Because Emily Said So

It's Saturday evening and I've just imbibed two, wholly wonderful glasses of wine (I don't know what it's called, but there's a kangaroo on the front). I have a very healthy buzz and because Emily has one also, she suggested I blog. Since we started losing weight and eating a whole lot less, my tolerance for alcohol has dimished. Now I get drunk very easily. Hehe. I guess there are worse things.

So what have I been doing lately? Let's start with gaming.

As many people know, I was once hopelessly addicted to World of Warcraft. I had a Horde-side toon called Demonsfury, an "affliction-spec'd" warlock, and I belonged to a raiding guild called Requiem on the Silvermoon server. Well, after about two years of raiding, I got burned out and just couldn't do it any more. It was the same for Emily. So we quit. Cold turkey like. Just one day we were raiding, the next we weren't. Since that time (and after a long withdrawal period), we started playing again, but only casually, which is much better for us. We have some toons we're leveling, but we're not very serious about it.

I still love games, so I've recently been playing three new titles that are all really fun: 1) On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, a really quirky role-playing game from the makers of the Penny Arcade comic strip; 2) Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, a real-time strategy game recommended by a friend who lives in Houston (hiya James); and 3) Mass Effect, another role-playing game, again recommended by James. All of them are a ton of fun, but all very different.

I've never been a big fan of RTS games; this is really my first foray into the genre. I do own Warcraft III, which is really cool, but I never could get into very far. So I'm giving the genre a new shake, equipped with a good game guide. I need this, because I'm about the least strategic person in the world. My hope is that I learn enough about RPG games to enjoy StarCraft 2 when it makes its debut, oh, in about a decade or so.

There are some cool new titles that I'm very much looking forward to. They include: 1) the new expansion for WoW--Wrath of the Lich King; 2) Diablo III; 3) StarCraft; and 4) a coupla new shooters from ID Software, which will be released for Mac OS X (yaxxors)!

Let's see... what else?

Many people know that I'm a trained violin maker. But until recently, my tools and my workshop have gone unused, which is really a sad state of affairs. However, I am now, albeit slowly, getting my workshop back in order. I've been working on a new sharpening table (violin makers are constantly sharpening their tools, so having a dedicated space is really necessary); I've added some cabinets to the workshop, and I've bought a few needed items. By the time the fall is here, I'll be ready to get back into the swing of things and make not only violins, but also some much needed furniture we need in our home.

Work is the suck. I guess that's a universal truth no matter who one is or what their chosen vocation happens to be. But I think my work is a bigger suck than most. Or maybe it's that I have a huge chip on my shoulder and a general bad attitude stemming from a premature take over of the start-up company I was once proud to call my own. You see, I used to work for a small company that developed and sold clustering software. We had a product that was unrivaled in the marketplace--a product that a lot of competing companies wished they had. We all thought we had something special that would, at the end of the day, make us all a healthy chunk of dough. Now, I never really wanted to be wealthy, but I did have dreams of paying off my house and maybe having some different options available to me (like full-time violin making). That was not to be, however, because the people running my beloved small company decided to take the easy way out and sell us to a very large company. A few got rich and the rest of us got screwed. It is a very common tale. So now I'm one of 180,000 employees (soon to be 300,000 owing to a recent, huge acquisition) and I have a job that is about as stupid as it can possibly be. But it's a steady paycheck and I just don't give a s**t anymore. I really don't.

Still, I am blessed. I have a wonderful life partner in Emily and I really am lucky in so many ways. No more complaints. Now I will enjoy the rest of my wine buzz in...

Peace.

~David