Random Musings.. Showing 901-950 of 1,161

[Mark]

what a fantastic evening we all had at Waterstones, with Peter Brett very funny and a great speaker. very friendly and approachable and a lot of patience. Got a signed copy of the core and posed for a pic. :)

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Awesome!

[Suzanne]

That sounds really fun!

[Kat]

Ladies and Gentlemen, I hold in my hands a brand new, signed work contract with a new company.

WOOOOT!

Goodbye minimum wages!

My salary nearly doubled, and my new office is in downtown Hamburg on the 20th floor of a shiny high rise. We don't have skyscrapers here, so that's VERY high up!

And it is only 2 stops with the Underground from the central train station, with the exit right outside the front door - so no more half-hour walks on foot through the suburbs to and from the train station, like I currently have.

I have flexi-time, so I can come and go when I like within reason. No more slinking in with my tail between my legs when the train was running late, having to apologise and explain every 10 minute delay to a frowning boss. Plus, I was told I will be able to work from home sometimes if I like!

AND they shortened the trial period from 6 months to 8 weeks, so unless I fuck it up somehow I will have a secure job again in no time!

I start on December 1st, with the option of starting earlier (November 1st), if my current employer accepts my 4-week notice on monday.

I still have to pinch myself, it hasn't quite sunk in yet.

PS: there's a doorman who presses the elevator buttons for you !!!!!!!!!!!

[Jaime]

Wow, Kat that sounds absolutely amazing. Congratulations!

[Bill]

Fantastic news Kat! Congrats.

[Suzanne]

That's fantastic Kat! Congratulations! It sounds wonderful!

[Mark]

Well done and congrats Kat.

[Lindsay]

Sounds like it will a big relief. Congratulations!

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

That sounds great Kat. Congrats!

[Kat]

Thank you !!! I'm so happy :-)

[Ctgt]

Congrats!

[Sky]

congrats, that is awesome!!!

[Bill]

Went to Comic Con NYC yesterday. Didn’t go to any panels or anything just walked the floor. Had a good time. Saw Patrick Rothfuss but didn’t feel like paying or waiting in line for his autograph.

[Kat]

Awesome! One day I will go, too.

[Suzanne]

Glad you had fun!!!

[Kat]

I made friends with a German fantasy author who just won the German Phantastik Award for best novel this year and is publishing not one but two new books this autumn, with the next one after that in the pipeline for spring 2018. Some people change their coats less often, and her books are really enjoyable. (Her name is Nicole Gozdek)

She started working for my company as her dayjob, and after stalking her online for a week, I went into her office and said I wanted to be friends because I need more bookish friends and she seems nice. That worked, and now we're friends :-)

And I just gave her an idea for a new book, and she says I'm allowed to brag about it. Well done, me!

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Nice. I don't have any book friends at work anymore. I used to have one at my old job, but then he left.

Thankfully I have the monthly Sword & Laser meetups though, plus goodreads of course.

[Kat]

I'm so jealous you get to meet Goodreads people Sword & Laser people.

[Kat]

Today was my last day at the old job. My coworkers made a collection and got me a bunch of flowers, and a very generous bookshop voucher, and a huge basket of clever presents plus a whole tub of licorice. I was so touched!

I stayed late until after everyone had left, and managed to clear my in-tray and my to-do-tray and leave a completely empty desk behind.

Now I'm finally at home. I have mixed myself a large Gin & Tonic and am happily singing a made-up song with the lyrics "Après moi, le déluge!"

:-)

[Suzanne]

Wow what a neat milestone! That's great!

[Dara]

Kat wrote: "Today was my last day at the old job. My coworkers made a collection and got me a bunch of flowers, and a very generous bookshop voucher, and a huge basket of clever presents plus a whole tub of li..."

Yay! That's such a wonderful way to leave a job.

[Geoff]

I've gained more regular employment (starting the 20th) and bought a PS4.

I suspect my reading will be affected.

[Suzanne]

Lol yeah sounds inevitable - there are only so many hours in a day. But - at least those are both good things!

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Congrats on the job. Whatcha playing on the PS4? I thought I was done with consoles and then I got the Switch.

[Geoff]

Fallout 4. Not exactly the newest game available but its a series I like.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

I never got into Fallout for some reason. Someone was telling me to buy a PS4 just for Uncharted. I'm trying to finally finish Zelda so I can play Mario.

[Geoff]

I love the Uncharted series. I'll definitely be picking up the newest one at some point

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

I've never played any of them. Then again there are a lot of popular games I've never played.

[Dara]

I bought the Uncharted 4 bundle last year on Black Friday and still haven't played it. I got Skyrim for PS4 and played that for an amount of hours I'm not necessarily proud of.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

I probably easily have 100 games on Steam I've never played. I've been trying to not buy games I know I won't play. Many of them are likely great games that I'd enjoy.

The issue is that I still play WoW every week, and every time there is a new season of Competitive play in Overwatch (like last week) I get a renewed interest in that.

I could never get into Skyrim. I bought it for full price on Steam when it first came out and I played it for like 4 hours and got bored. Maybe because it has a lot of the grind of WoW, and I was already doing that.

It's a wonder I'm even playing my Switch. I think I went like 6 weeks without playing Zelda (which I now regret because I'm trying to finish that instead of playing Mario which just came out).

I managed to get an SNES classic, and I've hardly touched it because I have too many other things I'd rather play first/instead.

I debated getting a Steam box for me TV to see if that'd help me play more of those games, but that's not really the issue.

I've also been reading a lot more this last month and a half. Probably because I've had some books I've been really interested in reading lately, but also because I've cut way down on my WoW time.

I have no idea how people with families or multiple jobs have hobbies. I have little to do besides 40 hours of work each week and there still never seems to be enough time to do everything.

[Geoff]

I bought the Call of Duty bundle, with no intention of playing it. Even the guy at Best Buy just said to trade it in somewhere while the value is the highest.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Geoff wrote: "I bought the Call of Duty bundle, with no intention of playing it. Even the guy at Best Buy just said to trade it in somewhere while the value is the highest."

Is this the newest one?

I don't like Call of Duty. I got MW2 for Xbox 360 to play with a bunch of co-workers and I hated it. I was bad at it. I just don't care for FPS games on consoles. The last one I enjoyed was Goldeneye on the N64. I think it just works so much better with keyboard/mouse.

Then again, a buddy got an extra copy of COD: MW2 on Steam and gave it to me. I liked it better on PC, but not that much better. I was a way better player on PC, but I don't like most of the mechanics.

In college when everyone seemed to like Battlefield, CoD and Counter Strike, I was playing Quake 3 and other games built on that engine (Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Jedi Knight 3)

I kind of thought I was done with FPS games for good, and then Overwatch came along and changed my mind. I don't play it as much as I did last year, but I still enjoy it a lot. I'm even watching Overwatch eSports (The finals of the Overwatch World Cup were this weekend, and their pro league is starting soon)

[Dara]

I'm so bad at FPS games. The only one I was okay at and like was the first Bioshock.

[Geoff]

Yeah, it just came out Friday. I enjoy FPS but the ones I play offer a bit more gameplay than just standard 'war' situations - like CoD, Battlefield, Medal of Honor, etc. I'm more into Borderlands, Bioshock - FPS with RPG elements or some other innovation.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

I've heard good things about both Borderlands and Bioshock. I might even own one of them. I'd have to check my Steam library. lol.

Meanwhile, I've seen a lot of negative reaction to loot boxes in the new CoD.

[Suzanne]

I cancelled my Wow sub because I'm just not getting on to play much at all. Although I keep re-thinking that decision because I COULD play a bit and work on things like mounts, etc. Not many people I know are playing anymore, but yeah - total mixed feelings about that one.

Borderlands is fun - I think I've played through the first couple a few times - but I only got about halfway through the last installment before I got distracted.

So many fun things to do, so little time.

[Dara]

Geoff wrote: "Yeah, it just came out Friday. I enjoy FPS but the ones I play offer a bit more gameplay than just standard 'war' situations - like CoD, Battlefield, Medal of Honor, etc. I'm more into Borderlands, Bioshock - FPS with RPG elements or some other innovation"

Samsies, that's another reason why I've steered away from FPS. They all seem the same to me and focus so much on multiplayer. I am a solo gamer.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Suzanne wrote: "I cancelled my Wow sub because I'm just not getting on to play much at all. Although I keep re-thinking that decision because I COULD play a bit and work on things like mounts, etc. Not many people..."

Right now I do like 2 nights/week and the Legion app. I do weekly Mythic+ runs with a buddy of mine, and "Guild Fun Nights" on Saturdays (which I think you joined us for once). Lately we've been working on the Legion Dungeon achievements, which gets you a mount and artifact appearance.

If not for those 2 things, I'd probably have quit a few months back.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Dara wrote: "Samsies, that's another reason why I've steered away from FPS. They all seem the same to me and focus so much on multiplayer. I am a solo gamer. "

There are some FPS's that have good single player. Most recently Doom 4 and the last 2 Wolfenstein games. Doom 4 does have multiplayer, but it's suppose to have a pretty good solo campaign. I think Wolfenstein has no multiplayer whatsoever. I've been tempted to pick those up, but Overwatch scratches my FPS itch right now.

It seems that most games focus more on multiplayer these days. At least most of the big AAA titles. Indie games are making a bigger variety of things. I find myself less and less interested in new AAA titles. Except Nintendo and Blizzard I guess.

Personally I like a mix. Wow and Overwatch are both more fun playing with people you know, and Overwatch requires you play with 11 other people (6 vs 6) but I mostly queue solo and get 11 random strangers for that, while WoW I play with friends. Wow has a ton of solo content. I used to do a lot of it daily, but in the last few months I'm playing Zelda instead.

Both Zelda and Mario on my Switch are both solo affairs, and it's been nice to do some of that again after a decade of mostly playing WoW.

I've done a few single player games in that time. Mostly Indie games I've backed on Kickstarter though.

[Dara]

Rob wrote: "It seems that most games focus more on multiplayer these days. At least most of the big AAA titles. Indie games are making a bigger variety of things. I find myself less and less interested in new AAA titles. Except Nintendo and Blizzard I guess.."

Like why they canceled the Star Wars Ragtag game detailed on Kotaku/Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made. Look, I'm playing through Mass Effect 2 for the billionth them. Make a good game with good story and characters, that's all I want.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

I'm b really fond of point and click adventure games. For a long time they weren't being made anymore. Between Telltale and various Kickstarter campaigns they got a bit of a resurgence.

[Dara]

I want to get Stardew Valley but I know the type of person I am and that's a one way ticket to obsession.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Heh. For me that daily upkeep is too similar to the stuff I do in Wow. It seems really popular. And the story about its creation was interesting.

[Kat]

Ooooooh, I love point & click! The first game I really spent HOURS with was MYST. So much pointing and clicking, it drove you nuts!

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

I loved Myst. There is a sort of modern day successor for Mobile called The Room that I've really enjoyed. Have you played those games? I'm hoping they do a 4th one.

[Kat]

No, I just played the Myst sequel, Riven. And wasn't there a third installment as well? Myst 3, or Riven 2, or something.... I also got the books, but did not get round to reading them yet. Partly because my TBR is HUGE, and partly because I felt I should go back to play the games to tie reading the books into the gameplay.

I'm pretty sure the original Myst needs Mac OS 7 or lower to run. I must find out if I can get current versions, because that old PowerMac G3 died a loooooong time ago....

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Yes, there was a third one after Riven. I didn't play it either. They put out a new game recently too, but I don't think they have the rights for it to set in the same world.

Do the books you have teleport you to other places, or are they missing a page?

[Kat]

Unfortunately that page is missing :-(

But one is Artrus' diary, the other is the Book of D'ni. I think there's also his wife's diary, but I think I haven't got that.

[Rob, Mayor of Ghost Town]

Neat.