed 460 pages. While it did have copies produced, I had more information to add to the book, but was limited by volume size. I also had some corrections and such to edit also. So I decided to create a 2 volume set in order to contain the extra information. In most of the book, I make considerations and hypothetical suggestions, but much of the format is directed more towards an inquisitive nature. It is better to ask questions than it is to assume conclusions.

Below you can see 4 different captures of various chapters of the work in progress. I continue to update this project as I go along, but at some point I will need to establish a cutoff point. If I do not, it will continue to be a WIP without an official release. It will someday be published, and I can continue beyond the cutoff point with more information.

 From time to time, I will add more sneak-peeks to this blog :)

I do have 2 other books published. One is a Survival Primer, and the other is a manual on Bunker building.