| On my way |
[01 Oct 2008|09:06pm] |
Well, tonight will mark probably my last night at the Alamo and my last night reliably online until I come back to Maryland on the 12th (of October). As luck would have it I'll be moving back in with Tim, Erin and Co. so it'll be creepily similar to my living situation when I left. Not so similar will by my interview with Firaxis on the 15th, which, needless to say, is indescribably exciting in its implications.
For the next week or so I'll be camping out in the living room on 1310 main street, known by some as the Tar Pit and home to such notable souls as Logan, Dan and John. I'll probably just be working on my computer and taking little trips around the state to hang out with various people in the meantime.
For my friends in Iowa, I'll be at Aphelion down in Iowa city for my last night DJing on the 5th. I expect to play many nifty things. Trust me, it'll be super cool.
As for my friends back in Maryland, I've been keeping an eye on the various bands coming to the area and it came to my attention that Imperative Reaction is playing on the 16th at Club Liv in DC with SITD and Aesthetic Perfection . Should be an Awesome show.
See all of you soon, one way or another. Until then,
Nicholai : )
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| Thought I'd mention my plans for this weekend |
[10 Jul 2008|08:57pm] |
So, here's how its going to break down for me:
Tomorrow night will be ascension at Orpheus, cover is $4 and hopefully it'll be awesome since Neska will be there
As for Saturday I also hear tell of an event at the Depot which will be FREE, and also feature Neska (and other similarly competent DJ's)
Anyway, thats my evenings for the rest of the week, for those who care to know I'll be at the depot tonight as well.
As for afternoons/early evenings, I have no clue but I have a feeling I'll be making many phone calls tomorrow...just thinking
Anyway, until then
-Nicholai : )
note: as I learn and remember more I may come back to amend this, we'll see
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| Quarterly visit Home! |
[15 Jun 2008|04:56pm] |
From the 4th through the 13th I'll be back in town...hopefully for constructive things like looking at places to live again and interviews, but mostly just to hang out and be back in Baltimore for a week and a couple of days. No plans as of yet (save the 5th of course).
Needless to say job hunting is a tedious/exhaustive/dismal process but hopefully some of the things I put out will start bearing fruit by the time I come back to town. In the meantime, just day in day out of doing unreal tutorials and whatnot on my new computer while trying to improve my DJing skills along side periodically exercising...
Oh, and for those who might be wondering...the flood was fairly lame but as luck would have it Cedar Falls (At least the part I'm in) was pretty much unscathed. Just a few days of "mandatory evacuation" and I was back in my home. It goes without saying that I'm glad things turned out as uneventful as they did.
Well, until then, I'll look forward to seeing lots of people when I come back into town.
Cya then.
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| Coming home tomorrow! |
[20 Mar 2008|09:30pm] |
So...in a nutshell heres how I hope things go down:
Coming home friday night so hopefully we'll be doing stuff at Tim and Erin's
Saturday Night will be hanging out in Baltimore and ELECTROSHOCK
Sunday is Easter
Monday is open (though odds are at least most of it will be spent hanging out with Kylara and Erin)
Tuesday is officially ???
and Wednesday at 6 I head back.
Brisk...wouldn't you say?
See you in a day or two!
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[28 Feb 2008|01:21pm] |
So, at the request of certain concerned individuals and due to the fact that I now have an itinerary, thought it would be a good idea to make another nice, full bodied post.
First off, trip home will be as follows:
21st March- 26th of March, ill be showing up on friday night around 10ish and leaving wednesday around 5. Should be plenty of time for visiting around and stuff.
Now down to business, the griping of course:
Oh my god winter will not end there is so much ice and its cold omg omg omg...and eventually (so I'm told) it'll let up, hopefully by the time people dare to venture out here to visit. I think I'll try to take a more structured approach to the rest of this post; here goes...
Work is still fun and in truth I can say progress is starting to pick up. Its incredibly neat to actually see some of these things come together and actually be fun. On the flipside I'm without weekends for the next few weeks, but they tell us thats temporary. Heh heh.
The music thing seems to be going well though its a very slow process; trying to get that core contingent of "regulars" formed will be very important, though every time people come out they tend to remark positively. One kind of neat thing that has occurred as a result of this involves me DJing during the down time of a show happening next Thursday at the reverb. Which is sweet in its ramifications and hopefully means more time to advertise our night.
Work has kind of done a thorough job of robbing me of my social life for the last few weeks but I'm hoping that'll change back in a bit. I spend most time when I'm not doing normal responsible things just playing games (Resident evil 4 currently, rawk). Thinking about buying a new computer as well, something that can run Crysis on its highest settings and make me feel like a hardcore pc gamer again. wewt.
I'll definitely be looking forward to my trip home, as I always do. Cities and population centers rule so much. Looking for nice restaurants will be a top priority as they are few and far between here. That and seeing lots of people. Electroshock would certainly be a good starting point but no doubt if you've any time during that week after do look me up.
Till then,
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[19 Feb 2008|12:20am] |
Simply put, this is neat
Should know when I'll be coming home for a visit in the next day or so...I'll provide a more fully formed post then.
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| just reading |
[25 Jan 2008|01:26am] |
I wanted to write up something given that once again, my method seems to be sporadic and infrequent. Still, nothing deals with baseless anxiousness and a feeling of slight detachment better than contact (however indirect) with those you care about.
For the record I still miss my home and everyone in it a great deal. Lately I've just been in the mood to see people. Shame on me for being so visually oriented when I still have the recourse of text and voice right? God I promise to remind myself to call people instead of the sulking I end up doing instead. But, on to better things for now.
First off, the game proceeds largely according to plan. My earlier disparaging remarks are slowly, painfully, being addressed. I can see more clearly than ever why people spend the years of time that they do making these things. Its also true that they're never really done. I just hope our game is done enough when we let it out into the wild. On a light-hearted side note, I'm slowly introducing the idea of a deeper melee system into the game. Expect (ideally) something that might, just might be a meaningful, solid game system unique to our title. God that'd make me so happy. I also appear to be slowly taking the helm on sound and music implementation, which seems to run parallel with my preparing to be a real live DJ person.
Perfect Segway. Top Score.
KONTROL is due to start off officially next wednesday on the 30th (you know, the Industrial night I'm helping to start in town...I did mention that, right?...gah, I suck). About half of what I wanted to do is ready for it, but I'll be damned if we don't have real (borrowed) decks and a solid music line-up ready for whoever dares to show up. *SPOILER* I'm going to be showing Dark City followed by GUNHED (imdb it) in the background, which should provide solid ambiance to match our skillful playing of other peoples music. With luck and tact, we can make this happen. Now I just need someone who is into community management/setup to help with the website thing (Lulu, I really should get back in touch with you about that : ).
As for other things, I'm tentatively planning my next return trip. Tentatively. Sad to say I've passed out of that delightful time of year when I get multiple days off at a time for holidays. This is lame. It basically means I'm getting about 2-3 more trips home for this coming year through about August/September (when the game is done, I have a feeling things will work a bit differently). Its not all bad since spacing them out a bit will allow me to finance them a bit more comfortably, and I was intent on bringing Jillian with me at least once. Did anyone else notice that Birthday Massacre is opening for MSI on the first of May at Rams Head Live? I was browsing through metropolis and their tour schedules and that one, I must say, caught my eye by quite a bit.
Theres more that I probably want said but maybe leaving it unsaid will prompt me to talk a bit more. Lord knows its for my own good.
I'll hope to see you all again, soon enough
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| Home for the Holidays (among other things) |
[16 Dec 2007|04:43pm] |
Here I sit, all moved in to my new (and much more comfortable) living space. Its been a fun couple of weeks but all told I think I'm set to enjoy myself here and come home for a good couple of days. I totally moved away from my uber-boring/lame/psychotic roommates and have found new purpose here, setting up wireless functionality for the house top to bottom and fiddling with various odds and ends. Good times and good people. Oh, the amount of cats I now have around me has gone up roughly 400%. I can safely say right now there is a 50% chance that a cat is currently under my bed.
So...as for stuff happening:
Our game is speedily approaching alpha and apparently there was an embarrassing article about us posted in "games for windows" magazine. I swear, I like the history channel and wouldn't want to say anything bad about it...
I'm going to be helping with the setup of a club night here in Cedar Falls! Our first night should be January 30th so theres still a fair bit of time between now and then. In the meantime however, we need to set up a myspace page, start advertising and getting people who might or might not guest dj as well as keeping in touch with the venue owner. Its nice to know that my laptop purchase can be semi-justified now.
There are a couple other odds and ends of interest that are flitting about but I hope to share them with you all when I come back for christmas.
FRIDAY DECEMBER 21st (sometime in the afternoon) through the 26th .
Oh, and I will definitely be present for Electroshock.
I sincerely hope to see as many people as possible...I think the pace of running about town in the time I have is hectic though invariably pleasant. It'll be good to come home again, as it always is.
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| a post that is clearly compensating for the lack of posts |
[02 Nov 2007|12:06am] |
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music |
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Ohgr - I just got a couple of songs and cds...spiffy! |
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Thought I'd weigh in and give a little update, what with things slowly winding back into some semblance of normalcy. So, more or less it seems to be more of the same with a few potential developments that may...erm...develop.
First and foremost I seem to be kicking things way more often than any point previously in my life, which as well as promoting a healthier me allows me to more appropriately distribute kicking when needs be done. (Capoiera friggin rocks but I stand out like a sore thumb what with all the insistently wearing black all the time).
My job is more of the same though now there are more of us to do the same task, so its a net gain. Adding their collective art and technical skills we have Tim from maine and Aubrey from ?(I want to say oklahoma). With another level designer and coder conditions are already noticeably improved and the beatings are back to their routine bi-weekly schedule. We march blindly onward in our pursuit of the elusive alpha state. Good times are being had.
I'm not quite sure but I may have alluded to the fact that I met the other person in Cedar Falls who likes industrial music. His name is Logan and among other things he loves his Wumpscut. Unlike me, however, he seems to have accumulated a musical and technical know-how to match his tastes. Hopefully *crosses fingers* we can talk one of the local bar owners into playing some "music" on certain nights. This would definitely be one of those things to do on my list of "oh my god I finally have time to sit down and learn that stuff".
I'm still reading a fair bit but I have to admit House of Leaves, while awesome, is quite slow going. Its only bothersome because I was lent some books with the idea that I'd be reading them soon. ( Haven't even made it to the concluding interviews let alone the appendices). Still, some good lovecraftian times to be had in the house that is not what it seems (except when it seems horrifying and incomprehensible, of course).
Had multiple things occuring on and prior to Halloween proper but I almost feel like its a stretch to cram this all into a single post, what with me coming home on (actually remembers to include the month unlike last time) the 20TH OF NOVEMBER for a whole friggin' week!
Not only does it afford me such pleasantries as seeing VNV on tuesday (got my tickets) , Thanksgiving and a night out at Electroshock, it also means I'll be able to hang out with people without looking at my spiffy new watch every other minute (I have to show you guys that too, its ever so keen).
All told, my plans proceed accordingly and I'll be glad for a little break from the week in week out work-life that I seem to slide in to when here. With a little luck I can repeat for the Christmas season as well.
Until then,
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| some notes regarding my on-going struggles |
[11 Oct 2007|01:59am] |
Aphelion (club night) continues to be an awesome place to hang out on a bi-monthly basis
Capoiera is hurting my body in all sorts of fun and interesting ways
OMG Portal...just OMG
work is...a learning experience
now all I need is a steampunk watch and a multi-week international adventure when all is said and done and everything will be just PEACHY!
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| FREE AGAIN! |
[29 Sep 2007|01:45pm] |
So...with the milestone having finally come and gone I can relax again and review the past week or so. For starters, despite the brevity of my trip home it was intensely therapeutic. Its easy to walk around here and completely disassociate this place from Baltimore. The simple act of traveling between the two places helps to reinforce the fact that, when I want to, I can just do the same thing again except not come back here.
Though I didn't see everyone the people I did see made me very happy. The Wedding on Saturday was very appropriate, and the origin of the vows only serves to reinforce that : ) As for the Sunday, it was very amusing to see that sort of thing on wheels, though I'm sad I only got to see about an hour or two of it before I had to move on. Definitely intent on the week home in November.
As for being here, I've sort of taken it in a new light. The best way to compare it is if I were in prison for some reason. I really just have plans to quietly and methodically enrich and improve myself. I read considerably more, I'm getting to be a better designer every day (people are actually using "fun" when describing the trench battle we have set up, go me) and as soon as my body stops aching constantly I have a distinct feeling that I'll stick with learning Capoeira. Finally being able to work on a martial art makes me truly happy, its something I've always wanted to do but have never seemed to have the time.
Given where I am, I seem to have an abundance of time to grow as a person, and I intent to do so in the most constructive way possible.
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| General update |
[19 Sep 2007|09:10pm] |
So...I think I've reached critical mass in the land of stuff thats happening currently.
I'll go chronologically to help sort things out:
1. Finally found an industrial club night here in Iowa...yes (apparently it was on hiatus the first couple of months I was here). Currently it resides at David's place in Iowa City, so named for its fine Ethiopian cuisine (wait, what?). For a mere hour and half drive on Sunday night I was treated to some truly amazing things...like walking up to someone and saying "Wumpscut" without a quizzical look given in response. In the course of a single evening I met quite a few cool people that I could talk to for extended periods of time...this is an unthinkably sharp contrast from the rest of the state with the exception of my place of work. Holy hell...the difference. AND I FINALLY GOT TO FRIGGIN DANCE AGAIN AND MAKE IRRESPONSIBLE SONG REQUESTS!!! On the whole it was the very height of smashing successes. My only regret is that its 2 Sundays out of the month and I'll have to wait till the 7th of October to do it again. Still, its like sanity fuel...
2. We got a producer at work, his name is Bill, he is made of equal parts wisdom and awesome. After the couple days I've had to see him feel his way around as well as other telling signs, I have every confidence that he will serve as our fearless leader in the bold and difficult quest of making a friggin video game for the mass market. Oh the carnage, dear readers, I have spared you these past several weeks as I learned that while we may have a person with the title of "designer" what we actually have is someone with very ambitious desires and goals not at all connected to the little details like gameplay and feasibility. Hopefully with Bill at the helm we will be able to take our prolific amounts of talent and verve and concoct something truly worthwhile in the limited time allotted (given our projected ship date and other miscellaneous facts that loom unspeakably on the horizon)
3. First day of Capoeira was yesterday, meaning my first day of very accute pain from exertion is almost at an end. But it what it does mean is after a couple months of grueling training and work, I'll be able to live my dream and break-dance fight someone....I expect that it will rock...alot.
In the meantime, with my coming home coming soon I have a couple of messages to send to people. Beyond that...all seems relatively well...and I hope it stays that way
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| to everyone back at home |
[06 Sep 2007|01:48am] |
Sometimes being here is severely exciting...just as often its painfully quiet and boring.
To everyone I've spoken to and to those who I should speak to much more, I think I'm on the verge of doing a poor job when it comes to staying in touch. I like talking to all of you whenever I can, even if its something trivial or only for a moment. I'm just letting my neglectful self get the better of me. I suppose it could be sort of positive since it only means I'm losing myself in my work to the benefit of all parties involved, but at the same time, when the work day is over and I come home to my room...theres definitely a bit of my life thats still missing.
I've long said and still maintain that I'll make this place live-able yet, but in the meantime, if I seem unresponsive or non-communicative, it has nothing to do with me not wanting to strike up a conversation.
I've always been rather weird about online communication in general (which is ironic to some degree) and seeing as its now my only means of speaking with so many people I know and care about....its just a different sort of way to conduct things.
Once again I hope to see as many of you as possible in my brief but blessed return to Maryland on the 21st of this month.
(I'm going to make myself start planning this out before it gets away from me like a few other obligations I have)
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| Beksinski is cool |
[03 Sep 2007|07:47pm] |
Friend at work showed me a few images from this guy...Polish painter and photographer
(Thought Tim and Erin in particular might like his stuff)
http://www.beksinski.pl/
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| In other news.... |
[01 Sep 2007|01:51am] |
We totally beat 'the man' tonight at a public park just outside of town. I had decided to go and hang out with some people from work at a local (and surprisingly pleasant) campground. After hours of fond re-counting of various happenings and goings on (snippets of our past and movies, good times really) we decided to pack it in and call it a night...
BUT NO!
Upon our return to the gate we found, much to our collective dismay, a chain with masterlock holding tight a gate which effortlessly barred the way of Jacks mighty, slightly dated mercedes benz. Undaunted we surveyed the scene and set forth on a desperate devil-may-care gamble.
While the primary avenue of departure (i.e. the road) was blocked and sides heavily wooded and fenced in, the area directly to the sides of the gate was guarded only by sloping grass hill and wooden pillars. Our chance, that one gap in the pillars, while on a hill, may be wide enough to allow our car to pass without it sliding off to an uncertain but surely woody fate.
Though still in shock I can scarcely recount the tense moments of backing up, sliding, hesitating, measuring and shoving that carried on for what seemed like minutes (which in this case was accurate). Suffice to say, after much effort and strain, worry and bravado, our transport lay unharmed on the other side of the threshold!
Laughing and singing, we sped off into the night, drunk on our mad victory over the forces of Iowa State Park Rangers.
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| Found 'em! |
[01 Sep 2007|01:45am] |
Well, only took me a month of floundering and wondering but I found an EBM/Industrial night thats actually within Iowa. (apparently it was on hiatus when I first arrived here).
Nifty part is I've already met some people who will be in attendance.
Since the tour they're involved in isn't on every night, a band called 'Leaves Eyes' decided to come and play in cedar falls (OMG former female lead for Theatre of Tragedy?! holy shit!!!)
As you may expect, a moody female-vocal-driven metal band would bring out certain people...and of course I was happy to engage in small talk with them but severely unhappy to hear they came from out of town and were intent on going back to said town (Cedar rapids) at the end of the show.
Lo and behold (as luck would have it) they apparently also live at this club night in Iowa City! (a mere hour and 40 minutes away...well within acceptable drive distance). Exciting...so, my 16th of this month is all planned out...more or less....
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| dancing in the middle of nowhere |
[26 Aug 2007|02:59pm] |
So, last night Jack and myself travelled out to Dayton, IA (pop 2000) to attend a rave...in a cornfield.
I have to say for the 2 1/2 hour drive and the lack of anything around, it was very very nifty. Trading a dance floor for a patch of open ground and
a ceiling for a clear starry sky worked out better than I thought.
It was also incredibly helpful that the local musicians happened to spin some excellent music, most of it quite fast and heavy just the way I like it (which was as surprising as it was pleasant). I even got all my stomping in for the evening when the "hardcore" guy came up to the stage (although its worth noting that after about an hour he totally killed the dance floor).
Then there was fire juggling and sitting around a fire and...well, fire. Along with odd movies playing on a wall and other random things like that.
I even got to talk with one of the DJ's and got him to burn me some of his stuff along with the knowledge that he would come anywhere to play simply for the cost of gas money (hehe, I could get him booked somewhere around here and gladly pay it myself).
Anyway, I got my dancing in which should go a long way towards keeping me sane for the next few weeks. Just one day at a time.
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