the state of things

Work has dramatically improved of late. Real things to do, a new team, and other such bits of interest. That whole money question has not been answered yet, but so far we're on track for a full improvement of my career with this company. Granted, I have the free time to post right now, but that's sure to be very temporary.

The book is looking good. FBO is pleased with the changes I've made, so far, and that's a very good sign. I haven't written all that much lately, only a little progress made in my high fantasy book, so I'm glad something is happening on my writing front. Hopefully when I next speak with fbo he'll be finished and we can discuss what other changes I need to make before the submission process begins. In some part of my brain I'm imagining that I won't have to make any more changes, but that's just a dream. Reality will be me needing to make hundreds more changes, but I'm ok with that. Work is good.

For no reason I can understand, my back hurts. This isn't post Kung-Fu, or pool, or any kind of activity other than videogames, and last I checked, they weren't strenuous enough for this kind of pain. After the Wii comes out, perhaps that will change, but for now sitting around and playing .hack shouldn't be able to cause pain like this.

Speaking of .hack, I'm at about 30 hours through the game and wondering why exactly why I stopped playing the last time I played a few years ago. The game rules. It's everything I like about MMOs without the things I hate about MMOs. As it's a simulated MMO, there are no random douchebag asshole players to contend with unless they are actually part of the plot of the game. The game can go just plot, or I could literally play the game for hours on end with a theoretically infinite number of variable world/dungeons to explore. The other characters in the game are far easier to get ahold of then in an actual MMO since there's no such thing as "time" to get in the way. Really, it's the perfect MMO for the antisocial type like me; there are no people to irritate, annoy, or disappoint you. Plus I crushed Cubia, so I'm running on that high.

I've been watching the very disappointing anime Final Fantasy Unlimited lately. It's a far cry from the quality I expect from anything with an FF on it. It's finally gotten just interesting enough to want to finish around ep 16 or so; that should speak volumes about my patience. I still won't sit through the goddamn "Soil is my power" nonsense every single episode, but that seems to be slacking off a bit. Oh well, another couple of hours and it's done, so I can move on to something hopefully far more interesting: Technolyze. Or, if I manage to remember to order the last few DVSs, X the series. Or if I remember to borrow it, Seven Samurai. Anime, you are not dead to me. Now that I don't wait on other people to watch you with, we can get back to where we're supposed to be. Anime... I love you.

Once again, I must say, if you do not watch the show on Nickelodeon called Avatar: The Last Airbender, then you are a fool. Though it is a "children's" show, it's one of the most complex, fascinating, and action packed shows I've ever become obsessed with. On top of that, it ranks as one of the only shows I can think of where the characters actually learn. In an early episode the Airbender jumps into a cloud on a dare and reports that clouds are made of water. That knowledge becomes useful throughout the series. Little things aren't just forgotten, and that kind of attention to detail impresses the hell out of me. Long story short: watch Avatar. It will not disappoint. Don't want to jump into the second season in the middle? They're replaying the entire series starting today, so set your DVRs! I also own the entire first season, so you can always call me. I sure don't mind watching 'em over again!

My theory was by the time I was in the middle of writing this I was going to have work to do, but so far, nothing. Time to find something else to do while waiting.