One a Day #6 So…
09 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
As you may have guessed by the lack of regular posting, I have gotten bored with my resolution to publish once a day. Alright, that was a lie. I’ve actually been exceptionally busy doing that thing that no one likes: moving.
I always claim to like moving, but what I really like is living in a new place. That’s the fun part. It’s also enjoyable to purge all of the silly stuff I’ve accumulated over the last however many years. What is not enjoyable is all of the other bullshit, because moving happens infrequently enough that I forget how bad it is by the time I’m about to do it again.
Everything is a process when it comes to moving, and I’m not even counting finding a nice new place in a decent area that is actually affordable. That’s obviously a process, but even that is more enjoyable than acquiring enough packing supplies (without buying too much tape or too much bubble wrap) and securely putting all of your shit into boxes. I was lucky enough that family and my work furnished the vast majority of the necessary boxes, but my girlfriend (hi cutie) had to play the “how much is too much?” game with the bubble wrap and packing tape. She ended up doing a damn good job estimating, and we had just enough bubble wrap and a bit of leftover tape, but I haven’t always been this lucky. No, I remember moving with my family when I was fifteen and digging (dirty) boxes out of a dumpster at the last minute because they fucked up and didn’t acquire enough boxes.
I guess, at the end of the day, what I’m trying to say is this: moving fucking sucks (but it’s fun to live in a new place).
One a Day #5 Time Constraints
05 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
The database I need in order to do any work is currently down, which means my office feels a lot like fire drills did in elementary school. I should be working, but external forces are preventing that from happening, and I am more than happy to enjoy a brief respite as I have been at work since 6:30 and will remain at work until 6. Of course, unlike a fire drill at school, I have to eventually finish the work I would have been doing were it not for technical mishaps, but I don’t mind. In fact, constraining the amount of time I have to accomplish a task often makes me more effective, or maybe I just tell myself that because I like screwing around when I feel as if I should be working. More
One a Day #4 Yo, This Site Rules
05 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in One a Day
Given that I am in excruciating back pain today, and I want to get off of the computer to take some painkillers and pass the hell out, I want to talk a bit about a site that I’ve been reading lately. I don’t remember how I found it exactly, probably one of the fine folks I follow on Twitter, but this site is brilliant. The site in question is, of course, Yo, Is this Racist? More
One a Day #3 On Openness
03 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
I was recently chided for not opening up a bit more on this blog. My girlfriend, the lovely woman who I moved to LA to be with, pointed out that my posts have all been outward facing, something that I feel is worth considering and reflecting upon. It’s true that I do tend to write more about media and popular culture. Part of this is that I went to school for way too long to be able to critique media, but if I’m being honest, and I probably should be, the primary explanation for my reticence on personal matters is that I’m scared to open up in a public forum. This isn’t anything new or groundbreaking, as I’m sure I could read through many other blogs and find a similar sentiment being expressed. However, it feels good to get it out there. More
One a Day #2 The Best of 2011: Metal Edition
02 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
2011 was a pretty weird year for me. As I alluded to (alright, outright stated, “alluded to” just sounds cooler) in yesterday’s post, I spent the bulk of 2011 looking for work, which meant I had very little time to consume new media. I think I played two video games that actually came out in 2011, LA Noire and Deus Ex 3: Human Revolution, both of which I played for a grand total of about two hours combined. When I’m looking for work, I tend to feel that really shitty type of guilt that renders me unable to enjoy relaxing. Fortunately, I was able to listen to a lot of music while I retooled cover letters and sank deeper and deeper in to the crushing despair associated with trying to figure out which bill I could pay late without having it sent to collections. More
One a Day #1
02 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
Last year, I attempted to take part in the amazing One a Day project, which was organized by one of my favorite online friends, Pete Davison. Although Pete recently announced that he is too busy to organize and run the project this year, I intend to do a better job following through, as the fact that he is at over 700 consecutive daily entries and counting is massively inspirational and incredibly cool. More
Minimalism 3: Minimalism Hardest
01 Aug 2011 Leave a Comment
For someone who does not believe in god, fate, or any meaning outside of that which we are able to personally ascribe, I am oddly superstitious. As a result, I did not want the series on minimalism I began almost nine months ago to remain unfinished in 2009. Even if I don’t desire closure in the media I study, I do like the sense of closure that comes from finishing something I’ve started, so here is the last piece on minimalism, something you may remember I started way too long ago. While neither of the previous pieces are necessary for reading this one, they will provide insight in to the methodologies and concerns with which I look at minimalist games and their place in gaming. You can find them here and here. More
