Inspired by Syrana’s (as usual) excellent post (located here), some things jumped out at me that I had not thought of in a while. Back when I played Star Wars: Galaxies I made a number of friends online, and over the years there have only been a couple I have managed to maintain contact with. Although not for a lack of thinking of those I haven’t spoken with since leaving the game, some I simply have no idea how to reach again. Further, many friendships I have formed over the course of playing World of Warcraft I hope to not lose contact with, whether it be my decision to pursue another game in the future or theirs.

Those who I play with currently would know more about my current state than any of those I have played with previously, and they would be much more likely to show up at my door in the event I went unheard from for any length of time. Those who I have kept up with, albeit horribly infrequently, might never know one way or another. And there are still others whom I miss that I couldn’t even tell you if they were still around or if something had befallen them.

With the proliferation of other services, specifically things like Twitter, the blogging community in general and certainly those who do visit this blog, and text messaging for those who have my direct contact information, it is certainly easier to keep track of those we grow fond of in one way or another. Yet, there is still, quite often, a barrier between those who have never met in person (and far too often even those we meet in passing in “real life” as well).

These are just some thoughts to ponder after reading Syrana’s post:

• Are there people you have met online, regardless of venue, that you care enough about to wonder what happens in their lives?
• Have you made and lost friends over the years that you wish you still had a chance to speak to, or that you recollect fondly and have no idea where they are now or what they may be up to?
• Why do we persist in keeping others at bay when they are not a part of our daily lives in some fashion?

Thinking back, these are a few of the people (some in-game names and some forum handles) that I’ve lost track of and think of on occasion (and forgive me if I have forgotten the exact spelling):

• Arcaeus / Agraulus
• Tuck / Oomph
• Andronicus
• Batpat, whom I even met in person and had the opportunity to go SCUBA diving with.
• All of the wonderful people on the Smuggler and Teras Kasi forums (SWG). The sense of community there is only matched in WoW thus far.
• My fellow correspondents during the “pre-combat revamp” phase. (SWG)
• Those who were a part of la Cosa Nostra during my time as Guild Leader, as well as those who played on Stormrage under the original Aeternus Veritas guild banner.

And to all of those whom I know now, whether I know you well or if we are only really developing any semblance of friendship as I write this, I hope our paths remain in contact. Sometimes it is the relationships we form virtually that shape aspects of ourselves in ways we never expected, and those threads of friendship and camaraderie tend to stay with us long after contact is lost. To you all I raise my glass, and hopefully this time we all manage to stay in touch!

I’m a bit late getting this one posted, but it has to be better late than never… right?

Syrana tagged me again in a recent meme calling itself some type of award. I’m not sure how doing more work qualifies as a reward quite yet, but when I figure it out I’ll let you know! At any rate, on to the actual details of the post.

First, I’m not certain who is or is not left to tag. Instead of going through my reader (I’m feeling a bit lazy today, don’t judge!) I’m going to instead assume I am the last person left to tag, which may very well be accurate at this point, and provide some interesting information instead. The original rules were something like this:

1. When accepting this auspicious award, you must write a post bragging about it, including the name of the misguided soul who thinks you deserve such acclaim, and link back to the said person so everyone knows she/he is real.
2. Choose a minimum of seven (7) blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Or improvise by including bloggers who have no idea who you are because you don’t have seven friends. Show the seven random victims’ names and links and leave a harassing comment informing them that they were prized with Honest Weblog. Well, there’s no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.
3. List at least ten (10) honest things about yourself. Then pass it on!

And now, the ten (or so) things about me!

1. My parents did not realize I could read until I corrected my Mother when she read something in a book she had not read to me before incorrectly, and I have no idea exactly when that happened (yay for relying on vague memories of stories I’ve been told…). By the time I entered the fourth or fifth grade I was already reading high school material for pleasure.
2. Psychology is the only subject that has retained my interest over the years, and as a result I started the re-enrollment process at the local university only a couple of weeks ago. Better to finally figure out what I want to do “wen I grow up” than to just continue doing something because of its pay. (Bonus information, I actually took this a step further, prompting plenty of thoughts from others about my sanity, and resigned from a stable, well-paying job in a very scary economic time… hopefully things work out!)
3. I’m very interested photography, and although I judge my work very harshly I have received quite a number of compliments on what I have done. These are a couple of my favorites (if you want to see more let me know!):
   
   
4. The cat pictured above is Phantom; named for his uncanny ability to suddenly show up as though he has always been sitting there when I turn around, as well as those “phantom” black markings. He’s almost a year old now, and this is a recent picture:
   
5. I am a certified PADI Rescue Diver.
6. I have a fascination with vampire stories/movies/shows.
7. I randomly become inspired to try new things. Over the past few years I have studied topics/arts ranging from tae kwon do and boxing to locksmithing and home protection to working on a volunteer fire department and teaching emergency response courses. I would have no qualms being a “professional student” and simply learning new subjects as often as possible.
8. I am quite an Apple enthusiast. My primary computer is a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro, although I still game (and only game) on a custom-built windows system.
9. xkcd, Questionable Content, and Calvin and Hobbes are probably my favorite comics, with Dilbert being close behind.
10. I’m sure there are more things I could post, but nothing else comes to mind as being interesting enough to share. Hope you enjoyed!

A few people (Kestrel, Matticus, and Lady Jess being the ones I know of so far) have shared images of their desk/work spaces lately. It is actually quite interesting to see the differences in each player’s setup, much like the intrigue in seeing different UI setups within the game. Following the trend, here is my current setup:

Front View

From the front you can see the lack of taking the time to actually clean up the way all of the wires have been run, which will be the next project (whenever I quit procrastinating on that one).

Side View

Nothing special here, I just wanted to provide an additional view to reference.

The breakdown of what you see:

• To the far left is an updated PowerMac G4 Cube. It controls some very basic home automation (a couple of lights and the heating/air are all that are controlled at the moment).
• Various external hard drives, mostly for the video production/photography hobbies.
• Nostromo N52te.
• Dell 20.5″ LCD.
• Bluetooth headset hanging on wall (and charging).
• Authenticator.
• Another external hard drive and my wireless router.
• MacBook Pro (my primary machine, used for everything except games).
• iPhone.
• Gaming Machine (custom built, currently an Intel Core 2 Duo setup).

And no set of pictures would be complete without showing where Phantom typically resides while I’m playing… or at least one of the most common places.

Typical View