EquitasInvictus

@chavtheworld: @truthtellah:

Maybe we've just crossed into ... the Twilight Zone

@divineshadow777: @golguin: Sawa Nakamura is a terrible person but this actually didn't sell me on hating her. (I'm a few volumes further in the manga and I'm actually surprised the pace the anime is going in comparison from what I can tell; I actually haven't watched it but I know what happens since I looked it up trying to figure out if I was ahead of the anime or not and apparently I'm waaay ahead due to the volumes of manga that are already out). I still can't hate her now, even. I'll have more to say about it if the anime would go a little faster!

Nevertheless, now that I'm framing this in hindsight from where I'm at, I think this definitely only the beginning of Nakamura's and Kasuga's twisted interactions spilling over with devastating effect to those around them (if you think this is crazy just keep watching; things are more prone to escalating quickly from here on out) and I'm actually still surprised at the direction the manga is going at the point I'm at.

I didn't come in expecting to like anyone in this story but man, at some point further from here I just felt sorry for all of them (I guess you could call it good character development on the author's part?). This is the worst way to grow up, ever. This shouldn't be billed as a bildungsroman, although I might be saying this too soon since I'm not sure when or how it's ending but it doesn't seem like it's going to wind down from where I'm at in the manga. I'll definitely be sticking along for the ride with the manga, at least. I hope the anime is just as thrilling for those watching it.

@chavtheworld: This would be such a strange angle for robot-ing, though!

Usually robots come with bad english, ugly links, or ridiculous solicitations for bank account information with claims that they're Nigerian princes or something. This is a lot more... grounded to reality!

I swear, though, if Oracle was crafty enough to advertise their certification exams by making bots that innocently post about wanting help for said certifications, I'd be compelled to update Java on my computer. Bravo.

The atmosphere of this thread suddenly feels... contentious!

Thanks but I really shouldn't take that much credit; I'll admit there's probably a lot of hindsight bias in how I framed how I quit The Sims Online in that post. I don't think there was that much of an epiphany there and then, but there might have been this empty feeling of dissatisfaction that eventually manifested into my current line of thinking in hindsight now that I'm older and more experienced in life.

On a lighter note regarding childhood "gaming errors" -- boy do I miss the days when there were "Cops and Robbers" servers in C&C Renegade. At the very least I will look back on those days without any regrets shamelessly, as opposed to how I'll be looking back at The Sims Online.

Funny thing, C&C Renegade was probably one of my first online multiplayer experiences ever. It might have actually been a terrible game, but it still has a place in my heart. And I got pretty good at it at some point.

My childhood gaming error, coincidentally around the same time as Renegade: actually getting into The Sims Online. I played it enough to become a regular at a location or two. Then I realized I was really on an online chatroom with some terrible grinding mechanisms. I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WAS THINKING!

I love Boston Cream!

Upgrading to Windows 8 ended up working out quite nicely for me mediating between my life as a gamer and my life as an undergraduate computer engineer with a part time sysadmin gig. The fact it actually comes with a Hyper-V option made my life so much easier; I've actually found it to run virtual machines better than anything else so I was pleasantly surprised by that turn of events. I can now be doubly productive with two monitors and two operating systems without the need for a dual boot.

I actually haven't encountered any issues aside from the odd compatibility issue with a game or two but I'm not affected too badly as I have another machine that still has Windows 7 to deal with those, thankfully, so those kinds of issues are very minor for me. I can see it being devastating for people who only have one computer and being all about that life, though.

Unfortunately I had no idea that exam even existed, and I'm supposed to be all up on System Administration so I really should be more aware of certifications like these even though it might not be immediately pertinent to where I'm trying to do work in. Any particular reason why you're taking this really specific Oracle certification? I was always considering taking a certification exam myself, but I was leaning more towards going Red Hat.

EDIT: That is really random first post for someone posting in a gaming forums. Just making sure: you're not a robot, are you?!

Not enough white noise!