Monday, December 10, 2012

Donuts n Drifts

What a fun weekend! I had a chance to catch up on loads of movies, gaming and most importantly had a real blast with the kids. Saturday morning saw the three of us head to the shops where my daughters proceeded to buy their own choice of Christmas trees and decorations. I had told them that this year they get to make their own Christmas trees up, being able to choose everything. The results were surprisingly good their choice of colours all matched and were actually quite tasteful. The trees they decorated look fantastic! My house is starting to feel very Christmassy indeed and we are all getting in the festive mood.

Gaming wise saw some real progression in DIRT3 and I’m pleased to say I’m getting offers left right and center from racing Teams to join their squads. I am having some problems though. The Gymkana stages are a huge amount of fun, but I have to say I’m distinctly average at it. I just can’t seem to get the hang of it. Yes, I can do the donuts and spins and drifts, but not with the precision required and it does take me a few precious seconds to get a donut or spin started in the correct zones. When you’re doing a time trial run those seconds are incredibly important. The highest medal I have achieved so far in those stages is a Silver. If you know me and driving games, I’m a bit of a perfectionist and my inability to grasp the intricacies of this particular part of the game is driving me round the bend! (excuse the pun). Practice makes perfect. I’ll get there I’m sure. 

Monday, December 3, 2012

Free Weekend

There are plenty of negatives to it, but I'm a glass half full kinda guy. One of the bonuses of having my marriage break down is the spare time I have all of a sudden been gifted. I'm sharing custody of the kids, and that means every other week I get a free weekend. Totally free. No one to please but me. It's been years since I have had that kinda freedom. So, what did I do with my free weekend?

Normally such freedom would mean me heading out on my motorbike to enjoy the stunning scenery and mountain ranges in the general locale, but that's not possible since someone knocked me off it a couple of months ago and she still sits on my drive with a hole in the side of her engine waiting for the Insurance company to pull their finger out. There is another reason I didn't do that this weekend, but that's down to me being a wuss. It's bloody cold here. Especially in the mountains. Well, relatively. I have been in the south of Spain for 6 years now and my blood must have thinned enough for me to start feeling the relative cold. It's only about 10 degrees here, which isn't 'too' bad when in the UK, but here, it's nippy. So that kind of confined me to the house aside from a couple of strolls down to the port to grab some take away food.

In order, my weekend went like this. Friday evening it started with the gathering of munchies, collation of booze and tabletop Call of Cthulhu roleplaying. A really fun session that saw the return of my burly woodkeeper ' Cutter' to the fray. Although he didn't actually get up to much as he is very much more the brawn than brains of the group and it was a particularly cerebral session. He seemed to be in the background a bit as a result, but he'll get his time to shine again soon I am sure! He did get to use some of his legendary tracking skills though up in Derbyshire, where he was hunting what we think may turn out to be a Werewolf. I'm sure there will be some chances for him to get physical though soon, the session was left in a real cliffhanger! That session ended late (I'm an hour in front of the rest of the players), so I logged in to EQ2 for about an hour, then watched some TBBT and went to bed.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Digital Buddy

So, I have this habit of logging in to EQ2 just after I have made the kids their dinner and going /AFK until I then get them settled in bed later. Just me being lazy really so as soon as the little ones are asleep I can get straight in to the action. But I'm very happy that last night I did that.

I was walking past the computer and saw in the chat box "Naadir has logged in". I couldn't hardly contain myself. Naadir is Jahf, an old friend from way back when in EQ2 history and we have stayed strong buddies ever since. He's a sterling fella and I have a great fondness for our friendship. So, after not seeing him for so long online (it's been, well it's been bloody ages!) it was wonderful to be able to chat to him again and catch up. Really made my week that did.

He's digging out his mic so tonight we can chat away the evening just like old times, putting the world to rights and generally having a right old laugh. That's what I love about EQ2 and online gaming in general, especially MMOs where the community is central to the game. I've tried explaining it to folks who look at me like I have just been crowned the 'King of the Nerds' when I tell them I indulge in a bit of online role playing in a Massively Multiplayer Online game. But what they don't realise is that whilst they are sat on their couch watching Coronation Street, that I am reaching out around the world and making new contacts and feeding existing friendships. That's right you don't have to have physically met someone to be their friend!

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

I'm Back?

Well, it looks like I'm back! Well, until I get too bored or busy again.

Quite a lot has happened since my last post way back when on Thursday November 10th 2011.

My real life has been chaotic, crazy, heartbreaking, joyful, and in some circumstances, very lucky!

My wife of 13 years left me, but we're still good mates and are sharing custody of the kids. All is happy in that arena now. I also got a new job. A pretty well paid one with quite a lot of responsibility and that seems to be going well too. My youngest daughter hit 4 years old, my oldest will be 11 in January.

Gaming wise, I am still dabbling in EQ2, but to be honest haven't done anything constructive really in either the Age of Discovery Ex-Pac, or indeed the new one, Chains of Eternity. I have them both, but just seem to dabble in the quests or mentor down helping folks when I log in. A couple of nights a go I took part in my first raid for an age! It was fun to see Volt way down the parse with the healers after a couple of years of top end hiatus. I certainly have a lot of work to do in exploring the last two ex-pacs and getting the old codger up to speed. 18 months ago I was used to seeing him near the top of the parse always. It's nice to have a challenge.