Author: Sleepypete

I’ve been doing that flying round the galaxy thing again.

Ok, maybe not the epic trips that you can do in Elite but still bouncing around human space a fair bit. The area populated in the game is actually quite small compared to the rest of our galaxy …

(click for bigger and legibility of words …)

The populated zone is in the bottom right, with top left showing the centre of the galaxy. Our Milky Way is about 75,000 light years from one side to the other and we are 26,500 light years away from the supermassive black hole at its centre. The “bubble” as it’s called is maybe 500 light years across. Small by galactic standards but still plenty big enough for the players flying their internet spaceships within it.

Wonder how big the Eve universe is in comparison ? (Answer according to wiki is about 7,800 systems to play in).

The difference with the Eve universe is that Eve doesn’t have the vast size of the rest of the galaxy to play with past the systems in the game. I’ve been to the galactic centre once and at some point, I’ll disappear around the galaxy. One of the other places on the “I’ve been there !” list is Beagle Point, the farthest system from our own solar system. I understand there’s not actually much there but there’s a certain explorer’s instinct cutting in there.

As in all things in this life, you do need to focus on what you’re actually doing though. One lesson I’ve learned and tried to take to heart (and then totally ignore!) is to have one aim and maintain energies towards that aim. So in the game, I’m ignoring the money making, putting off the exploring until later, avoiding combat (takes time!) and staying away from the various Community Goals that go towards getting players together in one place.

Nah – I’m all about that ranking up. You see to get this :

(Imperial Cutter, I’ve posted the pic before)

You need to grind out the ranking points. There are 14 of these for each faction, each needing a little more for each level. My Commander Iceangel is currently at rank 9, or Count and going up steadily through philanthropic efforts … To get the Cutter, I’ll need to go up to rank 12, Duke. Duke Captain Iceangel ? Don’t mind if I do.

The Commander name comes from my Warcraft mage and I’ve kept using it because I think it sounds pretty good as game names go. My Eve pilot was called Keela Danne, which started out as one of those inspired (by the dice!) completely randomly generated names for a D and D cleric. I enjoyed playing Keela. She was a kick ass girlie who kept her party of adventurers alive through praying to a loving goddess. (In the table top game). Bit naive maybe but that’s all part of the fun.

Anyway – there are various ways to get those ranking points via lots of different missions. What I’ve found most effective actually is just sitting with Elite going in the background with me alt+tabbing back to it every 10 minutes or so when the missions update. And then I’ll contribute a bit more to the charities in the game (“Help us repair our station in the name of the Emperor” – don’t mind if I do) for about half a % point of rank.

The sad thing is that this actually seems quicker than ferrying cargo around for said Empire, although it costs you a little money instead of gaining it.

And it lets me do other stuff as well – watch things, definitely listen to music (next album – Charango by Morcheeba), read stuff and generally chill out. It does mean I’m looking at this view a fair bit :

(That’s Medupe City in Cubeo, it’s proving to be a good spot). When I’m not out and about in the galaxy drinking in the light of the eternal suns as my ship drinks in the hydrogen fuel that makes it go :

It is a pretty game is it not ? (I wonder where that solar flare is going !)

I wonder how long it will take to get that Cutter while I’m technically not actually playing the game ? We shall see. As of the last check, I am 10% through Count, having started this tactic at 65% Viscount (the rank below) yesterday. It seems to be doing pretty well while I do other stuff.

And that is … watching other people play games ! I know. Bit strange but I find it relaxing, amusing, somewhat compelling. Oh, one person has commented that the tactic is good for things like housework too. One mission, more housework while the missions refresh. Repeat.

See ! Games can be a force for good.

Honest.

Cya !

Someone lovely sent me this pic yesterday :

Love it.

But how about dem stickers ? How do they fit into Life Of Sleepy ?

I put away the Launndry. I have to admit. This doesn’t happen too often. I leave everything hanging on the radiators and in the airing cupboard until I want to use it. (This would change if it wasn’t just me living here). It’s partly down to me having probably a few too many Things than I have space to put them. I should look at thinning out the t-shirt collection a bit, keep the awesome, get rid of the mundane. As for doing the laundry, I do mine on the Friday or early Saturday so it has a chance to dry over the weekend. Very important to have those dry, clean shirts and trousers for work !

Sparkly things are awesome.
(Sometimes mundane is good though because sometimes you need something plain).

“I wore a bra today” – nah. Hopefully this will never happen, outside of doing something for fun. I would totally be up for going in drag if it were for a good cause. Although I do need to lose some weight. I’m not obese but I am overweight. I’m a fair bit over my ideal weight for the activity I’m doing at the moment and it causes a complication or two. I suspect my loss of sleep due to too much acid is down to being overweight.

On other people’s weight – you should be exactly the weight that you are comfortable and confident at. I know some big people who rock that size. I knew some thin people who are really desperate to get the curves. Be who you are meant to be, whether that is tall, short, wide or thin. Own it and the confidence you have in yourself will make you stunning.

“I didn’t spend all my money” – but not for lack of window shopping … Let’s see. Things on my I Want That list at the moment :
Tickets for Silverstone – both the endurance cars and Formula 1.
Tickets for Le Mans endurance cars. Entry to the circuit is cheap for endurance cars and extortionate daylight robbery for Formula 1 but I would like to do it again some time. Le Mans would be an epic trip. But … it can be better to (half!) watch these things on the telly and get the full story, rather than the filtered down scope you get from being there.

Lego ! All the Lego ! I’d love a Millenium Falcon, which would get made into an Elite Anaconda.

(picture courtesy of the Twitter people)

That’s a pipedream although getting the Lego Le Mans Technic car to build while the 24 hour race is on is a definite possibility. Only £80 from Argos …

I’ll regularly look up the music people and the games too to investigate adding more goodies to the libraries. But I resist spending the money if I think the price is too high. So although I think her voice is amazing, the Lisa Miskovsky albums are staying on the shelf at £8.

“Almost made it to the gym today” – I’ve never been one for training. In fact, when I did do regular training, I gained nothing in terms of stamina and lost ever inkling of my extreme running speed. I’m like Ledley King, a footballer who played for Spurs. He couldn’t train because his knees were too fragile but was able to maintain a level of fitness and skill that let him stay in the first team.

I was a bit like that with the cricket. Using a bike*, doing a paper round and a lot of walking kept me fit enough to have a baseline I found acceptable for the cricket. And then I’d get match fit and up to skill levels during pre season practice. Cricket fit me really well because I could recover from puffing and wheezing during the reset between balls.

*a funny story from uni is that during the off season, I was cycling into uni every day. I gained stomach muscles. I’d never had them before !!! Awesome ! But come preseason training, I literally could not bowl the ball in the net. It was going everywhere !!! These stomach muscles that I’d never had before were triggering completely at random and throwing me off. Awkward …

There we go folks – training can be bad.

“I didn’t eat all of the chips” – I actually didn’t yesterday and I won’t tonight. HAHA 🙂 But only because last night was a raiding of the Chinese and tonight will be a pasta bake. No chips in there :-).

(and now I’m madly chuckling at getting that badge in completely the wrong way)

Last one ! “I didn’t hit snooze today”.

Ok, I did actually, all 3 working days so far this week. Except it’s a snooze that keeps the radio on instead of turning it off. I’m weird (you knew that already!), I seem to find it easier to get rest in the morning in the hour or so before getting ready to work, than in the hours after you go to bed.

I need to find that Switch Brain Off And Find The ZZZzzz’s mental programme again.

Closing time ! I just spotted this on Facebook too, which I also found pretty funny 🙂

Hahaha. Spiders are evil. I am scared witless in the time between it roaming free, when I catch it in a trap and when I manage to evict it outside. Especially the spiders that are bigger than the spider trap.

Shudder !

I enjoyed my stickers, I hope you did too !

Yep.

Friday’s post was my second (hopefully annual) April Fools post. I do need to work on my ideas though, because the best April Fool is the one that you could believe as being absolutely true. It gets its own legs and people run with the seed that’s been planted. This one was the kind of spur of the moment inspiration that comes from random brain cells being hit by cosmic rays. Yep. The weird ones.

The same lovely person has given me an idea for next year’s which will take some activity from me over this one as I make notes to prepare for it. Not saying what it is ! Hmm. Come to think of it, that idea probably has potential to be short story or book material. Especially if I make notes over a whole year.

I did want to explain the various references from Friday … That’s something I’ll do and I will usually be so subtle about the references that no one actually gets them. Oops !

People looking from the sky or hits being registered without a country of origin. I have 2 ways of seeing who is visiting, one is our dear fiend Google and the other is statcounter. Statcounter gives a lot of info, which is why I have the stats hidden behind a password. But statcounter gets it wrong, if I look at this blog from my laptop, statcounter will claim I am 50 miles away in Cheltenham. Google gives very little info and it is aggregated together so it is tough to pull out individual visits.

Sometimes hits come in where Google can’t identify the point of origin. Hence people looking at me from the sky, or cloud. (There’s actually a name reference too there and it’s about the person who sparked the idea for the whole post !)

The orientation centre was a bridge, to start the narrative part of the post. But the simulacrum is an idea from an old film called The Last Starfighter, where an arcade game machine expert was whisked away to fight a war and a pretender left in his place. You could say that The Last Starfighter inspired a lot of the content.

Cybo Homo Arcturan Variant – ah ha ! Death to CHAVs ! In this case Cybernetic Bipeds (Homo as in sapiens or neanderthal) from Arcturus who are strange. Yes. I was kinda struggling to come up with words for the acronym.

I do hope you remember where the quote “Never give up, never surrender!” came from. Same film as Grabthar and his hammer by which you shall be avenged. It’s a work of genius called Galaxy Quest which I definitely have to watch again. It shares a fair bit with the April Fool actually, as it involves people being brought from Earth to fight an alien race’s war.

Federation and replicated food is from … you hopefully guessed it … Star Trek. I wonder what replicated food would taste like, can’t possibly be more than the sum of its parts effectively 3d printed into munchies.

The 1812 buggy robot is from Farscape and is a DRD (Diagnostic Repair Droid). The one in the pic is one renamed 1812 by the central character, John Crichton, due to circumstances between season 3 and 4. It’s a cracking series, it had me from the opening scenes to its shocking conclusion at the end of series 4. Yes. I too shouted at the telly “You can’t end it like that !”. Yep. Shocked. And that doesn’t happen too often with me and telly (ok, BSG season 1 conclusion did it too).

In the opening scenes to Farscape, our human astronaut is brought on board a ship. A living ship. Full of strange alien life forms. Help me. Listen please. Is there anyone out there who can help me ? Oops. Caught in that intro again. It was a great start to every episode. Anyway, when he was brought on board, the aliens were talking in their own languages and speaking forms which we wouldn’t even recognise as language. A DRD jabs Crichton and injects translator microbes, which instantly solves the common scifi trope of “Why does everyone speak in English ?”

Farscape had a lot going for it.

Spaceship and the gif come from the Lego Movie, which was an absolute classic. Hopefully the forthcoming Lego Batman movie (trailered before Batman vs Superman !) will approach its level of classicness. “Everything is awesome if you’re part of a team” comes from the Lego movie too.

Pilot engineer is all me. Although I will admit that the stormtrooper joke comes from a series of films, of which number 7 I am looking forward to watching again the day it comes out on bluray.

When I got to Cogs, I was starting to get a little silly. I wanted a pet to have with us. Robot dogs didn’t really make sense, although Rabbit was a good microcharacter in the original Battlestar Galactica.

Medical technology and the limbs ? Oh – not many will get this one … It’s from a game series called Dead Space, where the key mechanic is that it is easier to kill the bad guys by blowing their limbs off rather than the usual game thing of shooting them many times. It’s a horror game which I have no intention of playing but I did enjoy watching the HeyChrissa streams. The Marker in Dead Space is an alien thing that turns people into strange vicious beasts and an onrunning theme is that the Marker wants us to be whole again. (Yep, you have to play the game to really get that one and I wouldn’t recommend it).

Man machine interface through a direct neural interface – this is something I think would be essential when you get past a certain level of technology. A normal interface panel would not cover the information required and the depth of field in space where your view would need to be many kilometers ahead, not just 100s of metres. And a direct neural interface would speed up control immeasurably and should reduce error from fumbly fingers as well.

Yep. Direct neural interface is the way of the future.

FIF Iceangel – oh that one took a little effort to get a chuckle in at the end. I was pondering finding something for Trixabelle too but that’s an acronym too far.

I was glad to get one tribute in to a dearly missed actor who left us this year, a shame I couldn’t leave more tributes !

Haha always ! Oh – I asked Grabthar, there's room for a druid here :-).

(PS clarification if it's needed, the "homo" above comes from homo sapien/neanderthal, I was struggling for words to make that acronym !)

You crazy Iceangel 🙂

This might be the last post I can write for a while.

Yep. They’ve come to take me away.

That sounds wrong. It’s actually a totally willing departure. You see, I appear to have attracted attention from up there. Yep. Up there, in the sky and beyond.

This means I think I’ve figured out where those hits come from where the country of origin isn’t defined. Because there is no country of origin ! They told me that they’ve been reading what I’ve written about space, about piloting, about engineering and they think I have potential. Perhaps they are harvesting others too ?

Actually I wouldn’t call it harvesting. I’m currently in the orientation centre (they’re letting me compose this message as a preparation for what I’ll write later) where they are preparing my simulacrum. That’s a lifesize replica which will be left behind in my place here. There will be an instantaneous link (don’t ask me about the science … yet ! It’s one of the things I fully intend to learn) that means I will be able to talk to people on Earth through a kind of telepresence. So if you talk to me and I seem a little distant, my simulacrum is looking for instructions from me, the one and only original.

How come this is happening now ? Apparently there is trouble coming and they need a few of us humble Earthlings to help keep this trouble at bay. We have a certain … inspiration ? that will help in their war against the coming threat. They won’t tell us what this threat is yet. Come on ! We’re not scared ! (Perhaps that’s the real reason why they want us on board). They have mentioned the phrase “Cybo-Homo Arcturan Variant” and that these unruly creatures are a threat to all.

I do keep hearing another phrase over and over : “Never give up, never surrender” and the main person we’ve been liasing with is Grabthar, Hammer of Rigel. That’s a great phrase.

They aren’t sending us off to the front just yet. We need orientation. To learn what we’re getting into. To get us up to speed with the technology. The ways and means of doing things in the Federation. The food ! It’s replicated out of pattern. They say it’s all the healthy components that make up the diet we need but it doesn’t taste healthy. It tastes glorious and in my experience, if it’s healthy it’s supposed to be yuk.

How can we understand people ?

We got jabbed by these little guys shortly after being beamed up and not long after that, we could understand our alien colleagues. It’s going to be strange getting used to the variety of races up here.

This all sounds like I’ve been abducted doesn’t it ? Kinda yeah.

This was all my own choice, although it will hurt to leave a certain few very special people behind. Maybe in the second wave they can come too ? That would be awesome. It would expand the team. Honestly, I just heard the word “SPACESHIP!” and I was gone.

After all, everything is awesome if you’re part of a team.

Being brought on board for two things I love dearly was just a bonus. That’d be the engineering that makes these things go and the chance to be pilot. That’s what they saw from keeping an eye on me. Someone who would be able to understand the machines, to keep them going, to be that balanced person with a viewpoint that picks people up when they’re struggling. To have second specialisations as pilot and trained observer. That’s really useful when things get dangerous. Have a crew end up stranded on a planetoid because your one pilot had a mischief happen ? Tragedy. Oh, I was evaluated for a more martial role supporting their stormtrooper corps but they thought I was a little short.

They also want me looking after what they affectionately refer to as Cogs. You wouldn’t believe it but these adorable bits of fur are a mix of cat and dog, genetically engineered from specimens taken from our world over a hundred years ago. They combine the loyalty of our cats and dogs, the vigilance of dogs, the cleverness of cats and have the canine and feline parts of their nature acting together in harmony unknown on this planet. Miracles.

I think they added some rabbit too for the improved hearing.

They have massive advances in medical technology too. They can replace my dodgy hip and shoulder with totally organic replacements. That means the replacements are as good as new and work with your body so as to become a part of it. The veterans who spoke with us about it referred to the process as becoming “Whole Again” as the new part is grown from a genetic Marker and reintroduced to replace useless or missing limbs. Magic.

The engineering is something else too ! There are backup panels to control the machines but the main method is through mind power. Through direct neural interface. I had a little try (need training to manage the sensory input load) and as a pilot, it’s like you become the ship. Your eyes are the sensors, in all spectra. Your arms and feet are the thrusters. Your circulatory system becomes the power, air, fluids that keep the ship going.

Yet the technology is a mix of organic and mechanical. Cyborg if you will. That’s so that the systems can repair themselves and survive without power when necessary. Organic is supplemented by the machine, the machine is repaired by the organic.

What’s that ! I hear sirens as the FIF Iceangel (Federation Induction Frigate or FIFI as the crew call her) is being called to alert and Grabthar is waving urgently. Gotta go !

See you around the galaxy!

It’s back !

It’s been a little too long since I went back to the Alphabet book. It’s a lovely book, really thoughtful present. It has a lot to say and a lot to make you think about. I’d thoroughly recommend it (link will go in at the end !)

First up – M is for Mood.

“If your life is out of balance, seek to balance your moods. Many things can cause them to swing. Drink, drugs, diet, stress. To find balance, go back to basics. Bring your body and mind down to earth. Sleep well, eat healthily, exercise, choose your thoughts carefully.”

I have the mood swings. I know other people do too. Our minds play tricks on us, the mind distorts our perception of the world. For an unfortunate number of us (more people than will admit it!), the mind twists our mood to the dark.

Resist ! My mood improves immeasurably when I talk to people. When I look at people and get a smile answering my grin. When the people I look to for engagement with what I send them reply and take me up on the implicit offer of humour I try to put in all I communicate.

The looking forward to Comic Con in May ! Tickets booked. No clue still (except for James Bond) for cosplay.

However hard it may be (and it can be really tough), look to the bright side. Resist that temptation to allow your mood to pick up on the dark.

M is also for Meditation.

Meditation takes many forms. For some, it’ll be carefully practiced routines. A way of thinking that will put you at peace. A series of movements that exercise your body and allow the brain to switch off.

I try to slow my breathing, slow my heart, stop the incessant murmuring that my thoughts can become and look at the world. To observe. To really see. To watch how other people do things and ask, can I learn from what they are doing to do what I do better.

To meditate is to be at peace. With oneself, with the world.

I need to learn how to trigger the meditative state better, to help me sleep better. I can do the slowing of the breathing to put my body at rest but those thoughts keep jabbering in my head and block the sleep. It’ll come :-).

N is for Negativity.

So many people fall into the negativity trap ! Me too. I find I need a fairly constant reinforcement from outside, or I start falling into a depressive cycle. Sometimes that reinforcement is just being noticed. Or getting a reply in from the people I find special.

What’s in the book ?

“Life looks the way you look at it. A positive point of view sees a brighter future. A negative perspective paints a bleaker universe. Always remember that your outlook will be your outcome. A few small changes can make a huge difference. For instance, try saying yes to every question you’re asked (within reason). You’ll discover new places, meet new people and live a happier and richer life.”

I look at the internet and how people behave on it. A lot of the time, the internet is infested with some really nasty people. But there are the exceptions. I mentioned the Heychrissa streamer. Yeah, she has a potty mouth but behind that is a lovely person who entertains her little band of followers and part of how she does that is by following the chat and joining in. Dunno how she does that to be honest, I can barely keep up and I’m not the one playing the game.

But yeah, so much negativity out there, it’s far better to start from a positive outlook. The outlooks reinforce. Positive outlooks bring smiles, negativity breeds anguish. One reason I try to pass encouraging messages to the various people who’s videos I watch is to pass on positive energy that helps them keep going. To encourage, to balance the negativity.

Negativity has a place, sure. But it’s better to look for the positive ways out of situations. It can be difficult yeah but it’s so worth it.

N is also for Now.

Now is the opposite of one of my worse characteristics – procrastination.

From the book : “Life is fleeting. Miss the moment and it’ll be gone forever. To make the most of life, make the most of every moment. Forget the past, ignore the future, be present to the present.”

This means you ! You reading this on your phone when you should be talking to the people with you ! The phone will wait for later. Smile at the people with you. Give now your full attention, other things can wait.

I know there are things I need to do in the future. I’d like to move out of here and onto a boat. But I also know there are things I need to do to set that up, so I don’t miss the opportunity when it comes my way.

That’s the thing – open yourself for being spontaneous. If there’s something more fun you can be doing now, embrace the fun ! Send that nice message to the person. That nice message could be the start of something wonderful.

It can take a bit of bravery to live in the now. Do it ! It’s a good place to live.

And that’s it for today. I’ll try not to leave it so long next time before I bring you more of the Alphabet book. Now you’re asking : “Where can I get this lovely book ?” Here we go – Gratuitous Amazon link !

Would really much prefer to be as the dwagon in the thumbnail.

Or the ever lovely Ben.

That one knows the value of a good set of zzzz’s.

Back to work tomorrow though. There are still a few hours of leave to go though and I fully intend for them to be very chilled out. Earlier, I was watching more of the cricket and another couple of good games today involving Sri Lanka vs South Africa ladies and Sri Lanka vs South Africa men. I’ve enjoyed watching the games in this Twenty20 world cup so far. It’s not the pinnacle of cricket, although it’s become the big business attraction. It’s a bit of fun, nothing more. The results are so random that it’s not a case of the best team winning. It’s more a matter of which individual plays a blinder on the day. And that’s not what cricket should be about, it’s a team game.

At the moment, I have a River City People album on in the background (Say Something Good, the one with California Dreamin’ on it) and a Heychrissa stream is just starting up. I may also put another Nanomon together tonight.

I’ve been gaming too, the game of choice for me at the moment is Rebel Galaxy. I’m really enjoying that one. Here’s my current ship :

That’s a Mastodon class light frigate and is the first ship up after the starter ship. It’s doing me well so far as I learn how to play the game and what does best. At the moment, I have Big Pink Lasers that make bad guy ships melt. This is good.

Plans for tomorrow include (after work!) topping up again on supplies, they’ve actually lasted about right this time. Could do with more Easter Eggs … although the locust horde was already descending on the supermarket last Monday. I’m not holding my hopes up for discount eggs, the supermarket I intend to raid tends to jiggle its stock around quickly and I suspect they won’t have any eggs tomorrow evening.

Few stats … I haven’t listened to as much music as usual (due to having the cricket on!) for a break but there’s been a fair bit listened to while gaming and videos have been on. iTunes tells me I have listened to 917 different tracks (some duplicate) since starting my leave. That works out to 2.2 days of music listening to.

I dunno how much video I’ve watched but since resetting the counter at the start of my break, I’ve downloaded 116GB down the internets to my desktop (the counter only knows about what the desktop does, it doesn’t count the many bits and bytes taking my music from laptop to hifi) and those 116GB includes downloads for games.

I’m getting really distracted by separating my attention between stream, singing along to some of the music and tapping out this post (and an iPad game) so I’d better sign off.

Oh – quick note before I go, I’ve rejigged a little of the stuff you see over to the right (on the normal web template, not the mobile one). The Fuelly sticker got taken off because I stopped updating that a few years ago when my attention span withdrew inwards due to what was happening with my outsides.

I’ve tidied up a few links as well as adding in a new section for gaming people. There aren’t too many gaming people links there yet, instead of adding all the people I occasionally watch, I added the people where I watch most of what they come out with. Word of warning … they can be dangerous …

Totalbiscuit has made me get many games due to his enthusiasm for games he loves. It’s infectious. May that continue for many years to come (he is fighting cancer and hopefully beating it).
EnterElysium is the fella who got me interested in From The Depths. His videos of that are oft chuckle inspiring.
Aavak is another From The Depths person, he’s making me want to check out another building game called Robocraft.
Scott Manley is the King of Kerbals and has taught me pretty much all I know about orbital mechanics. Which isn’t much but hey …
And HeyChrissa is guilty for me getting back into the legos … May she get enough cash soon for the Chrissa Needs A Lego XWing fund.

I have to say, the internet is a pretty toxic place but that HeyChrissa stream is the first one to get me encouraged to actually get a Twitch account and join in with the chat. That’s partly down to the chat being awesome, partly down to the streamer interacting with the chat (interesting to listen to as well, mixing her own observation with one hell of a potty mouth, whatever will she come out with next ?).

It’s great to chill out to. I’ll often start watching with the intention of reading something and then just watch the stream. In fact, I should do that now ! She’s playing a gorgeous looking … tech demo for VR called Adrift. Astronaut lost in space navigating a space station that’s been ripped apart by some calamity. It has absolutely stunning visuals and this window is covering them up !

Cya !

Here we go.

Yep.

Not much to look at but it is a genuine trimaran and I got the bow pretty much as I wanted it. Just needed a flag to put on the two blocks making up the pointy bit.

I’m not going to do much more in this game but I did want to make a (barely!) functional ship before putting it away for a while. It’s in alpha at the moment, which means it isn’t complete yet. It’s very promising, which is why I wanted to support the developer by picking it up in the Steam winter sale. I think it’ll get a huge amount better too and I really enjoy watching the EnterElysium and Aavak videos about it. But …

I’m not getting on with the camera or the build controls. You move the camera around with the usual WASD plus alt and space to go up and down. But … they change orientation according to how the mouse points the camera. Plus I couldn’t find the 1x1x1 cube to fill in the little gaps.

Perhaps I’ve been a bit spoiled after the real world building block thingys ?

He’s the latest of the NanoMon and arrived the other night while watching a HeyChrissa stream. I don’t think that’s something that will change any time soon, I’m still enjoying watching other people play games like From The Depths and various more, than playing them myself.

Bit weird that isn’t it. Perhaps I’m missing the days of the old World of Warcraft (before the guilds started splintering under the weight of end game raiding pressures) when there were a bunch of us together having fun with the game and how we all reacted to it.

That said, I have the England cricket on at the moment and there is a little voice inside saying “Your outsides are nearly all healed now … you could play again !”. Nope. It hurt a lot after the first few games when I was a kid, I would not look forward to the hurties now considering :

It’s cold out there still !
I have no muscle conditioning at all at the moment;
My hip is not at all healthy;
My reactions are apparently shot;
I don’t think I could give the team what they need.

It’s been a quiet week off, which is exactly what I wanted and needed. Most days have had the mornings spent watching the cricket. It’s the Twenty20 World Cup at the moment, so lots of matches and a fair few have had nailbiting finishes. A good number of games have had the results in doubt right up to the final ball. It could have gone loss, win or extra time. At the moment, England are having a nice little revival with Buttler and Captain Morgan giving the fielders a run around.

And then the evenings have been either gaming on my own (3 have arrived in the GoG sale and Battlefleet Gothic might join them !) or enjoying watching the gaming livestreams. I’ve watched Man Of Steel again ahead of watching Batman vs Superman, probably on Friday next week after the crowds settle down.

Are superhero movies starting their wane where the inspiration and production is becoming a bit wearing ? Deadpool was better than I expected. The Captain America Civil War movie has my hopes up for it being better than the last very tired Avengers movie. Hopefully we’ll see the return of space scifi movies and series soon. Killjoys and Dark Matter are definitely right up there with the best.

Jos Buttler is definitely acting the superhero part at the moment with his batting. They’re definitely having better conditions out there (Indian subcontinent) than here, I just looked outside and we have sideways rain that is putting a (literal) dampener on the pizza cravings I’ve been having.

Time for me to hit Publish now I think !

May you have a great Easter break with many chocolate eggs. It took a bit too long for me to build the Typo 0 this afternoon so my egg is still waiting for me. (Too late now, trying to cut down on all my snacking)

And I think it may not be pizza to go with easter eggs for afters, it’s looking like weather for ducks with brollies out there …

I have holiday time !

Feels like I’ve really needed it. The signs I usually get that tiredness and fatigue are creeping up on me is an inability to recognise which day it is. Not a sense of general befuddlement, more having to look up the calendar to check the day of the week. Sounds odd doesn’t it ? Maybe.

I feel the tiredness creeping up too when I start looking to do things. I usually react unconsciously to that by becoming perhaps a little bit hyper ? Bit like my body realising it needs to do stuff and clicking up a few gears to allow me to do it.

The really daft thing is that my body hasn’t been letting me recover from when it clicks up the gears. I can be nigh on dead on my feet in the evening not wanting to do much more than enjoy watching the gaming videos and livestreams but when I go to bed, that’s when the insomnia will strike. I think that’s getting better though.

So this week will primarily be about catching up on that energy deficit ahead of perhaps a few busy months.

I could do with more cushions.

(An Ikea run isn’t one of the things I have in mind, although a new sofa wouldn’t go amiss)

Intentions for this week ?

Well so far I’ve enjoyed :
Saturday was sport. England unexpectedly got a massive result in the cricket with a win against South Africa. Impressive stuff, great to watch before settling in to watch the Six Nations climax with England again winning in a bit more style than against Wales the other week where they tried to give it away in the last minutes of the game. Oh and watching the HeyChrissa livestream where she did part 1 of a Dead Space 2 playthrough.

I’ve played a little of Dead Space 1 but … it really wasn’t my game. It’s all about the jump scare and to be honest, I find those more annoying than exciting.

This is where I admit to being distracted on Saturday by what could perhaps be described as an Elite bender … I think it may have been 10 hours in the game … Oops. The current target in that game is the Imperial Cutter, biggest ship in the game.

The Imperial ships are very nicely themed with organic lines. Very pretty. For an internet spaceship.

That’s me looking out at my current ship, a pretty spiky Python set up as an armed trader which so far, has turned the tables on every pirate that has tried to stop it.

Yep. Pretty game. Hadn’t been back in for a little while but ended up having a big long session on Saturday. To get the Cutter, I need to get my character a few more ranks in the navy. I got from 40% to 65% through Viscount and need to get through Count, Earl and Marquis before getting the Duke rank that lets me get the big ship. To get the rank, you need to run missions. I’ve been trying to figure out what gets you the most rank.

Donation missions – seem to be the quickest, most effective. But they’re rare.
One stop trading – are what I’m doing most of. Ferrying cargo from one place to another, finding cargo to deliver. It keeps me interested in the game by having me visit multiple new places.
Multi stop trading – didn’t seem to do much for the rank progression and was hassle. I won’t be doing any more of these.
Smuggling – these get you several percentage points (at Viscount) at a time. I’ll be doing lots of these. But they are inconsistent, if you smuggle the wrong things it doesn’t give you any progress towards the next rank.

Yep. Kept me interested in the game enough to do a tonne of missions and stay in until they were all done. Not sure when I’ll be back in there though. I definitely won’t be doing that Voyager challenge run this time.

Did I do any gaming yesterday ? Nah. Managed to avoid it. I was watching what was actually a pretty darn good motor race in the Grand Prix. (And built a Lego Y-Wing later!). Talking about the motor racing is one thing I’m going to do sometime. (Stop ! I hear the yawns already …)

Yeah, it was actually a pretty decent race. What you look for in sport (hell, all types of entertainment) is unpredictability. Cricket gives you that on every ball. Motor racing suffers because it tends to degenerate into a procession where no one can overtake. It actually did for significant amounts of Sunday’s race but there was enough incident (thankfully Alonso and Gutierrez are ok after a horror crash!) to keep most of the result in doubt.

You’d think that would be the same for what I watched on Friday too … London Has Fallen seemed to be a waste of a cinema ticket (I’ll wait and catch it free-ish off Skymovies) but I did watch Fast and Furious 7 in the evening. Dull. Very dull. It’s a shame they have flogged this franchise well beyond its sell by date because the original was a pretty decent action car movie.

At some point this week, I’ll be watching Man Of Steel ahead of the Batman vs Superman movie coming out. I thought Christian Bale was one of the best Batmen, hopefully Ben Affleck won’t ruin it.

Today saw me heading out to get supplies in. Tis hungry work relaxing !

Especially when there is Lemon Sherbet flavoured popcorn in the shop and none in my cupboards. I saw that look of “EEooo” ! Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. But then again, I am a fan of Lemon Sherbet.

What was odd though, no Mini Eggs ! I suspect they have sold out even on the Monday before Easter.

I better sign off now. I’m hoping for a chilled out relaxing week. I may raid Book Barn at some point ? Would be better with a friend in tow to encourage to buy books. There’s that motivation thing again I mentioned up top. I’ll go up those gears in order to keep people company.

Yep. Sleepy times now, time to rest, recover, heal more ! (my outsides are sooo close now to being fixed)

Oh and I had a Thought … I nearly built the Lego Y-Wing during the Grand Prix, actually built it afterwards. There’s a Le Mans 24 hour coming up and a simple fighter won’t take up much of that. Anyone want to get me a Lego Death Star ? Hmm ? Lego Star Destroyer would do nicely too.