Coming back … again and again

Well, I've taken another couple month break from the old blog. In fact, I've taken a couple-month break from life.

I wish I could say I spent the bulk of January and February in a sensory deprivation tank a-la William Hurt in Altered States, but alas I'm much more boring than that. I spent a few weeks visiting Los Angeles and that was fun. I wasted a solid month-and-a-half being way too old to couch surf but fucking doing it anyway; I wanted to get in touch with my inner hippie.

I have also been having some familial issues, and now they are in the process of sorting themselves out. Of course I will not go into all the gory details here, but lets just say I could have a pretty good treatment for a TV drama if I cared to write it. Everybody is learning, growing, sharing and whatnot.

I do have no compunction relating my gaming experiences herein, as that is the purpose for which this blog exists. Sadly, those experiences are also rather dull.

Sucker for a sale

I spent more money than was prudent during the weeks-long gang bang that was the Steam Holiday Sale. However, I got loads of sweet games for hella cheap (to use the patois of my northwestern American home), mostly comprising games I already wanted but was too stingy to buy at full price.

The winners in the "waiting-for-a-sale-and-already-knew-I'd-like-it" category are Children of the Nile, Company of Heroes and Day of Defeat. I scored on these and I am thrilled about it. Sadly I haven't been able to play Children of the Nile as much as I want and no matter how hard I try I just suck (big-time) at Company of Heroes (though I still love it), but I went on a Day of Defeat bender for a couple weeks and loved every minute. Avalanche is my favorite map so far, though I have developed a bit of a Donner fetish.

The winners of the "impulse-buy-and-didn't-care-for-it" category are Zombie Shooter 2, Evil Genius and Killing Floor. I can't say I cared for any of these, and my reasons are various. I may still enjoy playing Evil Genius someday, but I couldn't get past the tutorial which made me want to punch things -- I believe I had issues with its rather glacial pace. I just can't get into Killing Floor for no particularly good reason (which could change in the future, however) and I outright dislike Zombie Shooter 2. If I would have spent more than $2.50 on ZS2 I would have felt completely cheated. While I don't really dislike Killing Floor or Evil Genius, if I had a second chance I probably would not bother to buy either.

Fly Safe, Capsuleer

The surprise hit of the sale was a brand new $5 EVE online account. I am happy and nerdy to say I have been glued tight to the Verge Vendor region of New Eden since around Christmas, learning the many vagaries of asteroid mining. While technically not a "new" account -- I activated a trial account I originally made in 2007 -- I have been enjoying EVE nearly every day for the past two months and feel as though I have finally "found" an MMORPG I can truly enjoy.

I put "found" in quotes, of course, because I have actually played EVE Online off-again-and-on-again since 2006; I find it a bit strange I only now have actually taken to the game. In my previous attempts to grok the game I always knew there was something about it that I like and enjoy, but I suppose until I tried being a full-time miner I didn't actually know what that something actually is. So right now that something is mining and mineral trading, which I am utterly cracking-out on. Dangling preposition FTW.

And now with the recent announcement of the SimCity-like aspects of the upcoming Tyrannis update, I will probably be hooked for at least another several months, if not longer. If you want to look me up in-game I'm Dank Fortuente and the asteroid belts of the Aidart solar system is currently my main stomping grounds.

The only other MMORPG I am dabbling in at all is Dungeons and Dragons Online, which continues to be a treat now that I can play sporadically without worrying over paying a regular subscription. I don't get to play terribly often but I have been working on a Drow Exploiter Ranger which I named Emmil Cioran. His bio reads only "ennui is the echo in us of time tearing itself apart;" perhaps "reality is a creation of our excesses" would be more a-propos to the venue, LOL.

Moving On

Well, it is nearly time for me to wrap up this post. So I will leave by saying that I am still here, still building cities and RPing like a nerdy dork, even still working on my PBBG, despite various hurdles and setbacks. I suppose I could go on for longer about my love affair with MySQL InnoDB and foreign keys, but I will bore you with that in another post. Until then blaze high -- you know I will.