Kal Ort Por

From WWdN: In Exile:

With GTA IV coming out tomorrow, the usual gang of idiots are up in arms about how this game will lead to the end of civilization as we know it, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria, etc. As I said in my PAX keynote, this sort of moralistic chest-thumping makes me a little stabby:

Whenever I hear [Hillary Clinton, Jack Thompson, etc.] pontificate about how dangerous and antisocial and devoid of redeeming qualities video games are, I get a little stabby, because these games we love to play are much, much more than the simplistic bloodbaths Mass Media likes to portray them as during May sweeps.

Just as the multiplayer games are social activities, so are the single-player games narrative works of art, and they should be treated that way.

The hysteria surrounding the release of GTA IV has officially crossed into the realm of the absurd as moralizing groups of busybodies lead (shockingly) by Fox News successfully forced the transit authorities in Chicago to pull GTA IV ads from their buses. In Miami, professional attention whore Jack Thompson forced the Miami-Dade transit authority to yank GTA IV ads from bus shelters.
Can I just take a moment and point out how insane this is? This type of hysterical overreaction to a video game is completely out of proportion to any alleged harm it could inflict on anyone, but is accepted because it is done, as it always is, in the name of protecting The Children.

Head over to WWdN and check it out.

Sometimes memories from my teenage years come back with more clarity then is expected. Out of the blue a rather innocuous building, sound, or even a smell will trigger a flood of memories that had been out of my conscious mind for years. This phenomenon has been happening fairly often lately, usually with memories from the ages of sixteen to eighteen. It just so happens that almost all of these memories are associated in one way or another with Ultima Online™.

The other day I was driving through Kent, I’m not sure where exactly. Just some random generic business/commercial area. Something filled with your usual assortment of nondescript office buildings. The single floor type, with glass fronts over all the units. Each unit resembling one of those highway motels, identical front window after identical front window. As I looked out at the passing buildings I was flooded with memories of my life at age eighteen.

I was in Denver, in the passenger seat of Ken Kemp my friend and Guild master’s mid-eighties Mustang.  Ken was a role model of sorts, he was older, wiser, and dated a really hot exotic dancer (if my memory serves me correctly).  I had been in Denver for a few days, bouncing around from place to place visiting friends. At the moment we were headed to the workplace of fellow guild mate April/Sapphire Dragon. I remember being nervous, and excited at the same time. As I recall, April worked at some sort of system builder/solution provider. I remember seeing a lot of Macintosh systems, and the whole thing looked very… upper class.  Wide open retail space, clean wiring, and large full length windows. Not that I was really paying attention to any of these details, my mind was racing and my stomach was churning over so fast I thought there was a butterfly family reunion going on inside it. At that point in my life I had only met maybe a handful of the people I interacted with online, and all of them had been males. In my mind all the women I knew online must be as sexy and seductive as they made themselves out to be.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that April was a normal person, and wasn’t in fact this overly flirtatious buxom babe who had virtuous heroes and evil villains falling over themselves just to get in her good graces. Even with this amazing discovery, I still remember avoiding eye contact and looking at the floor. Thinking back on it now I’m honestly not sure why I wasn’t able to immediately come out of my shell so to speak. Maybe my fears were instantly transferred from being intimidated by my mental image of April to worrying I somehow wasn’t who she expected me to be?

We didn’t stick around long, April had to work and Ken had to go pickup his copy of Tribes 2™. Everything after that is a blur of base invasions and flying bomber/jets.

So, I sat down determined to write a blog entry about my PT habits. How I run down to the Lake Dolloff (sp?) Sheriff’s Station and sit for a few minutes, thinking about my future career.

However, after getting off the phone with a Deputy down at the KCSO Recruiting Office the only thing I can think about is how excited I am. Apparently the General Uncharacterized Discharge is NOT a disqualifying mark for employment. I feel as if a giant weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

asdfasdfa s;fdohgasdfj XD !!

So I found out the other day that I’m apparently going to become an Uncle (again) soon. My sister felt the need to inform me of this, as well as her planned post-child birth wedding the other day via a text message. I honestly don’t know how I feel about this. It seems that she learned nothing from my mistakes while I was in the Army, and seems to be dead set on making a whole stack of her own.

Not only is she now knocked up by some guy on her ship, but shes planning on leaving the Navy to play suzy-home maker for some guy she isen’t even married to. Some guy who has another kid with another woman from some previous relationship. I can’t begin to list off all the problems I see with this.

Anyways, I’m at work so – more on this later.

I hate my job, that is all.

So I noticed something while watching BSG tonight. Don’t worry, no real spoiler here.

So I find myself in a situation I can’t help but find similar to where I was five years ago. Some might say its just bad memories putting me in this mindset, but I honestly don’t think that changes the situation.

I’m living in Auburn, WA again. I’m trying to find some employment working a job I can’t stand to hold me over while I go through the hiring process for a state agency, and I’m restless and unhappy. Only this time I find myself constantly making comparisons between then and now. I’m constantly telling myself I haven’t grown up, or I’m just as much of a loser as that 20 year old kid was. Every day I find myself browsing Monster.com and Craigslist for something I could tolerate a bit more, maybe even something I could enjoy until I get my formal offer from the county.

On one hand I don’t want to be the freeloading drain on society that I was when I was younger, but on the other I honestly think I have a right to be happy with what I do every day. Even if its just temporary, y’know? In the end I think its going to be my feeling of responsibility to those that helped me find my feet when I got here that will force me into the stability that I clearly need.

In other news:

• theprc.com: It seems in my absense some changes were made, and I get the clear feeling that the direction thats currently being taken doesen’t involve me. Trust aside, I did very clearly hand over the reigns so its not like I can protest.
• My PC: I went out and purchased the following components. CPU: Intel Q6600 Motherboard: Asus P5K3 Graphics Card(s): Asus EAH3870, Asus EAH3870 TOP RAM: Patriot DDR3 1066 1GB x 2. After the initial excitement wore off I am noticing several small issues that would have changed my purchasing decisions. For one the P35 chipset has only one 16x (mode) PCI-E slot. Thats right only one. The second PCI-E 16x slot runs in 4x mode. I honestly have no idea why they would put out a board like this, but clearly it becomes an issue when running a crossfire configuration. In addition, CrossfireX has very well documented issues with DX 10 applications. (The whole damn reason I made this build)
• Ultima Personalities: I really want to continue doing the podcast, I’m just not sure if I want to associate it with the direction theprc.com is being taken. I’ll have to think this one over.

More like corrupt SQL databases.