Make Love And War

As some may have noticed (though I wonder how many actually did), I’ve been a little absent from the online world of the past couple of months, and for those wondering what I’ve been up to, I’ll offer a quick recap!

Relaxing

Being online all the time can get quite exhausting; a steady flow of people on Plurk to talk to and reply, Second Life events and commitments, blogs to read, blogs to write, it all piles up.  So, I decided I was long overdue to simply step back and let it all fall silent for a bit.

While I of course missed the people I know online, it was also very refreshing to not be so connected for a while, and I do feel so much better for it.

As for why the disappearance without warning; that’s just my way.  I’m not one for the big “I’ve had enough!  I’m off!” kind of thing.

Making War

Ok, so to say I was totally detached from the internet and the online world was not entirely true, I did decide to poke my nose into World of Warcraft and see what it was all about.  I’d always resisted the temptation in the past as I’m not really a gamer and didn’t see it appealing to me much.  How wrong I was.

I approached it comparing it to the closest thing I know, which is Second Life, and was quite intrigued by the differences.  The graphical style is more artistic than realistic, and while the mesh for object and avatars may not be as detailed as Second Life, the consistency and quality of the design, along with some beautiful rendering (the shadows and lighting have to be seen to be believed), made it a new and interesting experience.

So, for the past few months I’ve been happily throwing fireballs and hacking away at the many beasts in Warcraft and having a great time.

Does this mean I’m leaving Second Life?  Not a chance, I’m just having a break, but still love Second Life in it’s own way and could not leave everything and everyone I have there.

And Finally

I felt a little burnt out creatively, mainly with my machinima, so a little time off from that was also good.  I’m coming back soon with some interesting ideas and projects to work on, which I’m still debating keeping under wraps or announcing.  I just have to find myself a roast chicken avatar….

So, I won’t be crashing back into the online world with full force, but just easing myself back in, and hopefully I’ve not been forgotten by too many, and am certainly looking forward to catching up with everything that’s happened while I’ve been away!

Living the dream?

I’m sure we all have days like this.

Sat there at work (if you work of course) and wondering “Why am I doing this?”

I don’t know how most people choose their career, but personally, I just fell into this line of work.  At school I never really knew what it was I wanted to do, but by the time I’d got to the end of secondary school I’d started a part time job in a call center for a chain of car dealerships.  I think the original plan for me was to become some kind of salesperson, though it was soon apparent that sales were not my forte, but I did seem to be rather good at administering the computer systems in the department.

With a strong interest in computers, I decided to follow up secondary school with a couple of years at college studying IT to further my knowledge of computer development, and so when a few years later the call center was shut down, I was moved to the IT department of the head office to develop new systems for the company.

After that, my career in software development was clearly my calling in life.

But what if things had turned out differently?  What if the money and glamour of software development was not important and I could choose any career I please?

Archeology always seemed glamorous

I’ve often mused over what else I could do in life to make a living, and what my dream job would be.  If I had even the slightest maths skills I may have chosen the career of a scientist, as physics have always held a particular interest to me, and was the one other subject in school I was good at.

Then there’s other dream jobs which have always sounded exciting in my mind; such as archaeologist, architect or actor, none of which I have the skills for, but I can always dream.

So, do you have your dream job already?  Doing what you always planned you’d do?  And if not, what would be your dream career?

Social Pressure

Recently I’ve found myself feeling the pressure of social networks, and am wondering if anyone else feels the same.

Plurk is the best example of this; I currently have 168 Friends, and probably several who I mutually follow.  By comparison of some other people, this is a small number, but I still find keeping up with all those people a near impossible task.

In essence, this exposes two of my biggest personality flaws; I can’t say no and I don’t like to hurt peoples feelings.  If somebody sends me a friend request I automatically accept, because as I see it, I’ve accepted others, why shouldn’t I accept this person.  I also feel like saying no to them is a snub to this person who is probably a total stranger to me at the time.

Endless Unread

Because of added work pressure, I can’t use Plurk in the office, apart from a quick peek on my mobile, so everything piles up throughout the day, not to mention the overnight backlog from those in other timezones who have been talking through the night.

By the time evening comes, I’m faced with an unmanageable pile of unread messages to wade through, and reading every one would be impossible.  And then another feeling of guilt creeps in; If I reply to one person, why am I not replying to another?

Many of the people I know online I consider good friends, I’d like to keep up with them all and not feel I’m favouring anyone, so now I’m sat there with a feeling of all or nothing, and with all being an daunting task, I default to nothing.

Now I’m probably an over sensitive example of this, but I’m sure there must be other people who feel the same about it, and I’d love to know how you feel about it or deal with it.

In the meantime, just because I’m not replying, doesn’t mean I’m not listening!

Happy Anniversary!

A year ago today was when the woman I then knew as Roxette Wise went from being my friend, to being my girlfriend, and one year on, I’m still thankful of that day.

Rox & Loaf

I’ll indulge in a short story of how we met.

Our actual first meeting was through Twitter, before it had become particularly big and browsing the public timeline was still almost possible without being fit inducing.  Happened across by chance, we started following each other, as was the fashion back then, and it was from her I learnt of Second Life.

Up until then, all I knew of Second Life was vague rumors and sleazy press reports, so naturally I was interested and signed myself up, where Roxette took my hand and showed me round the virtual world.  This showed me that there was a lot more to Second Life than just bizarre sex, and I was soon taken in by the beauty of the world, with it’s music, art, architecture and a diverse a selection of friends as you could imagine.

But anyway, let’s get onto the sex.

It was a typical night on SL, which meant the Linden gods were once again doing a merry jig on the servers and randomly kicking people out, and at one point me and Roxette found ourselves the only ones left on beach island we’d been exploring, and as you would when you find yourself in such a situation, dared each other to streak around the island.

On the beach by Roxette Wise

We did so, and managed to complete almost a full lap before people started to reappear, at which point we hastily hit our home buttons and headed back to our houses.  Being neighbours, Roxette ran to my house for cover, and as often happens when you’re naked on a hot night, passions were raised and the rest goes without further need of narration from myself.

A year later, and we’re still streaking around sims when nobody is looking, have a wonderful relationship both online and in the real world, and happily disproving that any relationship formed online will never last.  Here’s to another wonderful year together!

A Fresh Start

I know what a lot of people will be thinking.

“Another blog??”

Well, there’s a reason.

First of all, I had a blog about my real life, and that faded away.  Next I started a blog about my Second Life© activities, and that fell into disuse.

Loaf

I’ve decided I wanted to start again as I’ve been enjoying writing again recently, and since my other blog, http://osirisproductions.net, is very much reserved for my machinima work, I thought I’d keep this separate.  Finally, in a decision between an SL or a RL blog, I thought why not merge the two?  I’ve never been too bothered about connections between my RL and my SL anyhow.

So, I give you Loafing.  So titled because Loaf is my most common online name, coming from the term loafing around, rather than any bread based products.

While this will be a dumping ground for everything and anything that falls out of my head, I have decided on one solid rule of this blog.  No meme’s!!  Not that I don’t enjoy them, but I just felt previous blogs I’ve had ended up becoming more meme’s than thought out posts.

Now all I have to do is find something interesting to write about and keep it up this time…