Hammer and Wrench

Haven’t posted in a bit and been a busy week. I had intended to post yesterday, but a family event took out most of my time and I ended up spacing on this entirely. Even though I think I have something on the order of two people paying attention here, why not keep going, eh?

I’m writing a new World of Warcraft short story, called Hammer and Wrench, detailing Gelbin Mekkatorque’s emotional reaction to the loss of Magni during the events of the Shattering. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you’re probably not a WoW player and that’s okay 😉

The important thing is that it’s a contest entry on the WoW Forums. It’s nothing official, done purely for and by the community, but it could have some neat prizes and seems like a good way to connect with people on the server. I’m also trying to join a new guild, called Saga, on the Wyrmrest Accord server. My last guild came from Blackwater Raiders and then disbanded shortly after due to the move and the launch of SW:ToR.

Of course this is happening right before Mass Effect 3 comes out, which will utterly destroy my free time and take me away from WoW for some time too! I’ve linked the new trailer at the end of the post here.

Anyway, had some more family stuff happen. Caitlyn fell again a week or so again and ended up having a seizure from the impact, for the second time. Just like last time, she’s fine. Had another CT Scan and everything checked out. She was acting normal within 30 minutes of the incident. She is now not allowed to play on the couch because we just can’t deal with the emotional ramifications. A week later, my mom ended up in the ER from a bad fall where she had a rather large bruise in a rather uncomfortable area. However, the good news is that Caitlyn got to see her great-grandparents twice in the last two weeks, which is great for all of them.

Other than that, I’m still working on ProjectZ (which is a renamed THE PROJECT because it sounds cooler). I’m thinking of further networking too.

After this story is done (it’s due on the 26th!) I’ll take one day to work on this site, update it and bring over some more stories from deviantArt, then get back to work on Orion 2.

Until then, have fun!

Oh yes…the new “Take Earth Back” Trailer for Mass Effect 3:

The Proverbial Chicken

…with it’s head cut off. That’s what I’m running around like.

My life feels like a constant sprint lately. I get up on the days I work at 5:45 AM. I take a shower, make breakfast and my lunch for the day. Then I do my Bible Study for the day and try to cram in some time for WoW just to get my head on straight before going to work. At work, every hour of my day is scheduled and set. My first break I do BabyTime with my little girl, my lunch I write and try to blog and my last break I have 15 minutes to read my book. At the end of the day, I fight through horrible rush hour traffic trying to get home within an hour of leaving.

Then it’s a tossup. Some nights I get to play with Caitlyn before she goes to bed and I get some time to myself. Or possibly I have small group. Or something else. Occasionally, Laura and I get a free night where we can have fun. And my days off are usually trying to entertain the baby who’s been so fussy lately. Finally, around 10 I crash into bed and try to read a bit before I go to sleep so I actually get some sleep.

I miss the days I had to myself. I really used to use those to truly recharge. To write for hours, read for hours, game for hours or just do whatever I felt like. Even though Caitlyn is wonderful, she likes her Daddy to usually be playing directly with her and doesn’t let me recharge a lot.

What’s the point of this?

Hmmm…not really sure. Maybe that I’m just feeling rushed lately? You see, tomorrow’s Valentine’s Day, when Laura and I are celebrating her birthday too. I’m looking forward to it, but I think I realized that I won’t get a recharge day this week. Yesterday, Caitlyn and I had a great time with my grandparents out in Murrieta. It’s a long drive and she didn’t get to nap very well so she was fairly fussy when we got home. And tomorrow will be very busy as well.  (Stupid Bioware had to pick tomorrow to launch the ME3 demo too. Darn them! And no, I won’t be playing unless Laura wants to play with me. I’ll throw it out there to her, but it will be no-strings-attached. It is her birthday after all.)

So here’s the plan. Right now, I’m going to try and get some work on Orion done. Maybe for 20 minutes. Then I’m going to try and prioritize some stuff for me. Caitlyn and work always come first, but I have a lot of other interests and I feel like they’re fighting among themselves. Like I’m on a big WoW kick right now but I want to get psyched for ME3 and get all my characters set for jumping into the new game.

Okay, going to take a deep breath now and try to relax a bit before going back to the madness of the Fruit.

-rks

Ramblings!

I really should be working in The Orion Project, but I had to watch the FemShep Trailer twice before even starting this. Yes, I’m that bad. I also love good trailers. I managed to find some of Two Steps From Hell’s works. They’re one of the major companies who produce trailer music. In fact, you’ve already heard them. The last Star Trek movie used their material, as did Mass Effect 2 and 3 now (specifically this trailer, though I haven’t figured out what song yet).

So I’m back at my old Apple Store today. My visit to the Cerritos Apple Store for a week helped. And they have an amazing team there. Cheerful and fun with a great atmosphere. Nothing but positive things. I will say that the commute was horrible. An hour and 15 minutes depending on traffic. My usual commute is something like 35-55 minutes depending on traffic.

I’m also excited. I got to move a step forward in THE PROJECT. Due to possible issues, I can’t really speak as to what it is unless/until it happens, but it’s a good thing. Trust me on this.

Okay, now to stop slacking and force myself to write. I haven’t really written since the end of NaNoWriMo and it’s going to be hard to get back into the groove of writing. It’s a habit that I’ve allowed to slide with other aspects of THE PROJECT and Project14, the special surprise I have for my wife Laura on her birthday this Tuesday.

Time to get in motion.

Mass Effect 3: Reinstated: The FemShep Trailer

I adore the Mass Effect series. I bought my original Xbox 360 for the series. I have 6-7 Shepards, though most of them are female. There are various reasons for this, but one of the first reasons is that Jennifer Hale, the voice actress for FemShep, is fantastic. Her delivery of the lines in Mass Effect 2 blew Mark Meer’s MaleShep out of the water.

This trailer is easily the most epic Mass Effect 3 trailer I’ve seen. And I cannot wait to play this game.

It’s going to be EPIC.

Conjunctions

I have a fairly big list for myself today. Besides the usual playing and cavorting with Caitlyn, I need to first post in my blog. Since I’m typing this right now after putting Caitlyn down for a nap, I can cross this off my list.

I finished reading the last two chapters of The Orion Project: Redemption yesterday while on lunch at the Cerritos Apple Store. To be honest, I have mixed feelings about this. Some of it I really liked, but now that the refreshing has been done, it means I need to start writing again. And that’s hard.

On another matter, I’ve thought a bit more about what I can put up here. I’ve already put up a few placeholders for future stories I’ll be bringing over here from deviantArt. And I’m thinking of doing some of my good photography too.

I’m also planning on doing a retrospective on Mass Effect since the long-awaited Mass Effect 3 is coming out in less than a month. I wish I could lose interest in WoW for a bit so I could play all my characters in ME2, but we’ll see what happens.

Okay, enough dawdling. Time to get to work on Orion 2.