Saa-gaaaa!

This is turning into another one of those abandoned projects so I'm going to make another attempt to keep it up; wish me luck!

So I was playing some World of Warcraft recently, as I do from time to time. Upon entering my login details I am presented with my first dilemma: what realm do I play on.

I am one of these people that never really committed to a single realm or character. As a result, I have many little projects on the go at the same time. I have a level 10 paladin here, a level 20 hunter there...

Don't get me wrong. These characters are not dead to me, just waiting for a reason to be better than they currently are.

I also picked up another trial account for EVE online. I have to say they've really made it much easier for new players to get started. the tutorial no longer takes 16 hours and the first few quests reward you with some ships and skill books that gently nudge in the right direction. Of course, experienced players will pick up a new character and ignore all the lowbie beginner stuff in favour of a more efficient 'levelling' curve. The problem with EVE is that your skill increases are time-based and, as a result, you cannot catch up with the existing players.

There was also the open beta of Pirates of the Burning Sea. I have to admit, this has some real potential. You play a captain in the Caribbean circa 1720 working for either France, Britain, Spain or the free roaming Pirates and you basically sail around trying to give your faction total control over the all the ports. Ship to ship combat is thrilling and tactical, and hand to hand swashbuckling adds an extra dimension to naval combat (board your enemies vessl and take out the captain, the crew will then surrender to you). The animations are a bit clumsy at times and there is a lot of un-polished content that prevents total immersion, but it's a good bit of fun which is made even more exciting when you group up.

Here's some lyrics from a song I've been working on.

"We fight the pain of times we lost;
Things we had and people loved.
The saga of a-nother broken dream."

Awake

After my relaxing week off work I returned to the usual stack of unread emails and polite conversation. I also had an increased workload due to a colleague being off sick.

C'est la vie.

The day went by pretty fast with not much distraction and it was not until I was driving home in the evening that I realised how much I hate the commute.

I live 15 minutes away from my office. Less than, in all honesty.

However it can take 40-50 minutes to get home in the evening due to traffic. Which is frikkin' ridiculous in my opinion.

Since the people that I spent the most time with over the past year or so have left the country, I could potentially look for an apartment closer to work but I mean... 15 minutes away is pretty close, right? Anything closer and I'd be walking it...

I started watching a movie last night but after some computer related issues I gave up and shut down my PC. Instead I turned on the TV.

Kill Bill Vol. 2 was on. Just starting actually.
It took me all of 40 seconds to realise that my level of French was not going to get me through this dubbed nightmare. You know that scene in Being John Malkovic when John goes inside his own head and every one looks like him and can only say 'Malkovic'? Malkovic, Malkovic, Malkovic. Malkovic? That's what French sounds like to me most of the time.

I Heart NY

I went out to the shop this morning to get some essentials (no, not more beer).
As I returned laden with goods and attempted to open my front door I heard a voice talking loudly on the phone, just down the street.
I ignored it, as I usually do, but with a sideways glance as I opened the door I noticed it was a young lady wearing a grey hoodie which read I 'heart' NY. I find this amusing because it is an opinion shared by many that the French are possibly one of the most xenophobic people around these days; not willing to compromise on their language or culture. So this girl was apparently a fan of irony, or was a rebel of some sort.

I mused on this briefly as I entered my building a let the door swing closed behind me with a familiar crash. However, it did not. Instead the door was pushed open again and the young lady entered with the calm, collected, assurance of someone who lived here.

I looked up once again as I was fumbling with my keys and a brief moment of eye contact led to the obligatory 'bonjour' exchange before we disappeared from each others lives again. A fleeting instance of inter-culture entwining.

Oh and in case a certain Edin-burger reads this: yes, she was fairly hot.

Saturday

Weird day.

Due to my late night blogging, you may have realised that I was not asleep at normal times.
I awoke this morning no less tired than I have been for the past several days. For this, I blame my poor diet.

After crawling out of my pit in a very student-esque style, I proceeded to not go out shopping and not buy any real food. Instead I have been sustained by beer and pate sandwiches.

I have an ulcer in my mouth today. I think I brushed at a funny angle and caused a trauma in the mucus membrane under my tongue. It makes eating and drinking a painful process and it bleeds when I agitate it. Naturally I have been poking and prodding it all day to see how much it bleeds and how much it hurts. The word mass-o-kissed would spring to mind if I could be bothered to spell it...

Speaking of masochists, it seems that Nel (from Bleach, for those unaware) is more than just an annoying replacement for Kon. In fact, it looks like she may actually be a bad-ass in the next episode.

Logged into an old realm of mine on WoW today and saw 2 old friends. We tried to do an instance... it didn't go so well.

Still, was nice to hear their voices again through the wonders of the internet.

Been listening to AFI a lot today. I say listening, but I really just mean it has been playing all day because I don't really hear the words or music anymore... it speaks directly to my subconcious now.

I havent watched the latest episode of Stargate Atlantis yet, it's on my list of things to do today.

I did, however, watch parts 1 and 2 (of 3) of Tin Man - the Sci-Fi channel's recent modern day reimagining of the wizard of Oz. I have to say it's pretty cool and I recommend it to any one who happens to stumble upon it.

Not much else has happened since 2am this morning I'm afraid, so I have nothing else to say.

Sleep

It is currently 01:45 and I should probably be asleep.

There are those that would argue that because it is the weekend, I do not need to sleep at regular times; however, I have just spent the week off work and incrementally later nights have destroyed my normally weak sleeping pattern.

What does this mean? It means that I will be tired next week at work; and that's not like me.

I spoke to my mother on Wednesday evening about a number of topics including the recent departure of a friend of mine from my place of employment and residence.

This 'loss' has left me in a curious state. I would say 'state, as in emotionally' but that would not be entirely accurate as my understanding of emotions is that one must have them before one can express them. I honestly cannot express an emotion about this recent event simply because there is no emotion to express.

Which brings me back to my curious state. It's a curious state of mind, you see. I thought that I had grown to know certain people, I dare say even made friends and opened up a little. However the departure of these people at this time have left less of an impact than I had expected. This is reinforced by the fact that the only contact I have had with them 'since', has been initiated by me.

Reflection is the act of looking at oneself and ones surroundings and trying to see how things could be improved, or even just changed. I have always considered myself to be a living mirror of sorts: forcing people to see themselves, for better or worse. I am reflection of self.

My father was in hospital yesterday. Well, casualty at least. He suffered some form of blackout with described symptoms which sounded heart related. Doctors say there are no abnormalities detected and we are putting it down to exhaustion and lack of food. Stay safe, dad.

Have been playing Assassin's Creed recently. Nice game, very pretty. Though the 'real world' seems to have been given less TLC than the rest; not a big deal due to the limited amount of time you spend there, but it's a shame that a project of this scope would fall on such a minor point.

I find myself at a stage in the game where I must complete a timed mission. I am told that 4 targets must die before noon, and the mission giver decides that would should split this task. So I have 2 targets to kill before noon.

The problems that arise with this are:
Noon is 3 minutes away, the 2 targets are in opposite directions from my current location, and they seem to be linked psychically so that I must kill one, hide, then kill the other when the commotion dies down. In 3 minutes.

Also, how the hell do they know that noon is exactly three minutes away? The game is set during the crusades and I haven't exactly seen many digital watches.

Guitar Hero 3 has also taken up some of my time. The learning curve is pretty insane and I found myself bluffing my way through a lot of the songs at less than the hardest difficulty level. I'm currently on the final set on hard mode and let me tell you: they don't call it thrash metal for nothing.

I recently learned how to make a long resolution wallpaper stretch onto my two monitors as a single continuous image, without the need for the task bar to be extended also. A minor task which I had never devoted any time to until now. So I currently have a very tasteful shot of some red blood cells at microscopic levels. I'll probably change it soon because I think the red is bad for my mental health.

It is currently 02:06 and I should probably be asleep.