(no subject)

[prog]

Picked up a USB headset today. It's PS2-branded, but I'm happy (and not surprised) to see that it works perfectly well with my Mac. The clerk at Strawberries told me that XBox is the place to be for online gaming, apparently. His main reason is that the more popular network-capable games for PS2, like SOCOM, are pay-for-play, which was news to me. "I play only stupid games that nobody likes," I said. "Fair enough," he said.

So far I've tried it once, with Burnout 3, which is a treat to play online when it actually works (sigh). I didn't say a word, since I suddenly realized that I didn't have the foggiest notion of game-VoIP etiquette. So instead, I raced cars while listening passively to two young English (I think) boys talk to one another in impenetrable sleepy drawls. It was interesting, but not very contentful.

---

I have had a very nice holiday. T-day dindin with colorwheel & co., and then several days by myself, ¡en fuego! with Volity work. I even worked straight through a rare dougo game night without realizing it! Which kind of stinks. Maybe next time...

---

Lots of ICCB work to start tomorrow. Lots of goals to hit by Jan. 1. The last time I said something like this, at the beginning of October, I ended up doing approximately jack squat for weeks, mostly due to the fact that I don't know Oracle, and neither does anyone else here. I decided last week that I'd stop trying to attack the problem head-on and just work around it.

Relatedly, I announced my departure from ICCB and my intent to join ICCB. Jan 1 is my end date. Also, my start date. Yes, I am in fact trading a stink bean for a stink bean. It actually makes sense if you're on the inside, baby.

---

Lately, over the last couple of years, I think I've been getting better at knowing myself, but here's one thing that remains a mystery to me: There is, for me, a perfect balance between sociability and solitude that causes me to vibrate in such a way so as to pull inspiration right from the air, and lets me work on anything with joy. I was reminded of this last week at HoRGN when during an idle moment I pulled out my laptop to tie up some ICCB loose ends, and the presence of friends, music and light all around turned Perl-pushing drudgery into... well, I suppose it was still drudgery but I didn't mind it so much, is the point.

Years ago, having observed these effects in various settings, I thought the solution involved housemates. This has twice proved to be the wrong track, sadly: when the time comes for me to want the whole place to myself, they're still there! The nerve, etc. Yet, even as I write this, I imagine how nice it would be to hear people-noises drifting in from the kitchen or the living room right now. Hmf.

I guess that hanging out at the Diesel is a weaker (since everyone is usually strangers to me) but workable stand-in until I can figure out what, exactly, is up with me.

Comments

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you need a campus computer lab.

[prog.livejournal.com]

That sounds like the Diesel except with behavior restrictions. And no coffee.

[rikchik.livejournal.com]

I always used to like doing stuff in the dorm lounge more than doing it in my room. And I still like having someone around when I'm doing stuff. Maybe I need to start encouraging people to bring homework to game night.

[aspartaimee.livejournal.com]

i have one roommate. i like her a lot, have known her for 10 years or so, and i also like when she is out of town or has class or something. there is plenty of alone time for me, with the benefit of knowing that someone else does live there. she feels the same when i am away at conferences etc.

also, if it's the headset by logitech with a PS2 label, it's the one i have as well. it works for karaoke revolution III's duet setting.

[prog.livejournal.com]

Yes... a caveat to my housemate statement is that in both cases the housemates were a couple who were in the process of falling apart just as I moved in (and I failed to save their relationship through my ZRF antics; not that I was trying to do so, mind you, but if either situation was a movie, you know that would be the most obvious outcome). Also, in the first case I didn't know them too well at first.

It would be nice to have a local friendship whose length I could express in two digits. I have generally moved around too much to have known anyone that long. The people I have known longest are either "Internet friends" who live thousands of miles away, or my "northern friends" who all still live in Maine for some reason. (There is nothing in Maine! Move to Boston! There's pie!)

[aspartaimee.livejournal.com]

yuck on the housemates front. that is an unpleasant position to be in regardless, even the power of ZRF cannot endure. i can see where that would be awful and thus sour a person on the whole roommate experience. i have found, aside from college, it's best to find someone you already know and get along with.

i have several friends that i have known since elementary school and one or two from even before that. on the other hand, i have no friends from junior high or high school that i still talk to.

also, on second count i have known my roommmate only 9 years, but jadelennox for 11 years.

[poetgeek.livejournal.com]

MMMm. pie.

ZRF? I mis-read this as ZIF.

<<-- is tempted. MMMmm. Boston. Random Boston Trip coming soon. Very soon. Very random. I'll likely bring down new (to you) people as well. Perhaps. Coming to you some day this year.

[jtroutman.livejournal.com]

but some of us can bake our own pies (apple and pumpkin) just fine, thank you.

but I know what you mean. sigh.

We need robotic supersonic cars and/or teleportation technology NOW.