The Good End
Well, time flies. I think it's about time I actually post something here, too! What's happened in a month? Well, there was a Christmas vacation during which I played some weird video game about world-destroying mimes, university started, and, oh yeah, there was this tournament...
Now, I post here less than I like, but at the very least, I ought to at least make some kind of retrospective on Written in the Stars, which marks - oddly enough, the first time I ever actually helped host one of these tournaments! Although, in that light, there isn't really that much for me to comment on, here, as, compared to my co-hosts tenshi-kain, grayfox and krizak my contribution wasn't very large, honestly - all I did was draw some character art and write some stuff. But even so...
I think this was a good tournament, by and far - and I don't think it's arrogant to say that the way we did it had some part in this. We had a pretty small cast, with a few key character dynamics that we had thought of beforehand, but we had next to no prewritten material - so in fact, we really had no alternative but to go with the Indy Ploy - make it up as we go! For good and ill, I think it shows in the end result. A lot of our plans didn't take form, but some did, and some were replaced by equally nifty things that came from playing off the sponsors. I don't know if we expected things to turn out this way, so much as it came out of necessity... but i think it helped make this into a dynamic and fun tournament, for everyone.
There was another notable effect that this way of doing things had, however. Perhaps more than ever before, I have to admit that it was, honestly, really draining. I'm not sure why, honestly - but there was always a certain struggle to keep on top of things, and for my part, of course, I found myself gradually shifting to a time zone roughly nine hours away from my own, which of course was incredibly convenient to mix with going to university full time. /=D Maybe mixing it with school explains some of it - or, maybe, that's just what these tournaments always are?
Still, it's worth restating that aside of providing me with a particularily good excuse to hang out at #ri, these things are... incredibly fun, in more ways than I can adequately explain. All the times I managed to get myself pumped up to make an awesome post still make it so worth it, and I can still kind of grasp that feeling, when tenshi-kain sent over the ending post of the final round, said, "...guys? We're done", and... down here, it was 9 AM, as I recall, and... well, wow.
What do you call that? That's the "just scaled a mountaintop" kind of feeling. It's more than achievement, and, well, I guess it may not have been that big of a one, but... it simply felt like we'd done something of meaning. Honestly, I sometimes find myself wondering if there's anything on the Internet that would quite match the sheer fervour of these peculiar gatherings of ours that we've developed over the years. Looking back... these tournaments have affected me more than I can possibly imagine. There's probably no way to explain that...
...except, perhaps, that for reasons quite beyond my understanding, WitS, for its part, has left me with an irrepressible, and honestly worrying, desire to replay Chrono Cross post-haste. This is... altogether bizarre, since I honestly can't recall the last time I've even replayed an RPG - it must be years! And then there's the fact that we're talking about a game that, uh, might have been great, had it not been written by a cadre of preach sadomasochists under a carefully administered regimen of crack, marijuana and LSD. (Enjoy that metaphor, by the way, tenshi-kain insisted I post it.)
That being the case, expect to hear more speculation on the nature of chemicals found in tap water of Tokyo in 1999 sometime soon - which in this case means as soon as I finally finish Tales of the Abyss, which honestly should be mere hours away from completion. Yeah, it's taken me... nine months, but at least I WILL get through the game BEFORE the anime finishes. Besides, barrelgoddess did provide a more than adequate reason to finally get it over with. (=D
But all this considering - what IS actually going on, in my "real" life, as it were?
Well, for one thing... I'll have my Bachelor's thesis written in a little over a month. Or rather, I need to have it done, by then. This should pose no difficulties, however, as it will revolve around a subject that I have been looking into since my first year... oddly enough, really, since I don't think anyone else has had his subject down for so long. It is, in fact, almost too ideal, somehow - makes me feel like I was taking an easy way out! On the other hand... it almost makes it feel like real research, heh.
The other thing of note, I suppose, is that despite being pretty well entrenched in writing for WitS, I think, I nonetheless somehow managed to find the time to get myself elected as president of the archaeologists' student organization, here. (In case you're curious, this involves among other things a bar tour across Helsinki, and a Battle Royale with vodka-based drinks.)
So I guess that makes me the Student Council President, again, after all these years!
I'm still wondering what to make of this. It's not entirely unexpected, to be sure... but what I don't know yet is whether I'll enjoy this, or not. Extra responsibility isn't something I really relish, at this point... but at the same time, it gives me what you might call a... sense of accomplishment, perhaps? Besides, I think I've finally figured out this "underling" thing - the point of having them is so you can make them do things you don't particularily feel like doing yourself. That is so incredibly convenient!
Beyond that... I suppose it gives me a role to play. A place, if you will. That's not bad, is it? It will even make things easier, in some ways. I think one thing I've always been pretty good at is being the person other people need me to be. Why stop now?
Still... can't get around this, there's a lot of work here. Besides actually running the show here, I have to apply for grants, scheme against my rivals from the other organization for room and financial support, all the while arranging the organization's hundred-invitee anniversary feast and yet another excursion, thankfully a bit closer than Greece this time around. And somehow, in the midst of this, graduate!
Heh... could we perhaps find, in this, yet another elusive roleplaying metaphor for life, in that while the boss fights aren't really so bad, most of the time, it's all the side-quests that's really going to your time?
Well, the exploration is usually the fun part, anyway. And so for old time's sake, and as a healty reminder that strange wastes of time too have their meaning... why not a meme!
Select a character I have created, write or am otherwise reasonably involved with and I will answer the following 12 questions for you.
1. What would your character die for?
2. What would they refuse to do under any circumstances?
3. What do they dream about?
4. What single object would they be most hard pressed to part with? Why?
5. What is their fondest memory?
6. What is their worst memory?
7. What or who was were their most significant influence?
8. What would be their biggest nightmare?
9. What makes them laugh?
10. If they were to die, what would be their last words?
11. Who is the most important person in their life?
12. Is your character a virgin? If not, who was their first?
Now, I post here less than I like, but at the very least, I ought to at least make some kind of retrospective on Written in the Stars, which marks - oddly enough, the first time I ever actually helped host one of these tournaments! Although, in that light, there isn't really that much for me to comment on, here, as, compared to my co-hosts tenshi-kain, grayfox and krizak my contribution wasn't very large, honestly - all I did was draw some character art and write some stuff. But even so...
I think this was a good tournament, by and far - and I don't think it's arrogant to say that the way we did it had some part in this. We had a pretty small cast, with a few key character dynamics that we had thought of beforehand, but we had next to no prewritten material - so in fact, we really had no alternative but to go with the Indy Ploy - make it up as we go! For good and ill, I think it shows in the end result. A lot of our plans didn't take form, but some did, and some were replaced by equally nifty things that came from playing off the sponsors. I don't know if we expected things to turn out this way, so much as it came out of necessity... but i think it helped make this into a dynamic and fun tournament, for everyone.
There was another notable effect that this way of doing things had, however. Perhaps more than ever before, I have to admit that it was, honestly, really draining. I'm not sure why, honestly - but there was always a certain struggle to keep on top of things, and for my part, of course, I found myself gradually shifting to a time zone roughly nine hours away from my own, which of course was incredibly convenient to mix with going to university full time. /=D Maybe mixing it with school explains some of it - or, maybe, that's just what these tournaments always are?
Still, it's worth restating that aside of providing me with a particularily good excuse to hang out at #ri, these things are... incredibly fun, in more ways than I can adequately explain. All the times I managed to get myself pumped up to make an awesome post still make it so worth it, and I can still kind of grasp that feeling, when tenshi-kain sent over the ending post of the final round, said, "...guys? We're done", and... down here, it was 9 AM, as I recall, and... well, wow.
What do you call that? That's the "just scaled a mountaintop" kind of feeling. It's more than achievement, and, well, I guess it may not have been that big of a one, but... it simply felt like we'd done something of meaning. Honestly, I sometimes find myself wondering if there's anything on the Internet that would quite match the sheer fervour of these peculiar gatherings of ours that we've developed over the years. Looking back... these tournaments have affected me more than I can possibly imagine. There's probably no way to explain that...
...except, perhaps, that for reasons quite beyond my understanding, WitS, for its part, has left me with an irrepressible, and honestly worrying, desire to replay Chrono Cross post-haste. This is... altogether bizarre, since I honestly can't recall the last time I've even replayed an RPG - it must be years! And then there's the fact that we're talking about a game that, uh, might have been great, had it not been written by a cadre of preach sadomasochists under a carefully administered regimen of crack, marijuana and LSD. (Enjoy that metaphor, by the way, tenshi-kain insisted I post it.)
That being the case, expect to hear more speculation on the nature of chemicals found in tap water of Tokyo in 1999 sometime soon - which in this case means as soon as I finally finish Tales of the Abyss, which honestly should be mere hours away from completion. Yeah, it's taken me... nine months, but at least I WILL get through the game BEFORE the anime finishes. Besides, barrelgoddess did provide a more than adequate reason to finally get it over with. (=D
But all this considering - what IS actually going on, in my "real" life, as it were?
Well, for one thing... I'll have my Bachelor's thesis written in a little over a month. Or rather, I need to have it done, by then. This should pose no difficulties, however, as it will revolve around a subject that I have been looking into since my first year... oddly enough, really, since I don't think anyone else has had his subject down for so long. It is, in fact, almost too ideal, somehow - makes me feel like I was taking an easy way out! On the other hand... it almost makes it feel like real research, heh.
The other thing of note, I suppose, is that despite being pretty well entrenched in writing for WitS, I think, I nonetheless somehow managed to find the time to get myself elected as president of the archaeologists' student organization, here. (In case you're curious, this involves among other things a bar tour across Helsinki, and a Battle Royale with vodka-based drinks.)
So I guess that makes me the Student Council President, again, after all these years!
I'm still wondering what to make of this. It's not entirely unexpected, to be sure... but what I don't know yet is whether I'll enjoy this, or not. Extra responsibility isn't something I really relish, at this point... but at the same time, it gives me what you might call a... sense of accomplishment, perhaps? Besides, I think I've finally figured out this "underling" thing - the point of having them is so you can make them do things you don't particularily feel like doing yourself. That is so incredibly convenient!
Beyond that... I suppose it gives me a role to play. A place, if you will. That's not bad, is it? It will even make things easier, in some ways. I think one thing I've always been pretty good at is being the person other people need me to be. Why stop now?
Still... can't get around this, there's a lot of work here. Besides actually running the show here, I have to apply for grants, scheme against my rivals from the other organization for room and financial support, all the while arranging the organization's hundred-invitee anniversary feast and yet another excursion, thankfully a bit closer than Greece this time around. And somehow, in the midst of this, graduate!
Heh... could we perhaps find, in this, yet another elusive roleplaying metaphor for life, in that while the boss fights aren't really so bad, most of the time, it's all the side-quests that's really going to your time?
Well, the exploration is usually the fun part, anyway. And so for old time's sake, and as a healty reminder that strange wastes of time too have their meaning... why not a meme!
Select a character I have created, write or am otherwise reasonably involved with and I will answer the following 12 questions for you.
1. What would your character die for?
2. What would they refuse to do under any circumstances?
3. What do they dream about?
4. What single object would they be most hard pressed to part with? Why?
5. What is their fondest memory?
6. What is their worst memory?
7. What or who was were their most significant influence?
8. What would be their biggest nightmare?
9. What makes them laugh?
10. If they were to die, what would be their last words?
11. Who is the most important person in their life?
12. Is your character a virgin? If not, who was their first?