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verziehenone · 7 years

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Video games ... what a past time. So much time is spent on them, I can’t even imagine how many hours I have enjoyed building and breaking worlds, meeting and killing people, and just having the time of my life (lives) in virtual worlds.

Probably the first game I ever played was Tetris on the Gameboy. The original Gameboy. That bulky off-white thing that took 4 AA’s that seemed like nothing could keep it down. Could probably have built a house outta those things. And the battery life was pretty solid too!

But soon I graduated to Mario, which was not awful on Gameboy. Then came the big one: Pokemon. Around then I upgraded to a Gameboy Pocket The foldy one. It went from a monochrome brown and green thing to a nice gray with black and white shades. Terrific clarity!

Then the Gameboy Color happened. But before we get there ...

My first console was an Atari. Good times on that thing. Pitfall, some space game, and a few others that were equally blocky and terrifically entertaining in a way that many games just don’t capture now.

Then was my Nintendo. I think it was because I traded/sold my Atari at a garage sale or something, and boom, I was the proud owner of a Nintendo. Eventually got me one of those sweet Duck Hunt guns (let’s be honest, that was basically the only game anyone used it on), and a few great games. Zelda, a few Marios (Mario 3 will forever be amazing, but Mario 2 had it’s charm.)

I did some swaparoos (involving a mountain bike and another Atari) but came back to the Nintendo. That said, this was all around the time that friends of mine had the Sega Genesis or the Super Nintendo, and I was stuck with the lame-o OG Nintendo. I even remember one time convincing my parents to spring for renting a Sega Genesis from Family Video (or whatever it was called) and using that Sega Channel (or whatever) to stream Mortal Kombat and another fighting game or two. Don’t tell my parents, lots-o-blood.

Back to the portables. Gameboy Color was a revolution. Sure, Pokemon in color was amazing. Any game (Final Fantasy Tactics, Super Mario, etc) but really, it was Pokemon. And the reason they were amazing-er on the Gameboy Color? It was backlit. And that made ALL the difference at night. No more huddling around a little nightlight or gripping a flashlight in my mouth to try to catch one more ‘mon, or just one more fight, one more ...

I had a Gamegear for a bit, which was the Sega competitor to the Gameboy. Glorious color gaming, 8 AA batteries, big ole screen, but the games (other than Sonic I think) just weren’t there. So I got rid of it, and eventually the glory of the Gameboy Advance happened. The one with the big ole screen, that Super Mario was friggin’ amazing on. And naturally, Pokemon again was amazing. I eventually got me the next Gameboy (SP) the next foldy one, which was the last one before the 3DS (I think), which I never got (though I’d love one).

Console-wise, for the remainder of my pre-college life I was always a generation behind. Everyone had the GameCube when I finally got an N64 (but don’t cry too hard, GoldenEye was worth the wait). I finally got a PS1 in time for everyone to tell me how amazing the PS2 was. This isn’t a sob story, just the result of growing up in a family where if I wanted a console, I had to buy it with my money. So I did, and I was just more patient. Though I was friends with people who had the latest and greatest. At one point I had the 3 main consoles, (a generation late): the PS2, the GameCube, and the Dreamcast. I felt like the toast of the land. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Crazy Taxi, Super Mario Sunshine, I had it all. Good times.

Until! The summer before college. I had a few bucks put aside and wanted me a real gaming PC. The one I had prior to that was a hand-me-down from my Youth Pastor that played StarCraft on it ... barely. So this one, a big $600 beast, and I found myself loving the major boost in power that my Athlon something something gave me over the Pentium 2 I had prior. Unreal Tournament was brilliant and I enjoyed so many great gaming experiences on that machine. And Civilization 3 stole far far too many nights and days ... I spent hours and hours playing that.

Then college came! And a credit card! And I built a new computer! And it was fast and had a pair of 17″ CRT monitors (I upgraded to 17″ widescreen LCDs) and it was glorious. (GeForce 8800 GTS baby). I did so much more gaming. Eventually even got around to World of Warcraft, though I did enjoy plenty of non-PC gaming with pals on a variety of systems.

I played World of Warcraft heavily throughout college, spending 4-5 hours a night usually (still had a solid GPA and 2 part time jobs and a girlfriend, so I wasn’t a total loser) and it was wonderful. I remember at one point I even played another MMO in my off time, and it was stupid and glorious and ridiculous. I spent my non-PC gaming time playing a lot of the PS2 games I hadn’t beaten or just enjoyed like Final Fantasy 10 and Star Ocean and so on. Big into RPGs. I even got a PSP during that time for the Star Ocean 1 and 2 remakes and I still wish I had kept it, to be honest.

After college I was living with a roomie (from college) who I played World of Warcraft with, but also enjoyed the Nintendo Wii and PS3 he had. We did a lot of great gaming on those systems, though I did a lot more PS3 than Wii stuff. Rock Band became a past time for us (and I got quite good at Expert guitar, could play huge chunks of some songs with my eyes closed) and he was great a bass. Stoke 3 live on! And did I mention Fallout 3? Ohhh man. It never changes.

So I decided to buy an Xbox 360. I never had an Xbox (though I did a little Halo in my time) I just decided that I wanted a console and should get one he didn’t have. I also very much missed Fight Night (a boxing game) and wanted to play that again. But the eventually I moved out and was on my lonesome and didn’t have a Blu-Ray player. And have always been a Playstation guy. So I sold the Xbox 360 and bought a Playstation 3.

Until I got my bigscreen TV I didn’t do a ton of Playstation gaming, instead mostly doing PC (mostly World of Warcraft) gaming. I did do a game here and there of other things but nothing memorable.

But, one day I powered down my computer, went to work, and came home only to find ... no power. No response at all. The reason this matters is I had just decided to come back to playing World of Warcraft (after a break that my then-girlfriend convinced me would save our relationship, because video games were our only problem -- nope), and was bummed I couldn’t. I didn’t have the money to fix it so I returned to console gaming and enjoyed a lot of then-newer hits like Dragon Age: Origins, Darksiders 1, Dante’s Inferno, the Assassin’s Creed games, and a host of others that escape me. I tend to not do a lot of shooters on console, preferring them on PC. GameFly helped me fly through games pretty quickly so I was able to save quite a bit of money by not buying all of them.

A few months later I was living with a new friend and decided to research how to fix my computer, and found it was much cheaper than expected. So I got a new motherboard and some new ram and was up and running in time to enjoy Star Wars: The Old Republic, a new MMO. It was amazing and super super fun leveling and the story was great ... until you hit max level like you ran into a wall. So then I got into Skyrim and a few other games, working my way through the different PC games I had missed out on (like Mass Effect 1-3, Dragon Age 2, and some others).

Living with some new friends I was introduced to other games I’d never heard of or played, like Guild Wars 2, Dark Souls, and

Time moves on again and I decided to swap out some newer parts and make my machine more future-proof, since I had a baby on the way and would never have money again until a bit later. I also used some of my birthday money and Christmas money on a PS4. So I was set. Like a rockstar. A rockstar who enjoyed Madden and Grand Theft Auto V and so on. And Far Cry and Crysis and Wolfenstein and not World of Warcraft. I had been done for a long time. Partly due to time and partly due to money and partly due to a lack of interest.

Skipping around a bit to the present, I’m still and always will be a gamer. I still don’t have a 3DS, as much as I’d love to have one for Pokemon, but I have a PS4 and my wife has a Switch, and my PC is still gettin’ love when it gets a bit outta date. Never going to have a bleeding edge waste-of-money PC but I will always strive to be caught up to play the latest games.

I am back into World of Warcraft again, playing with a prior roommate and some other really great guys, and it’s being managed much more carefully than before. Outside of that, I’ve been playing Uncharted 4, Overwatch, Diablo 3, Civilization 6 (Oh my gosh I love Civ) and a smattering of others. I still have my Gameboy SP with Pokemon Red and Yellow and Gold (I think). I also had a Playstation Vita briefly but decided it just wasn’t for me.

I have a long list of games I want to play so I won’t list them all. (Yes I will, because this is my blog). In no particular order:

Stardew Valley (In progress)

Mad Max (In progress)

Bloodborne (In progress)

Dark Souls 3

Torment: Tides of Numenara

Wasteland 2

Pillars of Eternity

Rise of the Tomb Raider

Dying Light

Doom

Watch Dogs 2

Dishonored 2

Final Fantasy 15

Nioh

Persona 5

Horizon Zero Dawn

Mass Effect: Andromeda

Red Dead Redemption 2

Injustice 2

I’m a gamer at my core and a good gaming experience is something so hard to communicate to those who haven’t found a game that tickles their fancy. But when a person finds that game that challenges them in the right way, entertains them or entrances them, and they just can’t put it down ... that’s just the best. (And in this post I’m not talking board games or mobile phone games, those are entirely different posts).

This really just scratches the surface of my gaming time, thoughts, and philosophy about games. I have so many thoughts and ideas, so many memories and experiences, and so many terrific games that I loved and can’t wait to try ... it’s just a matter of the same thing it always was: Making sure that it is always secondary to real life, real people, and the stuff that really matters. Otherwise... game on.

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verziehenone · 7 years

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It’s that time again. That time for TV shows to bow out for a few months, go into hibernation, and then feverishly work to convince to return to their worlds for more.

Having watched a number of shows hit their finales in recent months, here is my subjective and biased ranking:

Agents of SHIELD

The 100

Z Nation

The Good Place

Arrow

Legion

Supergirl

The Flash

Supernatural

The Legends of Tomorrow

The Vampire Diaries

Superstore

Last Man on Earth

The Walking Dead

Suits

Star Wars: Rebels

Channel Zero

This isn’t a ranking from Good to Bad, but rather in order of ‘I liked it a lot!’ to ‘I could have liked it more’ to ‘It was a finale’. I don’t think I watched any shows in recent days that I really thought were awful finales, but some were definitely better than others.

SHIELD was fantastic this season and I can’t even really think of a true ‘lull’ in the action. First Ghost Rider, then LMDs, then the Framework (’Hydra’) stuff. Excellent way of divvying up a 23-24 episode season and keeping it fresh and exciting. Other shows would do well to learn from this example.

The 100 was terrific. That show keeps blowing me away. The stories are interesting, the acting and sets and effects are really great, and it’s full of great moments! The last two seasons have been up and down, but man, those ‘ups’ are really up!

Z Nation is an oddball to see on here but this show is so ridiculously fun that I have to mention it. Every episode has some insane ridiculous stupid zombie moment where insane ridiculously stupid things happen to zombies, and then a bad guy says something dumb and then probably dies an episode later and then more stupid ridiculously fun zombie action happens. So many fun and enjoyable moments of over the top action and effects.

Odd to see a comedy like this so high? The Good Place snuck up on me for being a very well written comedy with clever and laugh out loud moments, good acting and special effects, and a very very good finale. If you haven’t given it a shot, I really really think you should, it’s so surprisingly entertaining.

Arrow did a great job of concluding the present storyline in a BIG way, and also the flashback storyline. Very interested to see what will happen next season, as the finale left the writers with basically a blank slate regarding ... well ... everything.

Legion. Wow. I mean, Noah Hawley is just in a world of his own with directing. Fargo was instantly a classic (especially season 1) and Legion just proves it wasn’t a fluke. I loved seeing Dan Stevens break out of his Downton Abbey role in a big way, and obviously Aubrey Plaza was a treat (like always). The visuals, the music, everything. And obvs I loved seeing Jemaine Clement. Because I love seeing him in basically everything.

Supergirl did a great job of being the finale everyone kind of expected and hoped for at the same time. Big effects, big fights, conclusions to stories, teases for the next season, all of it. It had more ambition in it than some movies, and did a great job with maximizing the TV budget it had. And honestly, it’s crazy that this is a TV show. A decade ago, many of these episodes would have been a movie, for their budget and characters. And Melissa Benoist is just a treat.

Flash ... well, I love the Flash, but this season wasn’t great, and last wasn’t either. This was better, but still up and down, very uneven. The finale was fine, but it had a few things that could have made it much better. And naturally Barry did a Barry thing in the finale, and despite it actually making sense this time around, it still feels like a pointless cliffhanger. One of those: Is the main character really dead? Well, all signs point to Maybe! (Unless the show got renewed and isn’t Game of Thrones).

Supernatural was pretty solid considering it is in season 10,000. Sad that Mark Sheppard (Crowley) said he’s not coming back for next year, but maybe it’s a cop out like Ian Somerhalder (Damien) on Vampire Diaries, where it’s really just to ‘sell’ a finale. I really have enjoyed the last 4 seasons quite a lot and have every intention of tuning in again and again to watch the boys raise havoc and save people (and hunt things) as long as the CW will renew it.

Legends added dinosaurs in the finale, in a city, doing dinosaur things. This covers a lot of ‘meh’ parts in the finale, though it was pretty solid overall. I mean, when a season is about getting the Spear of Destiny and then needing to use the Blood of Christ that is buried in a battlefield (that you retrieve during a battle) so that 3 baddies don’t destroy all the things ... well, it’s an insane premise that was well delivered, just not incredibly well. More Captain Cold is always a good thing though!

Vampire Diaries finally ended, and it ended in (some) ways that people expected, and others that were still (somewhat) surprising. It smartly left teases to storylines unexplored that will likely payoff in The Originals, and allow us to continue visiting some characters again, but it didn’t feel like a cheap finale for a show that over and over surprised me with how fun and insane it was.

Both Superstore and Last Man on Earth had finales that reset the status quo and will get me back. Partly because they’re both terrific in different ways, and partly because both could use a bit of a shakeup in ‘the formula’. They were fine finales but not ‘OH MY GOSH HAVE YOU SEEN’ finales.

A simple summary of The Walking Dead finale: from literally the first 2 minutes I could have told you how at least part of it would end. But some parts were still very entertaining, while other were ... predictably dumb. This was a very up and down season with a lot of flaws that hopefully will be corrected and some story problems that seemed so simple to resolve.

Suits teased a change that seemed like it took an eternity to get here, despite being eminently enjoyable to watch it come to fruition, still took a thousand years to happen. It was renewed, so it will be neat to see how it changes things going forward. And, considering the upcoming spinoff, I wonder if Suits is coming to a close?

Rebels ... next season is your last. I have mixed feelings about this. Where was Ahsoka this last season? I guess that was the answer to season 2′s finale... but come on. That better not be the answer. I’m excited for some of the teases for next season, hopeful Thrawn keeps being menacing, and intrigued about how they end it. And mostly I’m interested to see when Disney will announce the next animated show, hopefully set in another interesting era where we can see big names do big stuff (ala Clone Wars). Still hopeful that Ezra goes darkside. We’ll see.

Channel Zero surprised me with how incredibly slow burning the entire show was, taking its sweet old time to add in the scares and the dread. I enjoyed every episode and thought the finale ended it sufficiently, but it wasn’t as good as the prior episodes. Here’s hoping that season 2 ends up with a similar slow burn feel.

And the following are ones that have aired but I haven’t yet watched:

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Modern Family

Jane the Virgin

Bobs Burgers

Elementary

Samurai Jack

12 Monkeys

The Expanse

Into the Badlands

Yeah, I’ll get there. I watch a few of these with my wife, so it’s a ‘when we get to it’ kind of thing (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Modern Family, Jane the Virgin, Bobs Burgers), and a few (Samurai Jack, 12 Monkeys) I haven’t watched any of this season. And Elementary, while I really really enjoy it, I am at least 2-3 seasons out. The Expanse is the sci-fi show everyone should be watching but not enough are and I think it’s going to end up cancelled before it really hits its stride (and as far as I understand, it got terrifically better in season 2 after a very strong season 1). Into the Badlands is the show (frankly) that Iron Fist wishes it was and I really need to watch season 2, but its one of those shows you have to watch without doing other things (which tends to be what I do).

And there’s ones that are a still a ways out:

The Originals

The Leftovers

Better Call Saul

Doctor Who

Steven Universe

Adventure Time

Gotham

Fargo

American Gods

Prison Break

Twin Peaks

So much excellent TV in this! The Originals has been good, The Leftovers is on its way out (and seems to be maintaining its quality and momentum), and what I say that hasn’t been said about Better Call Saul? Doctor Who has been completely amazing this season, easily the best Capaldi season, and up there with the best ‘Nu Who’ seasons, in my opinion (and many others’). Steven Universe is so much fun and I know Adventure Time is on the way out ... sad sad sad. Can’t wait to share that with my son when he’s older. Gotham is insane and campy and stupid and I’ll absolutely tune in in the fall. Fargo has been good this season after a kind of ‘meh’ season 2. American Gods is a great adaptation of the book, and a great show really in every respect. Blown away by the quality! And I haven’t actually started Prison Break but I fully expect to enjoy it (and be sad since apparently it isn’t getting renewed again). Um and Twin Peaks is a show that I don’t understand but am watching season 2 so I can watch season 3.

And ones that are about to start:

Dark Matter

Killjoys

Fear the Walking Dead

Rick and Morty

Orphan Black

Preacher

Dark Matter isn’t amazing but it’s serviceable, while Killjoys is so so so much fun. Fear is still figuring itself out but season 2 was much better than season 1 (where they totally abandoned their premise about 2 episodes in). Rick and frickin’ Morty. When are we getting more, Dan Harmon??!??! And lastly, Orphan Black, I can’t believe it’s almost time to say goodbye. Tatiana Maslany better get some killer roles after this because she is a stellar actress and this show is so good, I hope the finale does it justice. And Preacher is just insane in the best way.

That’s all for my TV thoughts for now. I didn’t include Netflix-type binge shows but I watched a lot of those too (Iron Fist, 3%, The OA, Between, Travelers, Santa Clarita Diet, The Crown). Or shows I might want to watch but haven’t yet (Riverdale, Underground). And I probably forgot other shows too. And I probably watch too much TV, but if it’s any consolation or explanation, it heavily influences and inspires my writing. (And most of it I watch while video gaming anyway).

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verziehenone · 7 years

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Writing writing writing writing. That’s what November was all about. I finally finished the final words of the (just shy of) 100,000 word novel I had wanted to write since I was about 18. And I was so proud! I spent a few very long evenings at Starbucks drinking too many Lattes while clicking and clacking away to Wolves at the Gate, and I cranked it out. And I really think it’s pretty dang good.

And the cool thing is, so do some friends! And even my wife! They all gave great feedback, ranging from:

I finished it!

I remember some of the plot points!

There were at least 2 characters!

To (and this was real feedback):

I really enjoyed it!

Needs some polish, but this is good!

I want to know more about [character/event]!

And as an aspiring writer (with two short eBooks published) this is my friggin’ lifeblood. This is what helps me to keep going. Knowing that my idea -- that sounds good to me, because who writes what they think sounds stupid to them?? -- is actually not half bad... no it’s actually good!

It didn’t start how I expected. I intended on writing something very different actually! And then I just kind of kept writing. And I didn’t know where it was going. And then I added a character and changed a thing and another thing happened and suddenly I was at the end. But with a fully formed plot, major beats and minor, and characters I really liked. I won NaNoWriMo 2016, the first time I actually committed to doing it, and I produced something I am so excited to share!

But that was November of 2016. It’s now May, around 6 months after I finished, and I’m only through 25% of my first edit. I don’t want others editing it yet because I want to flesh out some parts (I have many notes in my OneNote folder) and need to write an additional thing (to answer a question I unintentionally left unanswered). And I need to do a second pass (probably/likely will go faster because it’ll be more polish than the first one, which is a jaunt through the grime and grit), and then maybe I’ll have someone else give ‘er a pass.

And in the interim of that, I spent time! I did things! (Watched many movies, TV shows, read tons of books, bought my first house, and all that jazz). But my editing just ... stopped.

It took me forever to finally write, because I was trying to recreate what I had in college, truth be told. That ‘thing’ where I just ... felt it.

In college I spent many many evenings by my lonesome, because I’m a socially anxious introvert and I very much preferred that, and on some glorious evenings ... I just had to write. I had some idea, some inspiration, some goal ... or some audience that desperately wanted the next thing that my brain would spit out. And I loved it. I reveled in those moments.

So when I went to write as an adult, I found it so so hard. I couldn’t get that ‘feeling’ back. Didn’t seem to matter where, or when, or how I tried. Just wasn’t there. Then life happened. Got married. Had a kid. Moved and moved and moved. So I figured I’d jumpstart the process and open up the old files. I cracked open two of my most liked stories (ones I was most proud of) and I’d use them as inspiration. I’d edit them, submit them to Amazon as eBooks, and then I would use that momentum to keep going. Every time I got a review I felt my heart race, in that ‘Holy crap I’m doing it!’ kind of way. Every time someone told me they couldn’t wait for more, I felt like that feeling was coming back.

Jonah’s Story was always meant to be a 2 part intro to an idea I had in 2009. I had intended on using it simply as a way to backdoor pilot the universe to anyone interested in where I was going to go, and also for myself (because I had no idea how to start the novel). But then I didn’t know how to continue to Part 2. And I’ve started to write it, over and over and over. Literally ... 12 times? 13? Something like that. I’ve produced many ideas I’ll keep (in a Google Keep document where I store all of my ideas) but none produced the next ‘feeling’ to finish it. I kind of know where I want it to go, but ... just haven’t hit that stride.

And then I decided: I’m doin’ NaNoWriMo 2016. My brother-in-law did 2015′s challenge and it just inspired the heck outta me. So I figured I’d do it. I actually was planning on writing something else, all the way up until like day 3-4 into the challenge, and ultimately just went with my original desired story.

It had all the hallmarks of my favorite genre baked in:

Wasteland setting

Multiple character viewpoints (ala Game of Thrones)

Gritty and violent at times where it makes sense

Twists, turns, surprises, and people can die

And somehow, unlike the many many times I tried before, this one just kept on flowing. I kept figuring out how to keep rolling forward, kept understanding the story, the characters, their motivation, and where the world would spin into. And it worked. Terrifically. Not just as the novel I always wanted to write, but as a novel in general. And I’m so stinkin’ proud of how good it ended up!

But it’s still only a draft. And draft 2 is taking foooooorever. Editing is so slow because it just isn’t the same as writing. (And I actually rather enjoy editing things in general, but I’m just so excited to share this with people that I’m impatient to finish!) But I also want it to be as good as I know it can be. I won’t be the next Stephen King, but I can be me, and I can write the best novel I can.

So, before I get back to editing ... just be aware, if you have friends who are aspiring writers (Poetry or Prose), artists (of any kind), musicians (especially creating music), or vocalists (band or solo), make sure you toss ‘em a bone every so often and ask how things are going, and make sure they know someone wants to enjoy what they are producing. Even if you’re being a little facetious, it’ll mean the world to them, and every single memorable artist in history had to start somewhere.

Coming soon: I’ll finally reveal a title and then get all nervous and change it about 4 more times! I’ll ask for more people to read my novel and give feedback and anxiously wonder why you haven’t gotten back to me because-you-didn’t-like-it-or-why-else-are-you-taking-so-long-to-read-it! And I’ll even share some tentative cover artwork. For me to stay awake at night wondering if it’s as good as it could be!

#writing #nanowrimo 2016 #nanowrimo #ebook

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