OOC: Thirty-One

A long December and there's reason to believe
Maybe this year will be better than the last,
I can't remember the last thing that you said as you were leavin'
Now the days go by so fast
And it's one more day up in the canyons
And it's one more night in Hollywood
If you think that I could be forgiven...I wish you would
Counting Crows - A Long December

I'm thanking you, the reader.

This has been a fun month and a fun year for me. I've managed to accomplish my goal, Thirty-one posts in thirty-one days. If I didn't know there were folks out there reading and enjoying what I had to say, I know I couldn't've gotten through this. I want to thank you.

That said, I'll probably be going back to my two or three a week schedule in the new year. Hopefully the quality won't drag quite as much as it has in the last few posts.

I apologize, as I picked up a bug around Christmas that just decided to stick around for a while. Looking back at some of my latest posts is a bit disappointing, but I assure you the quality will improve.

Thanks for reading, and Happy New Year!

Hold On, Lets Not Be Hasty.

A drowning sorrow floods the deepest grief,
How long now?
Until the weather change condemns belief,
How long now?
When the night watchman lets in the thief.
Whats wrong now?
The Skids - The Saints Are Coming

Thukker Mix obviously knew what they were doing. The Cheetah is such a nice sleek ship, one almost couldn't imagine the death and destruction that ship has been able to cause in my hands. As it slipped out into the cold again my ship entered warp.

The bubble collapsed and I reoriented to warp to the Todifraun gate. As I entered warp I engaged my covert ops cloak. Space around me shimmered for a moment before the ship disappeared.

I requested clearance to jump through as I arrived, and my cloak never dropped. When I arrived in Todifraun I warped to planet six. The cloak reengaged immediately. I arrived and reoriented myself, hitting full speed before decloaking, hitting my afterburner, dropping a Ladar Quest Probe, and recloaking in one swift motion.

One hundred and thirty seconds later, I had a hit on the Hurricane. I warped to thirty and was surprised to find him in an open mission. He was literally five kilometers away from me. I called my support to warp to me and they did. He was pointed and after running a ship scan to determine he wasn't worth a ransom, he was killed in short order.

I warped back to the gate, then jumped into Evati. I docked at Kaalikota and smiled as I hopped out of my pod.

Good Day.

Lead Your Shots

I want to glide down over Mulholland

I want to write her name in the sky
I'm gonna freefall out into nothing
Gonna leave this world for a while
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Freefalling

So tonight I had quite an adventure trying to track a friend down and do someone a favor. Lets cover how it all began.

First I decided to head out to Vitrauze to sell off my belongings there. The ten million I made will be of much use to me elsewhere. After docking I went to check out a bar in the Federal Navy Academy. There was a particular waitress, who of course wasn't there tonight, who I'd been wanting to see again. She found me.

A ragged shell of a girl came up to me in that dingy bar and asked me if I could track someone down. She looked so helpless that I found it hard to refuse. I got her cleaned up, fed, and welcomed her aboard my ship. It was a mistake and wasted my time, but I'd do it again.

The person I was looking for was actually a friend of mine. She operated out of Evati just the same as I did, but was on a holiday. I had to find her.

Her last communication was from Dead End, and I figured that'd be a good place to start. Upon arriving there I found no trace of her, and moved back towards Vitrauze. As I did, a bit of intel came filtering in. A place out in null-sec called C9N-GC. I've barely ever ventured into null-sec, but I was determined not to dissapoint the girl that was surely pacing my ship at that very moment. Until a few jumps in, it was a fairly uneventful passage. Then instead of dropping out of warp at the gate, I was fifteen clicks away. I kicked on my microwarp drive and was jumping out as a single volley smashed into my shields. The ship barely rocked.

I passed by some Smuggler Gates along the way. They're of interesting design.

The remainder of the trip was completly uneventful until I arrived in C9N-GC. The system was completely deserted, and I keyed up a bit more info. In fifty jumps it had taken me to arrive she'd moved back to Evati. I cursed but discovered the wreck of a titan in system. I visited it.




In AZN-DZ, which was an unavoidable obstacle on my trip home, I noted a larger number of kills and pilots on the galaxy traffic maps. When I warped in, I discovered a huge camp on the gate I needed to travel through. I cloaked up and waited. Shortly the fleet moved, and I passed through. It was a simple waiting game. The path was clear for the rest of my trip back to Evati until the final piece of null-sec.

As I came out of warp on the Paala gate in LXQZ-T, I was almost seventy kilometers from the gate. I kicked on the microwarp drive and burned hard for the gate. A Manticore and Crow locked me and managed to place a warp disruptor on me. From what I understand these folks are more used to people cloaking when they run into trouble, and were probably better prepared for that instance. I was burning over thirty-five hundred meters a second towards the gate and actually jumped out just as their first volley passed through where my ship would've been and smacked off the gate. They were likely angry as my lowly rifter ran their gamut.

The trip back to Evati was alot more subdued and finally I was docked. I told the girl to go on her way, that she could find my friend in that station any time now. She thanked me and walked away.

A hundred and twenty jumps to end up back where I started.

Good day.

Diplomacy At The End Of An Autocannon

Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy.

Lloyd Bentsen - Bentsen/Quayle Vice Presidential Debate

Why smack talk at all? Is there a good result that comes from it? I've seen Mynxee put it to deadly effect in ways I normally wouldn't think about. If used effectively you can get folks to engage who might not have done so before. That is generally it's only use.

The problem is when people smack to vent anger and frustration. You're at your least witty when angry. Friends don't let friends smack angry. Once you do that, people know you're riled, and you're alot less effective at it. It's just a means to an end.

You've gotta have some wit about you, a bit of class, and for god's sake, spell correctly.

Lets examine the various types of smacktalk.

The most common of all leads off: Cursing. Anyone who can type can string together a line of expletives. It doesn't help you, if anything it indicates you are indeed pissed off. Don't do this. Once they know you're mad you've lost.

After that? Self Promotion. Lets be honest, plenty of people go around talking about how great they are. If you can't back it up this is a waste of time. It don't help much if you do it docked either.

Who cares about how many kills you have? It's not a big deal. Skill points? Nope. This is the basis for alot of the smack I see, and yet again, no one cares. Stats don't matter a tiny bit.

Challenging someone as a coward can be the most effective type of smack. Stay off yourself and start asking questions. Be nice about it. Invite them to show their strength, courage, intellect, whatever. But be nice about it. There's nothing more annoying and sincere sounding than a bit of passive aggressive kind smack.

Oh, and I know I mentioned this before but... for god's sake, spell correctly.

Good day.

The Measure: Prelude - Part Three

I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies
This is the dawning of the rest of our lives
On holiday
Green Day - Holiday

Eight Years Ago:

"Hallan, why?" The headmaster looked into Hallan's eyes as he spoke, but Hallan looked at the ground.

"I won, and that wasn't good enough for him," Hallan fidgeted in his seat.

"This is the Navy, not some schoolyard, you can't hit your teachers,"

"I apologize sir,"

"That really isn't good enough,"

"I understand sir,"

"I'm putting this incident in your file and there will be a hearing," The headmaster put his hand on the folder sitting in the middle of his desk, "Hallan, would you like to avoid a hearing?"

"Yes sir,"

"Hallan, you're pretty bright. When we did physical tests for entry, we came across a particularly odd result,"

"Sir?"

"We've put up with a lot from you for a reason. You can be a capusleer,"

"What does that mean?" Hallan leaned forward, interested.

"It means you resign from the Academy. We're contracting the work for pilots such as yourself out to some private corps better suited to handle it. Once you graduate their course, you'll automatically graduate from the Academy,"

"A pod pilot training corp?"

"Good Arms Incorporated. One of the best,"

"When do I leave?"

"Now,"

Stink. Stank. Stunk.

It's coming on Christmas
They're cutting down trees
They're putting up reindeer
And singing songs of joy and peace
I wish I had a river
I could skate away on.
Joni Mitchell - River

Celebration Day.

The only thing we know about it is that it originated with the Amarr. Every year since their history was first recorded the Amarr spend one day in celebration of family and the prophet. It's rumored that the origins of the day reach back to the Eve gate. The day has become one of feasting and charity.

The tradition used to include seating the slaves at the same table as their masters, but since the Minmatar rebellion, slaves are only given a day of rest and a full meal. The tradition of gift giving that has taken root in other cultures has slowly trickled back to the race that originated the holiday. While not an official part of the holiday, some Amarr have taken to giving gifts to their family members in celebration of family. Almost all practicing Amarr spend half of their day in Church for Celebration and listen to the traditional sermon. The religion has spread to other races through the Minmatar who were able to have some real freedom for a day.

The Amarr spread the holiday through their conquest to many different races, the greatest of which were the Minmatar. The Minmatar Republic celebrates the day a bit differently than their former masters, usually with entire communities coming together for a day. The only tradition for the day among the Minmatar is the complete lack of bread. Given how scant the concept of a "full meal" was to some Amarrian masters, the Minmatar at times were provided with just a loaf of bread each.

The Minmatar began the concept of gift giving that has taken full hold of the Caldari and Gallente. They usually gave just homemade gifts, sometimes a valuable item they'd been able to hide from their masters. The gifts are never extravagant. The Gallente and the Caldari have managed to take the gift giving to another level, and the original meaning of the holiday has become somewhat obscured as the other races adapted it. Next to the Amarr empire, the largest non-Republic Minmatar population live in the Gallente Federation.

The Minmatar don't just comprise a huge segment of the population of the Gallente Federation, they are a political and cultural force to be reckoned with. The Gallente quickly moved to adopt Celebration Day, and the day has become one of gift giving and feasting. The Quafe corporation has even taken up official sponsorship of the holiday. A few of the same holo-vids make their way on the airwaves every year, and the Gallente Federation holds numerous parades to celebrate the day. The Caldari, and Ishukone Corporation in particular, found the consumerism inherent in the Federation holiday to be particularly profitable.

The Ishukone corporation has always been the most pro-Gallente of the Caldari Megacorps, and it's transplant from Gallente culture of Celebration day is among it's most profitable concepts. The gift giving of the holiday has been elevated to almost religious significance to the Caldari and those who do not receive a gift in Caldari culture consider it to be a slight.

Celebration Day has transcended, in a short time, the barriers of language and nationality to be a true galaxy wide holiday. The Amarr take pride in the fact that their holiday is celebrated in the farthest reaches of space, and take it as gods will that it has conquered where they have yet failed to tread.

Regardless of it's source, regardless of the why's, today we celebrate with our friends and family. Go out and have fun.

Good Day.

Do You Believe In Magic? #1

We are the champions - my friends
And we'll keep on fightin' till the end
We are the champions
We are the champions
No time for losers
'Cause we are the champions of the world
Queen - We Are The Champions

I got myself a singing ransom from a punisher. Enjoy.