MYST 25th Anniversary Kickstarter
Without a doubt, the single, #1 favourite game series of all time, for me, is that created by Cyan: MYST. Their worlds, known as Ages within game lore are absolutely stunning. Even the worlds created back in 1995 when they took the world by storm in being the number 1 game-seller (as I recall).
Now they’re re-releasing all their games, re-tweaked for modern hardware so that we can enjoy them all over again. (Trust me, I will for sure!) This time around, though, they’re doing it via Kickstarter. Much like they did with Obduction. (Oh, BTW, if you haven’t checked that game out…go, do it now. It was also fantastic!) Their Kickstarter campaign is over here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1252280491/myst-25th-anniversary-collection and will be worth every moment of your time to check it out, and every dollar you wish to donate. The rewards are all fantastic, in true Cyan fashion. (I mean, WORKING LINKING BOOK?!?!?!?! I’m sold.)
And since it’s related, here’s a link the post on the same topic at an old fansite of mine for MYST Online : URU Live (Now MO:UL Again):
https://uruexploration.net/?p=864
Saturday Morning
It’s Saturday. Morning. Like, really morning. I’m up, have taken my wife to work, had breakfast out on the deck while I watched an anime show on Crunchyroll. I’ve had time to peruse Facebook, and spend 20 minutes looking for my iPad keyboard so that I could muck around on WordPress. It’s not even 9am yet!!!
It’s actually kind of chilly out here on the deck. The sun, while slowly climbing towards zenith is still behind some really large trees, and also the high-rise behind them. I’ll probably wish that was the case later on when it hits near 30 celsius this afternoon. Such is life.
Now I feel like I ought to figure out what I’m going to do with the rest of my weekend. Probably some house chores. Gods know that there’s never any end to them. Plus they’ve pretty much been ignored all week; so I ought to do some dishes and laundry at least. 🙂 That takes care of this morning.
What about this afternoon?
I have a proverbial tonne of reading that I need to catch up on; both in news articles, and books that I’ve purchased over the last <forever> that I haven’t gotten to. But if I spend the afternoon reading, I’ll probably end up taking a rather long nap; and there will go Saturday.
<squirrel>
On a completely different note, I had an interesting spark of thought this morning as I was coming home. I’ve been working at the new job as Support Web Developer for almost two months now; and apart from the fact, that I still haven’t done much actual work on websites, I’ve noticed something in my own way of interacting with my co-workers. I have an urge to pass on knowledge. A big one.
I’m finding often-times, that I’m having to hold back in conversations, because I just want to expound on how much I know on a subject, whether it’s needed or not. I feel I really need to hold back, given I’m the rookie on the job, howevermuch I’m the only guy in the department. But that’s what really led me to notice this.
In my previous job, I did a lot of training. Day-to-day stuff, sure; but more than that as well. As a retail manager, you are pretty much solely responsible for making sure that your entire team knows what they need to know in order to do their jobs and live up to your expectations. To that end, I was always guiding, teaching, and informing the people that I worked with; and, that extended to non-work-related things as well. You just learn so much about the world sometimes that you have to share. 🙂
Back to my spark of thought: what if, down the road, I went into teaching? There’s nothing really, apart from education that holds someone back from that I think. And in my mind, education is just a matter of taking the course and learning the material. Actually learning it, of course, and not just passing the class. 😀
At the very least, it’s worth considering. It’s not an entirely new thought, really. It’s soething that has been in the back of my mind for years and years; but, I was never (and am not) entirely sure it would hold enough challenge for me. I might even be good at it. Hard to say. There’s also the fact that whenever I imagine teaching, I am imagining teaching in a high school setting; and that poses a challenge all its own in regards to stress levels…which I’m not sure I’m up for.
So, at the very least this idea is going back up on the shelf for a while; but, I’ll keep an eye on it and take it down from time to time for consideration. You always need a backup plan after all.
Cheers!
[Top]Where to start?
It is true, that I have been away from a lot of my creative, and developmental work for a longer time than I would have liked to be. Before this past fall, I hadn’t even really done much work development-wise, let alone creatively. Thankfully, I have a guild that I belong to in a popular MMORPG that had me pick up my rather dusty (and even rusty!) skills, and get back to work with them on the website for said guild.
It’s been a long process, and I still haven’t got everything back that I had before. I really need to pick up on the old php and javascript stuff that I used to know so well. Let alone Python. Still, that should be relatively easy to do. I just need a project for myself to dive headfirst into, and start creating things from the ground up again to make it happen.
But those aren’t the only things that I have on the “things I want to do” list. So much reading, writing, creating. There are courses, even, that I think I would like to take to help me develop my creative and developmental skills…but I certainly don’t have the funding for that right now; nor the time to see it happen.
That brings me to the other stuff in my life; what many would argue, would be the more important stuff in life. The people around me, the everyday stuff that needs to get done like house chores. How on earth does everyone else get all this stuff “looked after” or kept up, while pursuing all the other things they want, and still hold down a job? Lord knows the job I’ve got right now demands every last minute I care to grant it. And the projects around the house (many of which I have put off for a very long time), don’t seem to be getting themselves done without my intervention. In fact, they seem to have multiplied somehow…WTF?
So, where do I start? What thread brings me to the beginning of the unravelling (and thus completing) of all the things that I want to do?
Alas, this is a complaint, and a struggling point that I have been dealing with my entire life. One of those blastedly annoying cyclical things that will ever come back to bite me. As ever, I’m going to have to evalute what time I want to spend doing what, and probably scale back some of the liesure activities that I’m partaking in, in order to accomplish the other things that I want to.
One of these days they will find a way for me to be in sixteen places at once; sure they will.
[Top]A trip
We’re heading out to visit the family in Boissevain today. Only been a couple weeks since I was out there for a visit, but frequency is nice. 🙂 So long as they don’t get bored with us I suppose. Hee.
This time Lucette is coming with me so the trip won’t be so quiet in the car… Or maybe it will. She will probably sleep the whole way there.
Still, looking forward to the visit and maybe even taking some photos with this new gizmo I call a phone.
Cheers,
Isyldar
[Top]Language
I have been increasingly intrigued by other languages over the past while. Years really. No idea why, it just seems to interest me. The thought of speaking to someone in a different way yet getting ideas across… Perhaps that is why. Or perhaps I just don’t like being unable to understand things that are in plain view or earshot.
I have said this elsewhere, that I work in retail; and infrequent though it is, I do get customers in who don’t, or cannot speak English, or just can’t very well. I have often wished at that point that I could be the one to bridge that gap and converse with them in their own language, even if poorly on my part.
To that end, I often pay attention to translations of this or that. French is so prevalent in Canadian culture and advertising that it is difficult not to learn some of the language even without trying. I have even picked up on some key phrases and words in Japanese from watching as much anime as I have these past months. I am very very far from being able to make use of that language in any meaningful form; however it feels good to know what little I do.
And all of that has led me to today, and yesterday really. I was reading Android magazine, and they featured this among many other apps: Duolingo. It’s a free app that offers to teach you a few different languages. Alas, no japanese; however french is there. And that one I feel is more important to my every day life at this point than being able to watch anime without subtitles.
So I started in on the app and it’s training last night while enjoying the night air and a fire on my deck; and thus far I have been fairly surprised by how much I do know of the French language. Don’t get me wrong. I couldnt hold a conversation with a stick at this point, but it has been easy for me to comprehend many of the phrases and words in the training thus far. I still struggle with so much of the grammar and genderization in that language, but I am slowly picking up on syntax. And every new word I learn brings me closer to making true use of the tongue.
I am going to keep at this. So far the lessons have been quick and poignant, and a lot of fun. I find myself trying to speak the phrases I am leaning, and often get a step wrong because I translate the phrase to English and key it as such instead of entering the French text. The amuses me.
So we will see where this goes. Hopefully it isn’t a passing fancy as so many other interests in my life. Only time will tell that. Until later,
Au revoir à plus tard!
Cheers,
Isyldar
[Top]Back to Work
I work in one of the more stressful industries, that aren’t manual labour: electronics retail; and today was my first day back to work after vacation. What can I say about it? Well, instantly the pressures I left behind me returned… But i suppose that’s par for the course.
I suppose though that the most interesting part of today was coming home. Yes, there’s a lot of projects awaiting me here too, but now they don’t seem so burdensome, so desperately crucial, so heavy. I guess it could be related to taking up the mantle at work again, and the home stuff just not seeming as hard to accomplish… I don’t know. Either way it’s good.
It’s just plain nice to come home to home, with all its foibles as they are, and bbq up a couple steaks for supper with your wife, in preparation for the evening, be it what it may.
Isyldar
[Top]End of Vacation
Well, if nothing else, it has been a very up and down week. I return to work once again on the morrow, back to the grind and all that I needed a vacation from. It is a daunting thought. But one I think I need. A vacation from home almost. Though I know quite well that given some more time I’d be comfortable at home and get some more things done.
As I sit here, my wife is putting away the groceries and we are going over the meal plan in part for next week. Feels like a typical sunday afternoon to me. Prep for the new week, lament over what didn’t get done last week.
One of the tasks that she took on this week was painting our spare room. I, sadly, was completely out of it with stress, and wasn’t able to help her with it. 2 coats of primer and 1 of paint later, we still need to do another coat. I guess I will have to take that on tomorrow afternoon when I get home. After all, if it doesn’t happen soon, it just won’t.
That brings up another bundle of thoughts. The rest of the plan for this week. How much do I plan out? I am thinking it easy to fill every night and morning with something to do; and now it’s on my mind, there are a bunch of small tasks that need completing before Thursday when we have the Electrician over.
Bah there’s never an end. Often vacation serves to add more projects to the list of those that might never see completion. And that, is stressful in and of itself.
So I ask myself, what did I get out of this vacation? At first, I am uncertain how to sum it up. Yet now, I can say, it was just a change of pace.
Cheers,
Isyldar
[Top]Lantern Light
I started this the other night while I was sitting out here on my deck, being relaxed, and enjoying the evening atmosphere. Tonight I am doing the same, although with a bit more fire around me. 🙂 I picked up a tabletop fire pit at the hardware store the other day. A small thing, with lava rocks on top that runs on propane. But it’s nice to have out here. It’s nothing great for light; but it does wonders for ambience. And I suppose, I could roast a marshmallow or two on it if I wanted. Heh.
But that’s not what I’m up to this evening. My wife is inside, raiding her heart out with our fellow Guild-mates on World of Warcraft. I drew the Standby lot this evening, what with our declining attendance due to that inclement weather that is summer. Par for the course, really, but it can be frustrating at times. Then again, it could be a blessing in disguise. We have so much work to do around the house this week that, despite being on vacation, our schedule is as busy as ever. It gets ignored a lot, but it’s still packed with things that SHOULD get done. 😛
The next few days, I think will involve me getting out of the house a little more. Not necessarily in spending more time on the deck with tablet and keyboard, much as I would like to; but more, walking the dog, or going out and just doing something that doesn’t involve being inside. I have no idea what that would be yet, but…it needs to happen. Either that, or I have to get my act together and start working on some of the house stuff. I realize that those aren’t mutually exclusive; I’m just not of a mindset to admit that I need to do both right now.
More ramblings. I’m not making a whole lot of sense, and I’m aware that my writing in this post is haphazzard at best; sorry. I’m just kind of writing down things as they go through my head, and that can be scary at times. For one, there are more things flying through my head than I can hope to write down before they leave. 🙂 “A thousand thoughts and dreams, with hopes on wings…” A line I’ve used in prose a few times during idle thought…though I can’t say that I recall ever specifically recording it in any one piece. Perhaps in something on Facebook.
The Fire on a moonlit night, sang out to the open sea… … Another line that I came across when goingn through old writing. I used it to write a poem, very badly once. The opening line in and of itself is great; but the rest of what I wrote is crap. I’ll reuse this at some point to write something better. Just have to figure out what. I need to wait for the inspiration to hit me.
So, 5 days into vacation, with 4 left to go…and I feel like I’ve accomplished next to nothing. Worse than that, I’m feeling stressed, and I shouldn’t be. It’s going to be another late night I’m afraid. Though perhaps this time, instead of spending the wee hours of the morning gathering materials in WoW, I’ll go for a late night walk. It’s been a long time since I’ve done that; and tonight’s weather is rather ripe for it…even if there is too much cloud cover to see many / any stars. Still, I need to do something about this knot of emotion in my chest. What the hell is it?
Ignore it for now. That question leads to panicking about it…and that is scary; very scary.
And all of that said, my post about lantern light at night, sitting on the deck while enjoying a relaxing evening just went completely south. I’m going to have to rewrite this, or start anew on a similar topic another day. This one’s up. I need to walk.
[Top]Vacation. Let the Relax begin!
Thw wife and I are on vacation for a week. We arent doing anything spectacular. No trip to the Bahamas or somewhere interesting. At best we may end up going camping; which I really enjoy, though my back doesn’t. 🙂
No, this week is about not being at work; being at home while we enjoy our little hovel with the amenities such as they are. Also, there will likely be a few projects tackled. We still have some renovations that, while basically done aren’t truly complete. She has some designs on getting those closer to complete. No surprise. This is often the case.
In all, it should be a good week no matter what ends up happening. Right now we are out shopping for some new summer clothes… Thats gonna hurt come time to pay for it.
Cheers,
Isyldar
[Top]Life Decisions
Gah! Have you ever had those decisions to make? You know, the ones that have your gut wrenching, and you can’t think about anything else? The ones where no matter what choice you make, you’re going to lose something? The ones that are a critical, irreversible, unavoidable fork in the road? Oh, and by the way, there’s a boulder rolling along at breakneck speed behind you, so hurry up and make your choice…? Those ones. Ever had those?
I am faced with that on a number of different planes right now, and I don’t enjoy it one bloody bit. Oh the possibilities are attractive. No matter what way I go there are potential positives… I oft think there always are. I must, however, weigh the negatives. Which are the heaviest? Which can I bear to carry on my shoulders?
And most, I will admit, revolve around my current work situation.
I have recently been promoted to a new position, and am on many days enjoying it greatly. Then, there are these other days. The days where I can’t think straight; can’t work up the motivation to do the many multitudes of things that are asked of me. Those days, suck. And it is always on these days that I wonder “is this the right job for me?” Even now as I sit here and write this, I don’t have an answer to that question. Sure my job has kept me employed these many years, and there are a great deal of positive aspects to it. Then, there are these others… Those reasons that often push people out of their job and in search of a new one. Pressure from up above, from the competition, internal and external. The pressure to succeed and do it well. And the concern of what will happen if success is not obtained.
They say this job isn’t for the faint of heart, and that it requires that special person to success at it. Yet we are always in search of those people. We never seem to find them. At the end of the day, we are left with the people we have, who will do what they will and so often that isn’t what we want.
I suppose that at this point I am just ranting, and should move on to other tasks and subjects. So be it. This will just have to sit on the shelf for now.
[Top]