Wow. It's been a while.

I haven't been around. Obviously. A lot of stuff in my life cropped up and I just didn't have the time for GameSpotting. University. Work. Friends. Travel. All that jazz. It was partially because of GameSpot's ludicrous decision to change the website into a social media platform loaded with errors, glitches and inconsistent features (I see this things haven't been fixed yet). I loved GameSpot, and I spent way too many wasted hours in my youth browsing the broads and forums and chatting about everything from religion to video games to films to...whatever. But university just stole those spare hours away.

So why am I back now?

Because I finished university! Yep. I survived three years of essays, assignments, gut-wrenching assessments, presentations and whatever. It was hard work, and leaving it was harder. But it had to be done. I was 17 when I went in there. Just a kid. I'm 20 now. Goddamn, it feels like yesterday.

Am I going to stick around? It's hard to say. Between doing odd jobs I'm trying to make it as a writer. I've had about 50 short stories, reviews, essays and articles published in a variety of magazines, including Nature (yes, THIS Nature. The science journal). I came ultra close to having a literary agent for my novel, the one who represents David Mitchel (Cloud Atlas), Dennis Lehane (Shutter Island) and others. But it didn't work out. So I went back to the drawing board with a new one.

I'm working in the publishing industry, which includes editing for a major magazine that's had folks like George R. R. Martin, William Gibson, Brandon Sanderson, Neil Gaiman, Marc Laidlaw (who was one of the main writers of Half Life at Valve) between it's pages. I got to work with all of these guys and produce their work (and work by dozens of other big, big name authors). Exchanging emails with the creator of Game of Thrones is something I don't think I'll ever forget doing. And then there's the game designers/writers of Halo, Crysis, and Mass Effect, and the voice actors and performers you get to rub shoulders with. It strips you of that idolatrous marvel in a way, realising that they're just guys like us (who have done pretty awesome things). But that's another story. I'll put that trumpet of mine away.

I do want to stick around and I do miss some of you guys on here. I probably will hang out here a bit more often. I'll have to give up something (which will probably be Facebook since I hate that place), but I'm cool with that. Most of my friends are not gamers, and I tend not to ramp up discussions that I'm passionate about, or debate with someone who said something stupid for the sake of not rocking the boat and making people close to me dislike me. Sometimes it's not about being right, it's about being smart. And I miss those good natured debates, I miss those console wars, and I miss chatting about games. I really, really do. Typing this up now I didn't realise how much I've missed it.

I doubt anyone is reading this, or if anyone even remembers me from all those years ago. But I miss this place. I grew up here. It kicked me around a bit and stomped on my head at times, but it was fundamental to my development in socializing and dealing with people and generally adaptation to the way shit rolls. Might sound strange that I learned this from a gaming forum, but I was only a kid at the time. I ain't anymore.

But either way, I'm going to definitely be here more. 2 years was a bloody long time. 1/10 of my life, really. But that's over now.

I'll see you guys around!

ETA: I didn't realise that this blog post also goes to the forum like a normal thread! I thought it was just an indicator. Sorry about that. Hope it doesn't confuse stuff.

Okay, here's my thoughts now that we're at our new home.

I'm not sure what to think. The site is cleaner and less cluttered, but it's also a lot harder to navigate and use. It seems to be more akin to social media than a gaming forum. Speaking of forums, I sincerely wish we could switch back to the older version of the forums. Or at least darken the website (white hurts my eyes). I lost like 300 posts, although that's not such a big deal. Either way, I'm really not sure what to think...and I'm pissed off that our levels our gone.

I'm done with ranting. To recap, the site has some good pointers, but some bad ones. I'm uncertain if I like it or not....

Yep. It's about damn time.
Now get your asses over to The 10K post party There's still some cake..and a lot of booze...left.

Enjoy!

You know when you hit a certain point in your studies/work when you really don't care how it'll turn out; you just want it to be over and done with so it can go to hell/the rubbish bin/the back of your memories?

Yeah? You know that feeling? Great. So do I. I've having it right now.

And it's not even half way through the semester....*sigh*

In others words I've been as busy as I've ever been. My gaming and reading time has taken a massive slash and reduced to the bare minimum. All my teachers seem to love giving me the toughest assignments in the sane bloody week. It's a real turn off.

But when I do have a few spare moments (note: very few) it's spend reading a little Raymond E Feist, re-playing Silent Hill: Downpour (I never actually finished it the first time; it was too scary), and of course, writing. I'm working on a new novel that's aimed more at young adults than mature audiences. I'm 20,000 words in so far. I can't tell you much, but it is sci-fi, and has lots of aliens. And violence. Otherwise I'm silent.

Oh, one more thing: I've had two of my short stories published in the local university paper and online. They'll be available soon.

At this point it's safe to say I'm a published author. :)

Take care everyone!

From the South African director of District 9 (one of my favorite movies of all time), we get yet another fantastic sci-fi film. It's nowhere to near as awesome as D9 is, nor does it have a lesson or originality to the same degree, but it's still amazing.

Go see it. :)

I've created a thread for this already, but I wanted to post it in my blog anyway. :P

I have a lot more than in these pictures in my house; these are just the ones I spent my cash on, and are, therefore, mine :P

So here they are. Sorry for the quality.

A Song of Ice and Fire, my Halo novels, and a few other sci-fi books:

Most of my fantasy books. A stack of Asimov is hiding on the left. :P

All the Feist books are signed. :)

More Asimov, Eragon, and a few other books:

A pretty shaky photo, but here's The Witcher: The Last Wish, the LoTR trilogy, Ender's Game, Stormdancer, I am Legend, some Jeffery Archer, and a Tom Clancy and Peter James book that I haven't touched yet.

....and some books from when I was a younger reader. Except The Road. Not really a kid's book. :P

Books from when I was a hell lot younger.....

...not really books, but I thought I'd add my magazines and art books anyway :P

So, thoughts? :D

Well, I've finished the first Semester of University ( :D ) so I told myself it was time to pick up some blu-rays, games and books. This is what I got:

Dexter is awesome. I can't wait for the 8th Season...which should be starting today.

A fantastic anime series. Only a few such as Death Note have beaten it for me.

Wow. What a game. I haven't finished it yet, but I'm really, really enjoying it so far. :)

I'm also reading this.....

I haven't started it yet, but I plan to.

I'll take a photo once I get my @rse off the chair. :P

Anyway, I hope you guys are enjoying your holidays. :)

One of the best things about university is that you're told, no, commanded, to let your imagination go free. Work as hard as you can; achieve whatever you can. Publish, research, propose, discover, conclude, produce theories, launch websites, yada, yada, yada. It's great stuff.

The negative part?

You're hemmed into a specific method of doing something - such as writing. You can write what you want, but it has to be about this [insert random topic here]. You can have whatever colour you want, as long as it's black. You know what I mean? Sure, I love some of my classes, (and hate others) but as a writer I feel that we aren't given enough freedom. While others might write about themselves or their lives, I'd rather write about alternative universes, aliens, magic, the future, and whatever else comes to mind. It's partially because my life isn't that interesting, but it's also because I feel there's more to literature and university than complying by the rules. In some boring lectures I think about a new short story and by the end of the 2 hours I have about 1.5k of words down. Probably not something I should admit, but whilst university is a great place to expand your mind, they should allow you to think freely in how you do so.

Anyway, enough of my ranting: I've got some studying to do and some lectures to attend, although my mind will likely be elsewhere....

Yep. Yesterday I finally finished my science-fiction novel at exactly 156, 213 words long. It was an incredible jounrey, and I'd be lying if I said I loved every moment of it, but the most part I enjoyed it more than I ever thought I would.

Now I just have to get it edited asnd published. And for those of you who don't know: getting your book published is a hundred times harder than writing one. There's submissions, agents, query letters, synopsises, summaries, contacts, posting, printing, and the best part: waiting for a reply. One publishing group said they take around 12 months to reply. Yeah, fvck that.

So if you guys know any publishers or agents I'd appreciate it. So far all I've gotten is "no" or "Thanks, it's interesting, but no" or some other crap like that.

So yeah, if anyone wants any additional information about it or even the first chapter let me know.

:D

Yep...I've been here for an entire year...and in that time I've gotten this:

• Friends: 196
• People Tracking Me: 213
• Games in Collection: 79

Community

• Forum Posts: 8616
• Comments: 0
• My Blog Posts: 23
• Union Blog Posts: 2

Contributions

• Written Reviews: 5
• Rated Games: 90
• Videos Uploaded: 0
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• Tags: 156