Joshua Kern's Blog, page 5
July 8, 2021
July Update/Newsletter
(I originally sent this out to people subscribed to my newsletter.)
Hi everyone,
It's officially now July, which means the year is already more than half over!
Anyway, I thought I would send out a quick news/update to everyone about what I have been up to.
First up, The Game of Gods 4: Pieces of Divinity is up for preorder on Amazon. Please grab a copy if you haven't already. As before, Podium will be doing the audio for this one and the novella!
Secondly, I have already started writing and putting up chapters for a new story called Portals of Albion. It's a portal story (Duh!) with elements of Gamelit and LitRPG. When I first described the story to a friend, they said it sounded like Narnia and the X-Men got together and had a child. I don't quite agree with the X-Men bit, but it is a fun visual and tagline.
I am also still working on chapters for The Well Within: Part 2, and should have that ready for Amazon later this year.
The rewrites on Forgotten Spies are coming along and I will be re-releasing that series (Refton & Thomas) under my penname at some point as well. I think the stories they told were interesting and fun, but they were some of my first completed works and it shows. I'm trying to fix up all the little things, while also tightening up the writing and not change the overall story. It's a process.
That's about it for now, and I hope everyone is doing well.
Stay safe!
Joshua Kern
May 17, 2021
Microsoft Surface Pro 5 Review
I recently got my hands on a slightly older model of the Microsoft Surface, and while I like it, I do have to wonder. Why would any company in this day and age even offer a model with 4GB’s of RAM?! Honestly, you can not do anything with so little RAM, after Windows takes a chunk of it you are left with only a little to run your browser or other programs. It is a problem, and frankly a stupid decision on their part.
It is also the largest issue I have with the laptop. Kind of.
The other main issue I have has less to do with design and more to do with components. The laptop no longer sees it’s Wifi and Bluetooth chip/card. Apparently, from what I was told is that it had been working fine up until a Microsoft Windows 10 update disabled it, or something. Regardless of how, the system no longer sees it, and I have to use a USB Wifi adapter taking up the only USB port on the laptop.
I have booted into Linux and even reset the OS, and still, it doesn’t see the Wifi or Bluetooth. It is actually dead at this point, and I am not going to take apart the laptop for an in-depth look.
What I do like though, is the screen and the keyboard.
The main issue I have always had with typing on laptops is that the keyboards always feel off. It was more annoying than anything, and something always tickles at the back of my mind. Not is not an issue I have with the Surface. I actually like this keyboard and typing on it even feels nice.
It’s a good machine, even if it is slightly old at this point. It does have issues, but overall I really like the Surface Pro 5 and will be looking to buy a new one with better specs at some point in the future.
March 24, 2021
My Author Website is Up and Running!
My author website is now up and running. I'll be posting chapters on there for my current stories, it will be behind my Patreon but ahead of RR and Scribblehub in that regard. Check it out.
March 7, 2021
A Girl So Small...
This is a simple short piece I wrote years ago and am just now posting on here.
There once was a girl so small and blue,
Whose parents died by the flames so true,
She cried and wailed, her tears falling free,
Her glistening eyes held feelings of fear,
She was now alone with no one to care,
Her falls went untended,
Her triumphs unknown,
Her skin grew sallow, while her hair became stringy,
An unwashed mass that was now hardly a girl,
The rage within growing hot and fierce,
Her eyes began to glow, scaring those who might help,
With a clap and a roar, she let it all go,
The world would now know how her parents had died,
Flames that burned all, with flickers of blue,
She stood tall, as a wicked grin grew,
She was alone, scared but not afraid,
The world was now hers, and hers all alone
July 1, 2014
The Fork And My Own Personal ReMix on it
For those of you who don't know "The Fork" is one of my personal favorite short stories, I never get tired of reading it. And so with a look of personal introspection I wrote my own personal ReMix of it, it doesn't necessarily follow the same line as the original, but then it wasn't supposed to.
The ForkThere was a woman who had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and was given 3 months to live. As she began getting her things "in order", she called her pastor and asked for him to come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes.She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, what scriptures she wanted read, and what dress she wanted to be buried in. She also requested to be buried with her favorite Bible in her left hand.Everything was in order and as the pastor was preparing to leave, the woman suddenly remembered one final request that was very important to her."Please Pastor, just one more thing", she said excitedly."Sure, What is it" came the pastor's reply."This is very important to me," the woman continued....."I want to be buried holding a fork in my right hand."The pastor gazed at the woman, with a loss for words."That surprises you, doesn't it ?" the woman asked.The pastor replied "Well to be quite honest, I'm puzzled by the request".The woman explained. "You see, Pastor, in all my years of attending church socials and potluck dinners, I remember that when the dishes were being cleared after the main course, someone would inevitably lean over to me and say, 'Keep your Fork'... it was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming, like velvety chocolate cake or deep dish apple pie. Something wonderful, and with substance to end the great meal".The pastor listened intently and a smile came upon his face.The woman continued, "So, I just want people to see me there in the casket with a fork in my hand and I want them to wonder....'What's with the fork?'... then I want you to tell them: "Keep your Fork......the best is yet to come".The pastor's eyes welled up with tears of joy as he hugged the woman goodbye.He knew that this would be one of the last times that he would see her before her death. But he also knew that the woman had a better grasp of Heaven than he did. She KNEW and trusted that the best was yet to come.At the funeral, everyone who walked by the woman's casket saw her wearing a beautiful dress with her favorite Bible held in her left hand and a fork held in her right hand. Over and Over the pastor heard people ask the question, "Why is she holding a fork?" and his smile began to get larger and brighter each time. During his message, the pastor told the people about the conversation that he had with the woman shortly before she died. He explained the fork and what it symbolized to her.The Pastor told everyone how he could not stop thinking about the fork and how he hoped that they would not be able to stop thinking about it either. That fork and the meaning of it to the woman had quite the impact on everyone and they are still sharing the story with people they meet.And now it has been shared with you......so the next time you reach for your fork, let it remind you, oh so gently, that the best is yet to come...
The Fork (My ReMix)There was a man who had lost all hope for his life, he’d been diagnosed with a myriad of illnesses and they were looking for more. He began trying to get his things, his life “in order”, he documented his life and began to write. He listed the things he had done, the good and the bad. He made a list of the things he wished he had done or been able to do, “get married, have kids, finish college” and at the very top of his list right above getting married he put the one thing he had always wanted. “Find the one woman in this world that I can be myself with, the one that I don’t feel the need to hide anything from, the one that I will someday marry.”Everything written down. The man looked down and remembered his life as he read what he had written, everything flashing through his mind like it was on a film roll. With one final desperate thought he wrote one final line to his life story, “To whoever reads this, please don’t judge me harshly or fault me for taking what many consider to be the easy way out. My life was never my own.”Without another thought or glance at the screen he clicked the save button, and turned off the monitor on his computer.Taking a final look around his room he noticed his cell phone as it began to ring silently.Without looking at the Caller-ID he picked up his phone and answered the call.Without waiting for the person who had called him to speak he started talking about his life, how it had never been easy and how no-one had ever believed that his problems were real but instead merely a cry for attention. That even after they had been diagnosed everyone still just brushed aside, choosing instead to believe that they weren’t truly as bad as he said they were.After speaking for some time the man paused and waited for the person on the other end to say something.“You mentioned your list of things that you haven’t done yet, if you’re going to give up why don’t you at least do those things first. Go out with as few regrets as possible, and when you gone through your entire list why don’t you look back through and see if there are more that you need to add to your list, more that you need to do before you truly give-up. And then after everything on that list has been completed, make a new list with the names of all the people that you have ever wronged and another one with the names of all the people that you might be able to help before they give-up.” The voice on the other end of the phone paused before saying one final thing. “Always remember that as long as you have the lists, you have hope that something better is coming. Something wonderful, and with a lasting effect to the end of your days.” The man listened, tears glistening in his eyes and running down his cheeks as the phone call ended. He clicked through the screens on his phone until he got to the Caller-ID and saw that the number was blocked.The man slowly got to his knees and prayed to his Father above as he had never done before. Pouring out his dreams and desires, his frustrations, and everything that he could think of, until all that remained were his tears, still streaming down his face.Slowly and with leaden legs the man stood and moved to his computer, turning on his monitor he looked at the document he had written and highlighting the last line he hit delete, and began to type again.Joshua L. Kern
October 15, 2013
Asus G55V ROG Laptop Review
Asus G55V ROG Laptop Review
I’m a little late to the game on this one, I know. However, I managed to buy it at a screaming deal from a seller on Craigslist. This laptop came with a 750gb HDD, (a rather random size in my opinion) 12gb of RAM, and a built-in Nvidia GPU (GeForce GTX 660M). And right away, you know this thing was made for gamers.
My first impression was man, this thing is an absolute brick! It is heavy, with a weight of over 5 pounds! The bulk of that is from the rather hefty battery, and all the internal cooling it has going on inside. The bottom of the laptop would occasionally get hot, but it never came close to overheating regardless of what I threw at it.
The back end of it is to thank for that, especially once you notice how they have the heat ports set up. On the bottom is a small hatch of sorts, which provides easy access to the HDD and RAM slots.
Outside of that, all the USB ports, of which there are several are also all USB 3.0. A nice and speedy addition that I had not been expecting when I initially bought it. There are also ports for HDMI, VGA, a Mini Display Port, Gigabit LAN, and audio jacks.
The keyboard has a dedicated number pad to the side, and due to a slightly wider than average size does not end up feeling cramped. I have spent hours typing on it and not only is it one of the better laptop keyboards I have used and it is also backlit!
The screen is 1080p and looks good indoors, though I am not sure it would be bright enough for outdoor use. Of course, lugging something this heavy for a simple outdoor gaming session would not be on the docket for most people.
The processor is an Intel i7-3610QM quad-core. It has a base clock speed of 2.3 GHz with an auto-turbo boost feature that will ratchet it up to 3.3 GHz. It performed well on the bench tests.
Cinebench R10 Rendering Single 32Bit - 4358
Cinebench R10 Rendering Multiple CPUs 32Bit - 7114
Cinebench R10 Shading 32Bit - 6317
Cinebench R10 Rendering Single CPUs 64Bit - 5509 Points
Cinebench R10 Rendering Multiple CPUs 64Bit - 20630 Points
Cinebench R10 Shading 64Bit - 6213 Points
Cinebench R11.5 OpenGL 64Bit - 42.41 fps
Cinebench R11.5 CPU Multi 64Bit - 6.16 Points
The HDD is the weak link on this machine and the item that slows it down the most. I would suggest upgrading from this one as soon as possible.
The Nvidia graphics card performs admirably and can play all my MMO games on high without a problem or noticeable stutters.
This brings me back to its main purpose gaming. Is it a replacement for your desktop? No. Is this a perfect gaming laptop? Again, no. Is it better than anything else I could have gotten for a similar price? Absolutely!
September 12, 2010
The Beginning
Here is the prologue to a story I am going to try and finish writing at some point.
The Game of Gods - Prologue
“I have grown tired of watching over these foolish humans!” Zeus roared in annoyance. Many of his fellow gods that were gathered around the circular table nodded in agreement.
“What would you have us do? They have all but forgotten us!” Odin replied, one hand stroking Muninn while Huginn rested on the opposite shoulder.
“We can reset the board, we can change everything before we truly are forgotten.” Zeus told them wearily. The long intervening years had not been kind to any of them. Many of them were one comic book or movie away from being forgotten by the masses.
“How? None of us have the strength to do something of that magnitude anymore. Even at the height of our powers it would have proven difficult!” Brigit of the Tuatha Dé Danann, said angrily as she finally rolled the dice waiting breathlessly for it to finish rolling. She got an eleven.
The man at the head of the table was garbed in a large cloak and hood that kept his face in shadow. “You needed at least a thirteen to avoid the attack from the crazed Dark Elf. His strike hits for one hundred twelve damage taking the rest of your health. You have died.” The games Dungeon Master told her with a hidden smirk.
Brigit stood in a huff and kicked over her chair. That was the third character she had lost in as many weeks.
“If you worked together with everyone else you would not die as often!” He told the beautiful and angry goddess. His words doubtlessly falling on deaf ears, playing nice with other people had never been her strong suit.
“Well there’s an idea!” Shiva interjected in a deep smooth voice. “We could all work together to make it happen. Combine all our remaining powers.”
“Hmm, it could work,” Odin said thoughtfully his fingers still stroking the silky black feathers of Muninn.
Arinnas’ softly glowing hands reached across the table and snagged the dice. It was her turn to roll them. “What do we do then? How would we change things?” She asked as she tossed the dice across the table.
Zeus reached out and caught the dice before they could hit the table ignoring Arinnas’ squawk of displeasure. “That’s obvious we turn the entire world into this!” He told them all in a powerful voice as he waved his arm at the table.
Slowly all the gathered gods began laughing as they caught onto what he was suggesting.
It was unnoticed by the rest when the face of the Dungeon Master upturned into a gleeful grin. Finally, things were about to get interesting.
