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“Where’s My Super Suit?”

 

That line from The Incredibles totally caught my eye in the WordPress Reader, so I stopped, and gave it a read. It then further drew me in since I’d heard some of the rumblings while I was wandering around the Anaheim Convention Center area during this most recent Blizzcon conference. There was a rumor circulating a bit that the just-announced new game in the works, Overwatch, was just the remnants of the scrapped Titan project. Now, since I had heard otherise, from a person who had friends on the Overwatch team, I felt the need to pipe up and comment. You can check out my comment at the linked article above, or you can jump to the comment, and the reply by the author by visiting this link.

 

There’s not been official word yet on what happened to Titan, and I believe it will be quite some time before there is. What, dear reader, do you think? Let me know by commenting or posting.

 

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There’s somebody in my life that I feel could use more of my time. I say this, a bit selfishly, as I’d like to have a little more of her time as well. Life just doesn’t seem to want to make that easy, by throwing up some pretty serious hurdles, such as a 45 minute drive for a visit, or a work schedule (hers) that has big time commitment and difficulty with being in any way spontaneous. At this point, I’m seriously considering using vacation days just to hang out more often. If I’m going to, though, I want to plan some really fun stuff for us to do. Ideas are most appreciated here, and keep in mind that we’re both fairly geeky and don’t usually go for the traditional stuff.

Now, it’s your turn to think about things a bit. 🙂

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…to Blizzcon! The first (and, sadly, only) time I went was waaaaay back in 2008.

 

Blizzcon badge and swag
Blizzcon ’08 badge and some of the swag

 

It was a lot of fun. I wasn’t sure what to expect, since I was not yet a convention veteran, felt super awkward even trying to meet up with guildies (which didn’t work out) or even people who play WoW on my realm (found a few, and it was fun!). It was the first time I got a chance to see Video Games Live, live (it was awesome!!!) There’s actually a lot more going on there as we, such as pro-gaming tournaments, and art exhibits (Blizzard has some very talented artists) and panels for each game currently available, or in development. There’s quite a bit on the plate this year, so I’m lucky to have gotten a physical ticket this year (watched the stream all other years since).

Here’s a taste of what I’m looking forward to this time:

I’m probably still too shy to personally thank the game developers for all their work, so, perhaps one of them will see this post, but, if not, maybe I’ll be able to muster the courage to do so if I run into any in one of the halls (they tend to roam around when not busy). Blizzard’s games have long been some of my favorites, and I do hope that continues for a long time.

For now, I’m getting ready to pick up my badge. Hoping to run into old (and new) friends soon.

 

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eBay listing, November 4, 2214:

 

Vintage Laptop Hard Disk 500GB

 

That’s the likely listing heading, when it goes up for sale online for lovers of old techknowldgy in 2214. What the buyer will find on it, will likely be of interest to a historian of culture and technology. There’s a few things that might stand out from the mundane data that most disks contain. Examples:

 

  • A folder for an old massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), World of Warcraft, which was released 210 years ago and was very successful for its era.
  • transcripts from text-based chat software. A relic of pre-telepathic communications.
  • A relatively small Music folder. Unsurprising, as the era of storing personal media files locally was on the decline with increasing cloud-based storage gaining popularity.
  • The remaining used space (the drive is 75% full) is taken up by the other application software, mostly prouctivity and software development applications, and a few otheer notable games such as the sandbox of Minecraft, and even the first popular game library managers (Steam, and Battle.net).
  • Last, but not least is the operating system itself (Mac OS X, a flavor of the ancient UNIX family of software which was popular with not just academics, but this one had many creatives using it as well).

This drive is in surprisingly good condition, considering drives of its kind had a useful operating lifetime of roughly 10-20 years, depending on usage and environment. This one sems to have seen light usage before being taken out, likely to use a much higher capacity drive, or even one with no moving parts. The drive was only powered on after being recovered from a “time capsule” to check its usability and contents. A real collector’s item, but there’s still no reserve because it’s value speaks for itself. Thanks for checking this listing out!

—END LISTING-

 

I’m participating in Blogging 101. Here’s today’s prompt:

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/buyers-beware/

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Hello there! I’m glad you stopped by to find out a bit more about me. I’m Ryan, and I’m a bit of an introvert. I totally feel more comfortable in front of a keyboard than publicly speaking, which is part of why I’ve got this blog.

If you’re here, it would be good to know that I am a fan of sci-fi and fantasy, I love Star Wars and Star Trek, although I do happen to costume and perform as a Jedi as a member of Saberguild. I’m also a big geek when it comes to video games, anime, music, reading, and generally consuming stories in a few of the ways they can be experienced (movies, some TV, and online video.) Yes, I also attend conventions (mostly comic-cons, for now).

I’d first wondered what I’d focus on when I fist created this blog, years ago, but I don’t think I have narrowed it much, which kind of de-motivated me. Now, I think I’m a bit more focused, but  am open to ideas. You’ll likely see me bouncing around the above topics, as they are of great interest to me, but, occasionally, I’ll dip into some new territory.

Mostly, I’m hoping to just explore my interests, while also hopefully connecting with those that share one or more of the same interests. I’m not new to blogging, but want to really hone the basic writing skills involved, because, even though a large chunk of my paid work involves written communication, I’m not a professional writer. Hopefully, a month of really flexing these writing muscles will be the motivation to put more thoughts into words, more often.

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Favorite Never Been To Place

Currently, the place I like most that I’ve never visited would have to be the city of New York. It’s at the top because of how iconic it is and also because of how different it’s “character” is from the major cities I’ve visited so far. I’m fortunate enough as well to have met at least one person whom I would like to visit, once I put a trip together, but I also wouldn’t mind a tourist-type of visit, because there’s quite a bit of culture to take in.

 

I’m curious to know what others choose. Please, let me know.

 

prompted by:

https://twitter.com/DeskPM/status/527038411136188417

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OK, let’s suppose, for a minute, that I got the chance travel back in time to relive part of the past. If I got to do either high school or college over again, what would I do differently? I’d first like to think I’d need a good reason to do so before tackling the question.

That’s actually pretty tricky because where I am now is a result of both, in different ways. I’d say that I would have rebelled more in high school. Instead, I really believed everything that my parents said about how hard academic work would pay off (which is only partially true – social skills help too) in having great relationships, and that people that value intelligence would come around, despite the awkward nerdiness – i.e. no need to change for other people. I say it’s partially true because being smart only gets one so far, but being smart and witty is a good combination.

Being able to carry on, socially, means you become approachable so that people can see your true self. If you’re just some know-it-all who can’t carry on a conversation with a layperson, you’re going to struggle. I did (and still do) and hopefully will come through it relatively unscathed. I’m far from perfect, but I hope a bit wiser for the experiences.

Here’s the inspiration for this bit of introspection:

https://twitter.com/DeskPM/status/525595268972961792

Would you do either over again? Let me know.

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You are presented with two career choices:

Deck Hand :

a worker on a ship who does work that does not require special training

To be sure, if I was ever found working on a ship, this would likely be my role. I definitely do not have any specialized nautical skills now, so manual labor would be what I’d do. This is an easy choice since I would quickly become bored, even with the occasional excitement of rough seas to throw a bump in the monotony of cleaning and moving equipment around. A pro would be the travel aspect. It would be fun to visit exotic ports, even if briefly. Getting a taste of multiple cultures directly is hard to beat.

Librarian :

a specialist in the care or management of a library

I like to read. Right now, it’s mostly fiction, but if I were a librarian, I think I’d expand that reading to non-fiction as well. I hear that some historical non-fiction is pretty compelling sometimes. The rise and fall of ancient empires, biographies, and even more magazines that I’m not sure I’d subscribe to (but might like to try), to name some of the stuff I’d read, even as I’d help keep things in order in the shelves.

If you are forced to spend the rest of your life as either a deck hand on a ship or as a librarian at a prestigious university, which would you choose and why (if neither, I want to know as well)?

Based on writingprompts on tumblr