Year in Review

Yay! Yet another year and my life hasn't gone pear-shaped!

Since everyone else seems to be doing it, thought I'd jot down a few of the important things that have (and haven't) happened this year.

• Got a real job! Yay positive income! Still learning the ropes and begging those around me for help on a nearly daily basis, but in theory, eventually, I'll have mastery over the work. At least that's what they tell me. And I trust my managers/elders.
• Moved to Folsom! Kinda stunk in that I can't keep up as well with all the awesome people I knew in Davis (miss you Catalyst people!). Sure we have Facebook and IM, but it's not the same as seeing them on a weekly basis and hanging out and catching up. On the other hand, I've been getting to know some new awesome people around here as well. Major shout-out to the people at Fusion for making me feel welcome, plus the crew at work for all the fun we've had and will have.
• Graduation with a Masters. DING. To be honest, I don't feel like I learned all that much from the extra school except how stupid I can be and how sometimes painful the academia system can be. Granted, without it I probably wouldn't have a job and I wouldn't have had the personal growth I had while in Davis, but academically Mudd was far superior in terms of shoveling awesome knowledge into me. Still, learned lots of random things.
• Moving is funsies. Dealing with stupid things like setting up internet and moving giant pieces of furniture? Not as much.
• Got to travel to MLG, see some awesome StarCraft live, meetup with Sean and Kevin, good times. Also, hilarious singing on the drive back. Bonus points to Derick for setting it all up.
• Wedding! Car rides going up and down! Driving! ON A BOAT!
• Wedding! Barns on fire! Seeing Davis buddies! Family!
• I continue my saga of becoming more awesome since I don't have to spend time (nor money) on a girlfriend.
• Napa trip. Tasting wines. Steph really, really can't hold her liquor. Also, I hate stiff brakes. Introducing Dominion (mwahahah more addicts!). Karaoke.
• 4th of July in Vegas. Seeing some awesome shows, doing some hanging around, making a little money on the tables.
• Not enough game nights. Realizing how much I've switched from a producer to a consumer, and a pretty poor consumer at that.
• LAN Parties.
• Lots and lots of late-night talks. Politics. People. Dancing. Game design and strategy.
• Bible Studies! Both learning to lead one properly and participating in an awesome one.
• Running lots of A/V. Playing lots of music. Except that's not happening as much anymore. Sad face.
• Cooking.

Here's to a pretty decent year, and looking forward to another one with crazy stuff waiting to happen.

Why I like Stories

Warning, this will start a little emo and get better later.

I've been feeling a little recently. There's plenty of factors, and I won't get into them here. But suffice to say I've been not as chipper as during the Spring.

However, I've noticed there are a few things I enjoy and can really lift my mood. One is social interaction, and thank God I've found things to keep me busy there. The other is reading stories. This can be going through the archive of one of my webcomics (another post on those eventually) or something like don't take it personally, babe, it just ain't your story. It's a quick little visual novel game, meaning you read some dialogue and every now and then are prompted with decisions to make. Some are minor, and some can drastically change the overarching story. The core though is you're reading a narrative and can slightly tweak things, but you're not actually in control since... well... it just ain't your story.

This fascination with stories isn't just a recent thing. I still remember how drawn I was to stories as a kid. Any story would do. For a while my sister had gotten a magazine series called Cricket, and I could spend hours or even days being absorbed in the various stories told through the archive of issues we had. I gobbled up the Lord of the Rings Trilogy in the span of a few days. If given the opportunity, I will read over 500 pages a day, or however long the particular book is I'm reading. This actually has forced me to NOT buy books or else every piece of spare time I had would be absorbed into them. And a decent chunk of time that wasn't free.

I'm even a sucker for most semblances of a plot. On more than one occasion have I had to tear myself away from a really poor piece after getting seriously plot committed. The plot was a complete wreck as was everything else, but I felt an obligation to finish it. I had to know what happened to these characters.

And I think therin lies the crux of the matter. Stories, overall, are a well-structured description of what is going on. They aren't as messy or complicated as real life. Even when things get really, really rough you subconsciously take comfort in the fact that there was an author to all of this and the ending will be what they designed it to be. It's the solace that at the end of the day everything will tie itself up in a neat bow. Or at least to what the author intended. It's that glimpse of hope, that at the end of the day things work out and all the uncertainty and worry was mostly for naught that really speaks to me. Even with the downer endings the ride is worth it. Being able to see things through a different lens, to cheer on your favorite character or get frustrated by an obvious trap. But most of all to be able to step into a world where things are under control and will work out to their appointed endings.

Sure you could call me a weakling who can't face the harsh realities of life. The uncertainty of what you're doing, how things will end, and that you can't skip to the good part is something you're just supposed to deal with. The grim trudge of time, the broken lives scattered around you, and the brevity of your life in the grand scheme of things are supposed to galvanize you, or at least temper your spirit. Worrying is good, it makes you do better. If you can't face the reality of the world, then have fun in your little escapist fantasy wasting away while I go forth and conquer the world and look down upon your little hidey-hole. Real badasses charge the frontline. Right?

Still, I like my stories.