Dave’s Good Stuff

Have I mentioned how enthusiastically I look forward to Dungeon Siege and Neverwinter Nights (hereafter known simply as DS and NWN respectively)? I can’t recall… if so, please forgive me for repeating myself. Quite simply, I can hardly recall ever looking forward to a mere computer game with quite this degree of… well… ravenous ardor, if you follow me. Sure, the single player campaigns for both look to be really quite engaging, but what intrigues me most, what sets my jowls practically a quiver, is the chance to build my own worlds through which to put my friends and cohorts who share my zeal for either DS or NWN. Of the two, at the moment, I really like the look of DS, far more than NWN. So, with that in mind, I’ve begun to imagine the whole of Middle Earth rendered in the DS engine. From the Northern Waste to Far Harad, from the Gulf of Lune to the Sea of Rhun, along Anduin the Great, up the Misty Mountains and down into Isengard, I want to be able to walk through it all. An ambitious, bold, daring, even reckless task? Perhaps. I’m not even sure if I’m the one to do it, but I’m certainly of the mind to try. Perhaps, as practice, I’ll try something smaller like the Isle of Númenor, or Britannia (or Sosaria) from the Ultima series.

I’ve felt a growing desire to *create* something, and if that starts with the recreation of another’s world, so be it. All in good time, my faithful reader, all in good time.

This past weekend, Mel (you may know her as Stu) and I went down to Wichita for her Mother’s/Brother’s birthday, as well as a theme party held and hosted by a friend of hers. The theme was a Murder Mystery, set in 1923 at the Wichita Eaton Hotel. There were about 30 people there. Each was given a character to play (all named after liquors), and most were in costume. Me? No… not much for the costume thing, so I wore anachronistic jeans and tennis shoes with a relatively nice button up. Mel did better than I did. It was a lot of fun, though… we didn’t really partake much in the character acting, b/c we didn’t know anyone, but we did have a great time just watching the plot play itself out. I think, had we known people better, or it was our beloved Lawrence, KS crowd, we would have been much more "into it."

I’m still unemployed, and my moneys are slowly dwindling. I’m still good for a few more months before things get desperate, but I think I may have something. I *should* know by the end of the week… and if it does work out, I’ll be mighty excited about it. I’ve been in "Web Development" for the last 3 years, and this will be a *most* welcome change of pace. More details when/if it works to my favor.

About 2 and a half years ago I got into billiards in a meaningful way, where "meaningful way" means actually concentrating on improving my game, rather than just playing with friends on the weekends over drinks. I was reading books by and about the masters, studying tournament games on television, keeping track of my game with spreadsheets, and making diagrams in Photoshop of great shots and shots I should really have made, or wished I’d made. I was paying attention to rec.sport.billiard, posting some, but mostly just reading. I played daily, and my team came in 2nd in a local league. I loved the game, practically to the exclusion of all else. Then, after about 8 months I found Baldur’s Gate for the PC. My $485 custom cue crafted by Arnot Q. Wadsworth (now selling for only $850.00 without case) in Florida was set aside for the mouse and keyboard. Baldur’s Gate led to Quake 3, which led to Quake 3: Rocket Arena, which leads me to the writing of this post now. After about 8 months of playing Q3:RA with the same intensity that I once played 8 and 9 ball pool, I’m ready to hang up the keyboard and mouse in favor of that custom cue. I still enjoy a great game of Q3:RA, but lately, great games have become few and far between… the servers I frequent have become the hangouts of immature teenagers more eager to talk shit and insult one another than have a good time. No thanks. Call it coincidence, call it timing, call it nothing at all, but a good friend of mine recently had a nice 8′ pool table installed in his basement. I imagine that a lot of the time I would be spending in Q3:RA matches will, instead, be spent looking down the shaft of my newly-tipped cue on his newly stretched baize. Yes… I imagine that this will hold true even with the arrival of DS and NWN. :)

Ninja’s, btw, ROCK!!!