Personal Blog
Archive for June, 2011
In which I get a job.
“You need to be more confident.” I am told in my four week review.
I nod coyly and quietly agree.
It might not be the job I spent three years and twenty grand at uni for but it’s nothing to complain about. It’s permanent and gives me the experience I’ve lacked, but needed, for 90% of my job applications over the past three years.
Whatever I end up doing for the rest of my working life this is the first step down that path.
Remind me of that when I start complaining.
Tom
Returning to EVE Online Part 1.
11 months ago
EVE Online is a strange game, it’s a game that’s cooler to think about than it is to play.
Forging your path through the stars, slowly making your way up in this galactic society, choosing what you want to achieve and how you want to get there.
It’s beautiful.
It’s also rock hard to get into. I played once, back in 2008. I returned again in 2010, this time with a new character and played for a month. Now, in 2011, I find myself wanting to be flying between planets again, building blueprints and conquering the stars.
“Last chance to get a 5 day trial!” I receive in my email again. Last time I downloaded the client but never actually played, now I have two days left to claim so I log on, update and activate.
I look at the corporation, for some reason they haven’t kicked me out. I check my messages and understand someone wanted me to do build something for them this time last year. Oops.
I click on the few of the menus; I have over 2 million ISK but I have no idea what that’s actually worth. I have items spread across half a dozen different planets but don’t know how to get to them. I have skill points to reassign but am not sure how.
I’ve not even left the dock I’m in and already I way in over my head, not knowing what to do or where to go. I remember doing some tutorial missions before but don’t know if I can go back and do them again, or even where they are.
I ponder for about five minutes, thoughts of flying through space, helping corporations build ships, defending colleagues as they mine are soon overcome by a complete inability to do anything.
I log off again, I don’t have time to work this out, decide what’s going on.
And now that trial’s over and I didn’t do anything useful. I don’t have the time, or money, to properly sink into playing before. I know I have plenty of other, easier games that I can lose myself in.
Yet there’s a part of me, the part that put “Part 1″ at the end of this posts title, that is really wanting to go and sign up again.
Tom
“It Lives!”
Yes, I’m back. As before I’ll probably either be too busy to write or not busy enough to have something to write about but, unlike before, I’m not giving myself a target to try and meet.
This means no more daily posts, no more weekly reviews and no set day to expect my thoughts and opinions.
What I intend to do is write when I have something to say, if anyone’s interested then that’s awesome. If not, then at least I’m writing again.
I have always assumed, speaking from experience, that if I don’t have a quota to meet for my blog then I wouldn’t write at all, but now what I’m finding is that for every couple months I don’t write anything I find myself wanting to come back again. Having a platform to publish what I have to say to the internet is brilliant, and being able to do so as and when I like, without feeling bad if I don’t, seems to be just what I need.
That doesn’t mean posts won’t be regular, if I have stuff to write about every day then I’ll write about stuff every day, what you won’t get is posts posting about the fact I want to post but have nothing to post about. And posts posting about that too.
I know, I don’t know why I didn’t do this before.
Less crap, more interesting posts. This is the next stage of blog.TomThrop.com’s evolution and it should be interesting, no?
“The inhuman figure lunges at you but just before his teeth sink into your arm he stops. A slight confused glint shines briefly in his eyes and you know something small but something quite significant has changed within him. He stumbles back. He appears to understand where he’s been going wrong and the mournful look he gives you seems to suggest he doesn’t want to eat your brains any more, but rather he would like to invite you round for a nice cup of tea and a biscuit or two.”Tom