I spoke with an old friend today.  I've not had a lot of luck finding work on my own, and I'm living at home with family out in the middle of nowhere.  My friend lives in a bigger city (it's hard to be much smaller than this place) and says her job place is "constantly hiring".  It's about a fourth of what I could be earning per hour with my degree, but it's more than I'm earning now, so if I don't get into grad school and I don't find the kind of work I can do (that pays better) I might move in there.  I need some kind of income to pay for the additional training and/or certifications I'm going to need, and I can't exactly live without money.

In gaming, I spent money on the Magic computer game on Steam.  It's kinda hit-and-miss, but maybe I'll write a review of it.  I don't really recommend it, but I was hungry for some Magic and it was about my only real option.

What else am I up to?  Been doing alright lately;  I feel like I'm never accomplishing anything, but I had an argument with family yesterday and got something done today.  I should be going out to get my permit tomorrow; it's my goal to get a license by Christmas, and I think my family will finally cover the insurance cost for me.  Can't get a job because I can't get there without a license, and I can't get a driver's license without having money from a job.  I'll work through it eventually; it's good to finally have this Gordian Knot worked out.

I read a review of Dante's Inferno (the game, not the book), and saw many comparisons to God of War (which it reportedly draws from heavily for gameplay).  What surprised me most was the way so much of the game was described as "calculated to shock you".  Specifically, killing hordes of babies seemed to be what people remember most, after the use of sexualized parts of the body.  It was described as a cheap knock off and terribly derivative.

The fact that it doesn't deliver might be a problem, but being an imitation of the things that went before doesn't necessarily make it bad.  Most of the gaming world draws heavily on what went before it, with (if you're lucky) one or two new little things that makes the game unique.  I did like God of War (which I keep meaning to finish).  Maybe I've been in one too many classes where we're told that all the great works of literature are imitations of each other.

I do think originality does play a significant role, but the major segment where I expected originality from Dante's Inferno was in the world.  I'll have to pick up the game to actually see if it delivers or not, but I'll likely just be able to pick it up cheap and used, thus saving me the exorbitant purchase price.

But since when is killing babies shocking?  I guess long gone are the days where any baby who was deemed weak was culled, and this was praised as a wonderful thing, to manage the population and remove the excess.  Aristotle specifically was concerned about the problems caused when the weak and infirm consumed the majority of the resources, as often happens today.  I guess I just never thought of killing babies (or anyone else) as particularly shocking.

And now I get to the point, which is wondering if I'm really just that jaded, or if the rest of the people around me are that out of touch with reality.  I don't think killing babies is "shocking" in any particular way, although you don't see it much.  I thought it was just because babies are so darned useless/helpless it was hard to work them in as some kind of enemy, not because killing them was shocking.  I guess we learn something new every day.

In other news, I applied for about two dozen jobs this morning.  Hoping to hear back "soon".  Still waiting on word from grad school, but since these jobs were at places I'd be willing to make my career at, I'd skip the school to go straight to work.  I'm tired of being flat broke.

Wow, today has been great so far.

I woke up and was bored, and had little to do.  Then my mother woke up, and suggested we go to breakfast and go to the store.  That was great, because I get to eat now and later.  Then, Bojangles didn't have any fried chicken out yet (it was before 9:30), so she got me a chicken biscuit.  That was pretty good, although I was still a little hungry.  

Then we went to the store, and she kept telling me to "buy stuff so you won't be hungry".  So I picked up stuff I like to cook/eat, and even splurged on a pack of Swiss cheese and a pack of Pepper Jack cheese, Pop Tarts, chips, peanuts and cashews, and I forget if there was anything else.  

Then, we went to the waterfront, because the dog was moping.  After that, we went back to Bojangles to get me a two breast dinner.

So now, I'm full, and still have more food to eat.  This has been a great day so far, and I look forward to it being good for the rest of the day.

I keep meaning to go back and play some more Recettear, but it feels like something else always comes up.  I like the game, but I just haven't felt compelled to play it any lately.

I may be playing DDO later tonight, or Warcraft 3 or StarCraft.  It depends on what my buddy wants to play.  I'm half expecting that we'll end up playing DDO, but I'm up for whatever.

Did a little job searching today, but no luck.  One of the company numbers was wrong online, so I'll count them out for now.

Nothing new going on here.  Sent off another resume.  Still working on my orbital mechanics hobby;  maybe I'll figure something important enough out.  Getting tired of waiting on acceptance or rejection, although continuing to wait is my only option at the moment.  I'd be ecstatic to go to grad school, but not sure if they're willing to work on a timescale that works for me (one that isn't geological).

Annoyed that my video program isn't working as well as I'd thought it would be.  Don't want to go into details, because I imagine I'll work it out somehow.

Gonna try to put together a video using a program I downloaded for the free trial;  it should work, but you never know.  I've got another "big deal" video I want to make, but want to go through the process on another video so I know what I'm doing and don't accidentally lose the opportunity to do it (online games aren't much for "reload and try again").  Hoping things go as planned.  I want to be sure I can upload the video to YouTube, since the point of making it is to share it.  I'll update more if this gets followed up on.

Also need to follow up on some job leads; I have 4, but can't seem to do anything with them if it isn't normal business hours.

Not a lot happened today.  I did a vanquish in Guild Wars and played some DDO.  Saw some stuff about FFXIV, which wasn't flattering, but since it seems like they're in open-beta mode I might as well check it out (if it's not open, I won't be checking it out).

I've also been playing Recettear, which has been fun.  I can't really point to anything new or interesting that it's doing that I haven't seen before; it's not like I've never been a merchant in an RPG.  The dungeons, although fun, don't seem all that out-of-the-ordinary except that they're random (which isn't even a new feature in gaming).  But the game is fun, and I can't help myself.  I've been pleased.

I also thought I'd share a video one of my friends showed me today, if I can figure out how to do it.  It was a review/comparison between FFXIV and GW2, and their showing at PAX.  I could summarize more, but the video speaks for itself better.

<embed src="http://blip.tv/play/hIVVgfy3UgI%2Em4v" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="300" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed>

I'm not getting much done here.  I feel like I'm in limbo, waiting on word from grad school.  I may call/email somebody "soon".  

As for how I spend my time (besides waiting), I did some cleaning earlier today in my room.  I made some progress, and it might be better now than it was when I started.  I didn't get much done: I moved a book case across the room, I got most of the dirty clothes up off the floor (and determined I needed a new hamper), I fixed up the closet by rearranging bulky items and moving around boxes, I moved the big monitor that was blocking access to the closet, I cleared off my table of junk, I put up some of the games that were laying about, and I plan to do more soon.

I really wanted to clear off my table so I could get back to my pet project, which has been on hold since my younger brother got his bed set up in there.  Now I might have space to work again, and I might find a way to solve an infinite number of equations simultaneously!  Or I'll just run around in logical circles for a little while, but I could use the exercise.  

I'm also hoping that it will help keep me sharp, because I don't get enough exposure to technical stuff here.  I'm still watching the NASA channel off and on;  I glean a little bit from an estimated two hours average per week of NASA, plus whatever random time I spend watching other programming which may have some technical merit hidden in it somewhere.  I'm going to need to get something done soon, or I'm going to be in deep poo, because I hate being idle and I don't like to think I'm going to stagnate here.

Still hating being home, although I think the real rub is my inability to get out on my own right now.  Waiting on word from grad school is driving me a little nuts, but I can't really sign a contract for anything until I've gotten my acceptance or rejection letter.  I fully expect I'll be accepted to grad school, but if I'm not I also want to be prepared to spring into finding work (again).  I've got a unique set of skills, even (especially) for an engineer, so I hope I can bring it together.

I'm rambling now, so I'll stop here about life.

Played Mabinogi briefly, but didn't get the quest I had planned to done.  One of our party members was having computer problems, so we put it off until later.  I wasn't really keen on doing it, but I was tired from working in my room and my friend (the other party member) was emphatic about trying to get it done "sometime soon".

I tried out Swarm Arena on a demo on Steam.  All the reviews said it was painfully short on content.  I thought it was a "maybe" at best, and after seeing that it had maybe a couple hours worth of content, it didn't seem worth $10.

My life has been boring and dull, with not much happening recently worth noting, but I'll note it anyway.

I finally (really this time) got my grad school application in.  One of my professors said the department had nearly doubled in size in the past couple years (largely due to the economy), and thought I should also apply elsewhere to increase my chances of getting in.  At this point, the funding simply is not there for me to go anywhere else (I didn't note it when doing my FAFSA), so I'll be figuring things out "eventually".  I don't think rotting here is doing me any good, and no matter how much I want to say I'm trying to keep up, I know I'm not going to stay sharp if I don't stay busy.

I've been playing DDO again with some friends.  It's been fun playing with them, and it's a bit different than I'd normally do.  We decided to "start over" with some level 1's in a party.  One decided to be a rogue and the other a mage, so I was left thinking "What the heck am I going to do".  I hate tanking, and I like support but already have a cleric on that server.  I decided that, since I already had a cleric at level 4, I'd take a chance on something a little off the wall and see if I liked it, since if I didn't I could go back to cleric later.  I thought Paladin fit the party best, since it's got some support to it, but is mostly a melee class.  I decided to try duel wielding, and it's been fun and good, but I'm left wondering if I'd have been better off going ranger instead.  Pallys can wear heavier armor, get better saves, and have different enhancements (unique to DDO).  I went elf for the extra dex to help me hit my two-weapon requirements, and let my con languish.  I'm using Toughness to make up the extra HP I'll wish I had, and Paladin has a lot anyway.  I'm not really a true "tank" character, so it doesn't make much sense to emphasize that role when I'm not convinced the party is going to stick with it "all the way".

My family seems to be going out shopping later.  I'm planning to tag along.

Vanquished an area in Guild Wars this morning.  It was just Minister Cho's Estate, but it was still nice to get it done and out of the way.  I used some consumables to make the area easier, and pump up my titles a little (it also helped me keep track of time -- I took over an hour).  

I really ought to follow up on that publication I was working on, but I haven't figured it out yet.  Academic publication is rather obtuse, and I think it's partly to keep crackpots from being able to get into it so easily.  I'm not a crackpot (I think), but I'm still frustrated by not even being sure where to send my work.

This is somewhere between a blog post and a forum post.

I've been playing a lot of games, most of them old, and I found I really do enjoy writing reviews for games.  My writing needs work, but it's good practice, and everything I write for the site is worth more than I'm paid for it (nothing).  I was excited that my Alien Swarm review even got featured -- I also think it's my best written review.  I wrote it thinking "No, fewer words" the whole time, because I tend to ramble.  It's carefully trained by my old English classes back in school, where stretching half a page worth of content into ten pages worth of words was pretended to be a virtue.  Then I got into technical/business writing, where you're lucky if someone looks at the first page and it's important to get to the point in 500 words or less.  The latter is more where my instincts started, but the former is where my training sent me.

I do wonder, though, how many people read "old" reviews.  I've looked at one or two when I notice somebody else wrote a review for a game I also played.  I've even had a few where one person wrote one review, I wrote another, and we each had a different experience (positive or negative) in spite of describing the experience the same way (e.g. very hard, unforgiving, but fun once you get things right).

Does anyone else read/write old reviews?  Has anybody been buying these old games?  I wrote one for Ecco the Dolphin because I saw it being rereleased via Steam.