Hearth

Blog

Much ado :: 2006-07-27

Hearth Ok I know I haven't written here in a while, but things have been busy... and I have just now driven my car for probably the last time ever. It is going down to the Gold Coast to be sold, which in itself is not a bad thing, but there are certain emotions attached to something that has been a part of my life since before I was married. I know that has only been a few years, but it has seen me through a number of huge life changes. In some respects though, I will be glad to see the back of it - trying to sell the thing has been somewhat of an ordeal.

Anyway, after recently launching my comic I have spent some time playing with the Smack Jeeves templates in an effort to blend the comic site with this one. What can I say, I'm have a thing for continuity. I actually didn't fond it as difficult as people seem to be making me believe around the forums, it just takes time to edit the code, copy the code into the template on the website, save it, and view the site to see if it works (repeating as often as necessary.) So feel free to email me any opinions, pm me on SJ, or just post a comment on the site.

My computer also recently got rebuilt. That is a complete reinstall of everything from Windows up. This was about a full weeks worth of work with all the software that I need/use and downloading patches and updates... I have still only installed about half the games I wanted to put back on, but since I seem to have been doing nothing but installing software for the last couple weeks whenever I was at home, I have decided to leave the rest of them to install later (when I feel like it.) Of course, Guild Wars made it into the first round of installations. Logging back in after a couple weeks absence I find not only has my guild created an alliance with several other guilds (which, by the way I was pleased to see) but A-net is releasing yet another expansion. I assume that Nightfall will operate as both an add-on/expansion for players of the previous Prophecies/Factions campaigns, and a standalone game for new players. This has brought up a bunch of queries for those of us who don't particularly want to shell out the cost of a new game every 6 months, and from my personal point of view; I hope they are planning to put more servers online as the lag created by the Nightfall beta weekends of late has been rather bad. I am also wondering if it will be as good as the previous campaigns. Prophecies (the original Guild Wars campaign) was great. Factions was ok, but many people feel that it was lacking something, and the new classes didn't seem to have a thought out role in a group like the original 6 did. So one wonders whether the hype over Nightfall will be as big as Factions was, and whether the new classes will turn out to be functionally worth while. I must admit, I am no intention of shelling out for a copy any time soon...

"Modern" Music :: 2006-06-21

Hearth A recent conversation on my Guild Forum sparked this talk about the music that is coming out these days. I was glad to find that I am not the only one who feels that there is nothing 'new' being produced. It seems that bands no longer write their own songs, but simply cover other people's songs. This is ok every now and then, to hear a different interpretation of a good old song, but now *everyone* is doing it. And those who remain doing "original" music, well, it's just not up to scratch. Either they sound like another band, or like they are doing another bands song (even though the words may be different), or they just sound rubbish. Anyone that seems like they have a half decent song happening, when you buy the album the rest of the songs are junk or sound exactly the same. This is the main reason I have barely bought any cd's in the last couple years.

On the flip side, as a composer, I can relate to the difficulty of producing a fresh and original sound, or melody, let alone a complete song or enough for a cd. But it just pains me that record producers are flooding the market with utter trash! I know people will still buy them (there's no accounting for taste) and plenty of money will still be made. But there are good bands out there, why not produce something decent.

Public services :: 2006-06-08

Hearth So, today I had *another* phone conversation with the electricity company. After a month and a half, several notices from them stating that I need to open an account for our new place, and corresponding calls from me to them saying that I already *have* and account for this place... They even had a technician come and speak with me and inspect the meters, and I still got notices. At any rate, after being put on hold for some time, they deleted the account that I originally created, and made a brand new one in the correct apartment this time. Oh, and they re-issued the bill, so I no longer have to pay around $180 for the 3 weeks that we had been here, its more like $40, which is much more satisfactory.

Bikes breading..? :: 2006-05-22

Hearth Shortly after we moved, we both went and bought new bicycles from the new shopping centre down the road. Our new proximity to various venues, such as work, shops, and the gym, allow us to ride frequently (at least we can avoid the recent and on-going hike in fuel prices.) Except now, at the gym, I keep seeing my bike! Well not *my* bike per-se, but the same model and colour. I figure, there has to be at least 3 others out there exactly the same as mine...

Moving is stressful? :: 2006-04-18

Hearth Ok, so we have to move out of our current house. We found a place and have been accepted by the agent, which was supposed to be available today. It turns out that the previous tenants handover date is today, and we wont be able to get in until next week at the earliest. This was [sarcasm] great news [end sarcasm] since we were planning to use the holiday break to move, and now we wont be able to move until the first week back. It also means that our decision to not go away for the holidays was waisted as we now *could* have gone away. We still haven't signed the lease, which means I can't arrange to transfer any utilities (phones, power, internet etc.) until we are supposed to be moving in. Everything is just so last minute and delayed.
Not happy Jan!

Time disappears :: 2006-03-19

Hearth I have absolutely no idea what happened to the week just gone. I was entirely unable to make time to do certain things I wanted/needed to do; yet I cannot put my finger on anything that I actually accomplished. It seems as though the entire week has just vanished before my eyes. Our perception of the passage of time is a constant amazement to me. Some days seem to last forever, or contain enough hours or minutes for many more tasks than a normal day would. Others are quite simply over before we realize fully that the day has even begun.

There must be something in our minds that registers a particular frame of time and compares it to other, previously experienced, times that are in some way similar. If the memory of time was similar, yet did not actually occupy the same amount of time, it would account for our varying experiences of the now. Because, of course, time itself cannot change.

Market Crash :: 2006-03-15

Hearth The following was an official Guild Wars news post:

I find it amusing how corporations panic when they don't know the consequences of a given event. Seems that the best way to deal with any problem is just pretend it never happened.

If only it were that simple in real life, "Let's roll back to just before I screwed that up..."

Preoccupation :: 2006-03-13

Hearth It's an interesting concept really, that your mind can be thinking of something so intently that you lose all connection with reality for a time. I'm sure its something we all experience now and then, but I find it fascinating that our body continues to function at normal capacity, doing the task at hand, while you concentrate on something entirely unrelated. Today, for example, I have no recollection at all of the ~20 minute drive from where I work to where I live - which is a 100km/h (~65mph) road nearly the whole way. Somewhat scary to consider, yet I made all the correct turns, adjusted speed according to the vehicle ahead, and arrived safely.

The book I am trying to read presently provokes many thoughts which my mind tends to chase for a while before I realise that, although my eyes have read the next paragraph, page or several pages, I have not taken in any of the information contained in those words. And thus I find myself reading each page several times, and the book taking a lot longer to get through than it should.

Teamwork :: 2006-03-08

Hearth I'm playing Guild Wars yesterday, and I went to do the next mission on my list (for GW players 'The Wilds'). So I go to the outpost and look for people recruiting groups and eventually get into one. (I'm lvl 19 atm, and its not exactly an easy area were in, for some reason we end up with lvl ~14 or below characters, which I think is dumb because they wont be strong enough (maybe one or at most 2 but we had 4 and the next player below me was only lvl17) So we are a weak group but we go out anyway...

I haven't done this mission before so I don't know where anything is, so we run around and kill stuff for a while with 2 or 3 people trying to lead, then someone asks if we going to do the bonus and we decide yes. Then this chick starts leading us around saying she knows the bonus (none of the rest of the group do), anyway we ended up getting to the area where the guys we are supposed to kill are (after an hour of running around the jungle in circles!!) and everyone dies except me and this chick, and I don't have a rez skill on me, and she has used it and cant use it again yet, so she complains that I don't have my rez (I normally don't because it can only be used once unless you get a morale boost, and I'm a ranger not a healer)

The group wants us to try and finish, so we run in and out for a bit trying to kill a few centaurs, then I suddenly get mobbed by 3 trolls out of nowhere and die, then she calls me a noob and "why didn't you run back" and then proceeds to say that if I hadn't died we would have finished the mission... The 2 of us couldn't do it on our own, and I was like the last person to die, so how is it my fault??? and it was this chick that was leading us around in circles for hours...

I did that same mission again this morning, and we did it first go - it was amazing, our whole group actually knew how to work together and follow instructions... healers healed, warriors didn't just run headlong into a group of enemies, and no-one got left behind. It happens so rarely, it was so beautiful I could have cried.

Rubies don't shine :: 2006-02-23

Hearth I heard some news on Rubies finally. It was not what I had hoped to hear. It was, however, nut entirely unexpected. Apparently, they aren't making any money, so they are shutting down all but one of the game servers. And so it is with heavy heart that we say our goodbyes to Pegasus, who's long awaited return is now obviously never to occur.

Somehow they plan to combine the accounts from all the other servers into Phoenix, which from my experience was never a stable server to begin with. The Free-to-Play option also seems in doubt, as new restrictions are being enforced - although I suspect they will lose a great number of paying customers through this fiasco as well. (I know of several players, both free and subscribers, who have stated that they intend not to return to Vormis.)

I really can't understand the logic in this move, unless its just a step towards shutting the game down for good. That, in my opinion, would be a real shame. Rubies of Eventide was not a bad game, and it certainly had great potential. If only the developers had been more willing to accept the free services and such offered by the player community before it reached the stage it now has, which I fear it shall not recover from.

Much ado :: 2006-07-27
Hearth	Ok I know I haven't written here in a while, but things have been busy... and I have just now driven my car for probably the last time ever. It is going down to the Gold Coast to be sold, which in itself is not a bad thing, but there are certain emotions attached to something that has been a part of my life since before I was married. I know that has only been a few years, but it has seen me through a number of huge life changes. In some respects though, I will be glad to see the back of it - trying to sell the thing has been somewhat of an ordeal. Anyway, after recently launching my comic I have spent some time playing with the Smack Jeeves templates in an effort to blend the comic site with this one. What can I say, I'm have a thing for continuity. I actually didn't fond it as difficult as people seem to be making me believe around the forums, it just takes time to edit the code, copy the code into the template on the website, save it, and view the site to see if it works (repeating as often as necessary.) So feel free to email me any opinions, pm me on SJ, or just post a comment on the site. My computer also recently got rebuilt. That is a complete reinstall of everything from Windows up. This was about a full weeks worth of work with all the software that I need/use and downloading patches and updates... I have still only installed about half the games I wanted to put back on, but since I seem to have been doing nothing but installing software for the last couple weeks whenever I was at home, I have decided to leave the rest of them to install later (when I feel like it.) Of course, Guild Wars made it into the first round of installations. Logging back in after a couple weeks absence I find not only has my guild created an alliance with several other guilds (which, by the way I was pleased to see) but A-net is releasing yet another expansion. I assume that Nightfall will operate as both an add-on/expansion for players of the previous Prophecies/Factions campaigns, and a standalone game for new players. This has brought up a bunch of queries for those of us who don't particularly want to shell out the cost of a new game every 6 months, and from my personal point of view; I hope they are planning to put more servers online as the lag created by the Nightfall beta weekends of late has been rather bad. I am also wondering if it will be as good as the previous campaigns. Prophecies (the original Guild Wars campaign) was great. Factions was ok, but many people feel that it was lacking something, and the new classes didn't seem to have a thought out role in a group like the original 6 did. So one wonders whether the hype over Nightfall will be as big as Factions was, and whether the new classes will turn out to be functionally worth while. I must admit, I am no intention of shelling out for a copy any time soon...
"Modern" Music :: 2006-06-21
Hearth	A recent conversation on my Guild Forum sparked this talk about the music that is coming out these days. I was glad to find that I am not the only one who feels that there is nothing 'new' being produced. It seems that bands no longer write their own songs, but simply cover other people's songs. This is ok every now and then, to hear a different interpretation of a good old song, but now everyone is doing it. And those who remain doing "original" music, well, it's just not up to scratch. Either they sound like another band, or like they are doing another bands song (even though the words may be different), or they just sound rubbish. Anyone that seems like they have a half decent song happening, when you buy the album the rest of the songs are junk or sound exactly the same. This is the main reason I have barely bought any cd's in the last couple years. On the flip side, as a composer, I can relate to the difficulty of producing a fresh and original sound, or melody, let alone a complete song or enough for a cd. But it just pains me that record producers are flooding the market with utter trash! I know people will still buy them (there's no accounting for taste) and plenty of money will still be made. But there are good bands out there, why not produce something decent.
Public services :: 2006-06-08
Hearth	So, today I had another phone conversation with the electricity company. After a month and a half, several notices from them stating that I need to open an account for our new place, and corresponding calls from me to them saying that I already have and account for this place... They even had a technician come and speak with me and inspect the meters, and I still got notices. At any rate, after being put on hold for some time, they deleted the account that I originally created, and made a brand new one in the correct apartment this time. Oh, and they re-issued the bill, so I no longer have to pay around $180 for the 3 weeks that we had been here, its more like $40, which is much more satisfactory.
Bikes breading..? :: 2006-05-22
Hearth	Shortly after we moved, we both went and bought new bicycles from the new shopping centre down the road. Our new proximity to various venues, such as work, shops, and the gym, allow us to ride frequently (at least we can avoid the recent and on-going hike in fuel prices.) Except now, at the gym, I keep seeing my bike! Well not my bike per-se, but the same model and colour. I figure, there has to be at least 3 others out there exactly the same as mine...
Moving is stressful? :: 2006-04-18
Hearth	Ok, so we have to move out of our current house. We found a place and have been accepted by the agent, which was supposed to be available today. It turns out that the previous tenants handover date is today, and we wont be able to get in until next week at the earliest. This was [sarcasm] great news [end sarcasm] since we were planning to use the holiday break to move, and now we wont be able to move until the first week back. It also means that our decision to not go away for the holidays was waisted as we now could have gone away. We still haven't signed the lease, which means I can't arrange to transfer any utilities (phones, power, internet etc.) until we are supposed to be moving in. Everything is just so last minute and delayed. Not happy Jan!
Time disappears :: 2006-03-19
Hearth	I have absolutely no idea what happened to the week just gone. I was entirely unable to make time to do certain things I wanted/needed to do; yet I cannot put my finger on anything that I actually accomplished. It seems as though the entire week has just vanished before my eyes. Our perception of the passage of time is a constant amazement to me. Some days seem to last forever, or contain enough hours or minutes for many more tasks than a normal day would. Others are quite simply over before we realize fully that the day has even begun. There must be something in our minds that registers a particular frame of time and compares it to other, previously experienced, times that are in some way similar. If the memory of time was similar, yet did not actually occupy the same amount of time, it would account for our varying experiences of the now. Because, of course, time itself cannot change.
Market Crash :: 2006-03-15
Hearth	The following was an official Guild Wars news post: I find it amusing how corporations panic when they don't know the consequences of a given event. Seems that the best way to deal with any problem is just pretend it never happened. If only it were that simple in real life, "Let's roll back to just before I screwed that up..."
Preoccupation :: 2006-03-13
Hearth	It's an interesting concept really, that your mind can be thinking of something so intently that you lose all connection with reality for a time. I'm sure its something we all experience now and then, but I find it fascinating that our body continues to function at normal capacity, doing the task at hand, while you concentrate on something entirely unrelated. Today, for example, I have no recollection at all of the ~20 minute drive from where I work to where I live - which is a 100km/h (~65mph) road nearly the whole way. Somewhat scary to consider, yet I made all the correct turns, adjusted speed according to the vehicle ahead, and arrived safely. The book I am trying to read presently provokes many thoughts which my mind tends to chase for a while before I realise that, although my eyes have read the next paragraph, page or several pages, I have not taken in any of the information contained in those words. And thus I find myself reading each page several times, and the book taking a lot longer to get through than it should.
Teamwork :: 2006-03-08
Hearth	I'm playing Guild Wars yesterday, and I went to do the next mission on my list (for GW players 'The Wilds'). So I go to the outpost and look for people recruiting groups and eventually get into one. (I'm lvl 19 atm, and its not exactly an easy area were in, for some reason we end up with lvl ~14 or below characters, which I think is dumb because they wont be strong enough (maybe one or at most 2 but we had 4 and the next player below me was only lvl17) So we are a weak group but we go out anyway... I haven't done this mission before so I don't know where anything is, so we run around and kill stuff for a while with 2 or 3 people trying to lead, then someone asks if we going to do the bonus and we decide yes. Then this chick starts leading us around saying she knows the bonus (none of the rest of the group do), anyway we ended up getting to the area where the guys we are supposed to kill are (after an hour of running around the jungle in circles!!) and everyone dies except me and this chick, and I don't have a rez skill on me, and she has used it and cant use it again yet, so she complains that I don't have my rez (I normally don't because it can only be used once unless you get a morale boost, and I'm a ranger not a healer) The group wants us to try and finish, so we run in and out for a bit trying to kill a few centaurs, then I suddenly get mobbed by 3 trolls out of nowhere and die, then she calls me a noob and "why didn't you run back" and then proceeds to say that if I hadn't died we would have finished the mission... The 2 of us couldn't do it on our own, and I was like the last person to die, so how is it my fault??? and it was this chick that was leading us around in circles for hours... I did that same mission again this morning, and we did it first go - it was amazing, our whole group actually knew how to work together and follow instructions... healers healed, warriors didn't just run headlong into a group of enemies, and no-one got left behind. It happens so rarely, it was so beautiful I could have cried.
Rubies don't shine :: 2006-02-23
Hearth	I heard some news on Rubies finally. It was not what I had hoped to hear. It was, however, nut entirely unexpected. Apparently, they aren't making any money, so they are shutting down all but one of the game servers. And so it is with heavy heart that we say our goodbyes to Pegasus, who's long awaited return is now obviously never to occur. Somehow they plan to combine the accounts from all the other servers into Phoenix, which from my experience was never a stable server to begin with. The Free-to-Play option also seems in doubt, as new restrictions are being enforced - although I suspect they will lose a great number of paying customers through this fiasco as well. (I know of several players, both free and subscribers, who have stated that they intend not to return to Vormis.) I really can't understand the logic in this move, unless its just a step towards shutting the game down for good. That, in my opinion, would be a real shame. Rubies of Eventide was not a bad game, and it certainly had great potential. If only the developers had been more willing to accept the free services and such offered by the player community before it reached the stage it now has, which I fear it shall not recover from.