Stuck in Limbo

So if you're not up to speed with the recent news from down South; we've been struck with a bad case of flu epidemic. Because of this the government has issued a nationwide sanitation alert which means that normal collective activities are severely discouraged to help stop spread the disease too much.

Now how exactly do I fit into all of this? Well in my particular case I was in the middle of my term finals when I get an email on Friday saying that all exams have been suspended till August 3rd or till further notice. The news is seemingly bitterwsweet since this means I wont be getting the exam monkey off my back for another month. So my midyear relaxation will be relaxing, but also somewhat stressing since I will have this little itch at the back of my mind constantly now.

And so now my present situation is that of a home prisoner stuck atop a the 3rd story of an 8 story building. I feel I should start writing more and get the creative juices flowing again, should be more fun than simply playing games all day and night long.

Alright it's late already, I'm off to bed. Toodles!

Gotta Finish It....

The homestretch is near and everything is piling up. I don't know if I'll make it or not, but I have to for the prize that waits at the end of the run.

En Castellano (Por Primera Vez)

Bueno llegó la hora de revelar el secreto. Soy bilingue. Así que de vez en cuando voy a escribir mis porquerías en castellano.

Ricardo-roll para los que entienden: Diviertansen.

Listen to the Radio

Metro 95.1 FM Lots of fun.

Finding your Lost Way

I know it's old, but being a new voyager of the web I found this to be particularly useful.

(Click on the image to expand it).

The Need of Alternating History

If there is one thing I enjoy from the forum games I take part in, it's the willingness to change history and turn things either for the better or for the worse. I for one feel a sort of pride in playing these games and thusly always end up choosing Argentina. Probably due to time constraints and other factors, playing my homeland (in this case in the 1920's) allows me to invest enough time to make it manageable, but not turn it into an obsessive hobby where I have to keep track and mass produce posts 24/7.

Also it appeals to my "Khanite" necessity to expand and conquer; something any gamer of my age will do after being brought up playing Command & Conquer and Age of Empires. Expansion, expansion, expansion. That is the only true method.

A New Direction

In the past weeks I've received some academic news that has necessitated me to change my headings and replot my course for the next couple of months. Nothing drastic, but the calls of academia have a higher priority right now than either sports (rugby), or games (anything installed on my PC). Therefore my life for the next couple of weeks will be dominated by thick textbooks, court cases, artistic analysis and other educational endeavors that will see to my safe passage to a bigger and brighter future.

On a small note I've reduced my gaming time to three major games:

1. Fallout 3 (with all 3 DLCs installed...and 2 more coming in the next few weeks...)

2. Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts (for my RTS fix, nothing beats a WWII extravaganza)

3. Mirror's Edge (fast-paced, colorful and a pleasant surprise from this innovative FPS).

That's all she wrote for now folks! Hopefully my activity will increase in the upcoming weeks.

On a final note, I've gone over some of my old RPG storylines from an old Star Wars game I used to play. Apparently over the sporadic year I played that game I managed to write an astounding 95.000 word novella. I still however need to write a couple of more transcripts so it should be interesting to see where this leads. I hardly doubt this will end up in a publishing house since it's run of the mill stuff. The positive side is that it gets my creative juices flowing, so it helps with the writing process at least.

On a truly final note I finished reading "Oracle Night" by Paul Auster. Very interesting short novel which got me on the writing wagon again. So that's one of my leisure list books crossed off my list, here's the rest:

1. The Ringworld Throne by Larry Niven (Part 3 of the epic Ringworld Saga)

2. The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski (First book with Geralt of Rivia the Witcher)

3. Witches Abroad by Terry Prattchett (A must for my Discworld fix)

4. Farewell My Lovely by Raymond Chandler (Second crime novel with PI Marlowe)

5. The Lost Road and Other Writings (Fifth or Sixth book in the History of Middle Earth Compendium. A Tolkienite must)

6. Dune by Frank Herbert (I heard it was a classic and therefore I have to read it)

7. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (First of the extensive Wheel of Time Saga)

8. Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling (A bit of jingoistic imperialism never hurt anyone)

The Mothership Has Landed

Nope not an alien invasion or something of the sort. This has finally arrived at my doorstep:

This new internal SATA hard drive with its overwhelmingly 1 Terabyte capacity signals a new era for me both in space and gaming. I installed this baby and right off the bat started installing every game I had on hand. So far I've installed a good eighty gigabytes worth of games, and that doesn't even brush the 10% capacity!! I'm in gamer heaven! And I can kiss my social life goodbye.

The Beauty of Pipe Smoking

In today's crazed fast food, disposable society many small things have been lost; one of them includes what some consider to be a nasty habit that humanity picked up in the last five hundred years or so: smoking. For centuries the staple and most normal way of enjoying tobacco was through the use of some sort of pipe; it wasn't until the mid 19th Century that cigarettes became the dominant force behind the tobacco industry; and nowadays cigarettes dominate the scenes. It is only a select few that have taken the time to actually look into what many call "The Gentle Art of Smoking" and revere the briar pipe as the means to achieve this Art. I was lucky enough to be introduced to pipe tobacco in my late teens, and acquired my first pipe around the age of 19 (I still have this pipe and I cherish it with all my heart), thus I did not find the idea of pipe smoking to be archaic or outdated; it is simply a misunderstood artform, something that has been slowly lost through the blatant advance of our mass media civilization and culture.

Cigarettes are today asociated with stress and bad habits, a quick five minute comforter for a stressful life; pipe tobacco and pipe smoking on the other hand bring with them a plethora of small rituals and a culture of their own. The process of pipe smoking is not as simple as just flicking a cigarette onto your lip and lighting it; there is much more to it. There are several steps to take: preparing the pipe, packing the tobacco, lighting, relighting and enjoying the different brands, cuts and mixtures that the different types of pipe tobacco can offer. There's sweet Virginia tobacco, spicy Latakia, surprising Perique, and a myriad more of different blends.

For those of you who smoke and feel that its time to give up cigarettes, but feel that going cold turkey is going to drive you insane, I suggest that you turn your attention to pipe smoking since it offers another alternative. You'll feel more relaxed, you'll actually enjoy the different tastes, and with time can turn your smoking into a deeply personal and reflecting experience.

A Month of Change and Sore Muscles

Well, I haven't written anything here in quite some time now. Almost a month and a week (five weeks to round it up). What has happened is nothing much in terms of life-changing events, basically I have comfortably settled myself into the routine of a healthy, non-smoking, sport-inclined university law student.

I started my classes with no hitches and also rejoined my old rugby team in order to feel the burn and the fitness. Nothing like getting back to the gym and running my heart out in order to feel better. The only downside, is that my hamstrings haven't stopped hurting for the past three weeks. At least the pain's subsided meaning that it's slowly healing up.