First and Second Week Back

So, the first and second week haven't necessarily been the best weeks of my life, but they have been interesting. First and foremost, they've given me some motivation to do some things I've never done before. Secondly, they've forced me to change my perspective a little, which is for better or for worse, we'll see.

So, last week was annoying with classes. A midterm on the first day back was not what I was expecting, but it happens. I knew it would be the first week back, but not the first day, which caught me unprepared. Secondly, the game design activities have been giving me trouble, mainly because of preoccupations with other things.

Of interesting note, I finally was able to get myself to go to the gym on Monday of this week. It was nice, going by myself. It's one of the first things in a long while I've really done by myself (save playing games... but I haven't even done that for a while *gasp*). Anyhow, it was good, but now my left arm is really screwed up. I pushed it a little too hard, which was not the best idea. Anyhow, it is appearing to feel a bit better, so maybe it won't end up being that bad.

So, depending on our schedules, I am planning on taking Kat skating either this weekend or next weekend. I was planning on making it a big adventure, as we'd be going to the Carousel Center in Syracuse. From there, we could wander and skate all day (well, most of it). I'd then have us leave just in time to make the last 2 or 3 wine tasting sessions at Casa Larga in Fairport, which would be fun. From there, we could have dinner, etc. The only problem with all of this: our schedules, work, and time. Because we both have several projects to work on, etc, this could be difficult to pull off. But, we'll see. I am optimistic.

Well, that is all for now. Hopefully this weekend will be fun. If we can't squeeze out the big adventure, maybe I can get us to go see a movie or get one of our friends to come over and play some games for the day. Oi, planning things or trying to find fun things to do is hard!

Going Home for Break

So, going home has proved to be more difficult than I imagined (yet again). I'm stuck in Rochester for the moment, without a way of getting out, until Tuesday. I've been emailing, calling, and complaining to Continental since yesterday, as the lack of seats seems to be incorrect (for lack of better words). At first, they wanted me to take a ticket for Thursday or Friday, which was unacceptable. Next, they tried to get me to leave on Wednesday (I took that ticket, but then still kept complaining, because I could see open seats on flights through their site). So, I finally got a ticket for Tuesday. I'm still working at trying to get to leave today, but that may be difficult. So, I'm trying... We'll just see how it goes.

Aside, everything has been... well, it's been. Kat is home with her parents for Chirstmas (though, not completely liking it... she is upset that they're not going to be able to go to her aunt's for Christmas and that she won't get to see her grandparents...). However, she's hanging in there.

So, for now, I'm still working on working. Lots of academics to still be done. Trying to get all of my reading and over the break homework done now, rather than later. Etc etc.

Aside, I've been trying to revamp my physical activity schedule. My last one didn't work nearly as well as I hoped, mainly due to personal laziness (or, more so need to retreat away from people after working with them all day) and tons of course work. The tons of course work hasn't gone away, but I have more time than I did during the previous quarter. Hence, we'll see how this goes as well.

Masters, Masters, Masters...

So, I am on my second quarter of doing my Masters in Game Development and Design... And all I can say is writing... Yep, lots and lots of writing. To be honest, I really like writing. I write short stories, designs, and rules for random thoughts all of the time. However, last quarter, I wrote over 300 pages just for my two classes, not including senior project. For the final project in Interactive Narrative, my partner and I wrote a 48 page design document, 86 page dialogue script, and 22 page treatment, none of which could be said are fully complete. Yeah, lots of work...

Right now, I'm using my free time to further my engine and work on spare ideas. These include short story writing and the like.

Website Woes

So, someone had to tell me my website was broken in IE 8 and Opera a few days ago. Actually, it's good that they did tell me. Now I can only think of how many possible interviews and the like I may never get because of a broken website. Guess that is what happens when you do not thoroughly test a web product on all browsers and use third party php scripts.

Well, that is finished. I am thinking of adding a two new sections to my portfolio: 1) A writing section for writing samples and the like and 2) a game design section with examples of mods and the like I've made for Neverwinter Nights and similar games.

Well, that's really all to be honest. Hopefully this works out!

Personal Writing and Meetings

So, have I ever mentioned that I really, REALLY, do not like bars? I really don't like the atmosphere, the food, the drinks, etc. I would much rather prefer to go out elsewhere, but that seems to be another topic for discussion. Anyhow, what inspired this sudden rant? Well, I have a group meeting today at some point in time at a local bar to discuss work for the project we're working on. Now, I may not be too keen on the amount of work that gets done in a bar setting, but I am pretty sure that the amount of work that will get done will amount to something between 0 and 1, on a 100 point scale of how productive this meeting could be.

So, the obvious question to this is: So, why don't you just not go? I mean, you don't have to, right?

Well, that depends. As far as group dynamics and team building are considered, some of these types of meetings are great for bonding a team together better. Aside, they could possibly be productive, even though the chances are slim. Furthermore, when you're someone who tries to keep everyone on track, managing different aspects of the project, it's usually a bad idea to not be where your comrades in arms are.

Now, aside from my previous rant, there is also the second and less important issue: I have no money! None! No money whatsoever. So, as this can be seen, I am not going to get anything out of this trip aside maybe some group bonding time, but even that is doubtful.

So, now with that topic aside, we can talk about better things.

I have begun to work on my story series again (or series of short stories to be a better example). I have currently finished the first 2 of what will be close to a 20 story work, at least for what would be the first overarching story in the series. While I have more written on it (another 5 short stories I have worked on before), the majority of those will be redone as I work slowly onwards, re-writing them to suit my new style. I may start publishing them at some point to my website, though I will probably be keeping them close and under my eyes only until I have something worth publishing. That may include publishing them in some way that reduces the amount of negative capability in the whole series (meaning I may just publish the whole thing at once, lol).

Anyhow, we'll see how all of this goes.

Starting School (Again): Final Quarter for SE and Entering the Game Industry

So, I have finally started up classes again completely. Finishing up the last quarter for my BS in Software Engineering. Likewise, I'm also taking two graduate level courses in the Game Design and Development master's sequence, seeing as I am technically enrolled (but do not officially enter until this Winter).

Thinking over the summer, I came to realize that I should be applying to game companies because the overall experience I could get in industry would completely outweigh what I would get out of the masters. This is mainly due to the experience based nature of the industry, as well as the fact that, other than some minor skills I could pick up in the masters, what the masters would really do for me is build my portfolio (something I would get automatically working in the industry). Hence, I have applied to these places:

1. ArenaNet (#1 Choice, makers of Guild Wars, etc)
2. Bethesda Softworks (#2 choice, makers of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout 3)
3. Blizzard (#3 choice, makers of Diablo, Warcraft, Starcraft, and World of Warcraft)
4. Turbine (makers of Lord of the Rings Online, D&D Online)
5. Microsoft (Halo and XBox games division)

So, for all of those, I'm hoping to actually possibly hear something positive back. Because of the nature for most of these jobs, I probably won't begin to hear anything serious for another month, giving me two months to my proposed availability date.

So, that's it for now. Hopefully, between now and then, Senior Project won't eat me alive.

Upgrading Computers to Windows 7

So, today, I upgraded both my laptop and desktop to Windows 7. This was somewhat painful, as I wne tthrough backing up all important work I had, on top of having to install the OS, followed by installing all related software for each.

I have decided that I am going to try to separate my desktop into more of a "just for fun" machine, while my laptop will remain multi-purpose of both amusement, work, and classes.

Aside, I have been thinking of adding a writing and art section to the portfolio part of my website, so that I can show some of my more creative aspects. This could be a boon or a hindrance, depending on who reads it. However, it would be a great show of what I can do creatively (not all of it, but some of it).