We were privileged yesterday to be a part of our second’s art class. It was pretty cool, watching the kids interact with each other, year 6 kids (the oldest in the school, they have a “helper” system there), and the teacher.

I poured paint into ice-cream buckets, washed my hands half a dozen times, carried paintings to drying racks, and tried to stop our youngest from getting covered in said paint.

Other notable events included my discovery that everything in Rapture was not as I thought. Andrew Ryan was not the big bad guy. Love the story-telling that has happened in this game. It’s very cool.

Now that we’re at the tail-end of holidays, the impending return to work seems more, less-distant (how bout that gramma for you). I’ve had a fantastic week off, and am very grateful for that.

Have had an idea. To keep me writing once a day on the blog, I’m going to continue the “Day #x - Title” thing we’ve got going on here. When I miss a day, the count resets back to zero. I’ll start over again to distinguish between the holiday meme and the blog-day meme, or whatever it should be called.

Fare thee well, and happy weekend-ing for everyone!

Wow, just watched the season 3 finale for Bones and an episode of Heroes season 3.

Zach was the apprentice. Crazy. How did it happen? I mean, what did the guy use to appeal to Zach, to bring him onto that path. Am hoping season 4 (which is a fair way along in the States, maybe finished) will give us some more info on that.

And then, Heroes was mind-blowing, as per the last few episodes. Peter’s Dad has arrived, and just took/stole/leeched? Peter’s powers. Very cool.

So today was another great day. We recorded the voices for episode 3 of The Plastic Detectives. Now I’ve got the pieces, just have to put them together.

Am getting caught back up into Eldest again.

That’s about it for the moment.

Had Session tonight, so am totally bushwacked. Brain fried.

Our third had her first orientation today at school for next year. Was a strange experience, for her, and for us. Came away wanting to be more involved with the P&C. Not sure if that will pan out though.

In a switcheroo from a previous post, talking about Eragon and pacing, I’m finding it hard going in Eldest. It’s probably just me.

Had a burrito today so packed with beef and rice and kidney beans that I think I’m good now for the week.

Hoping to finish the third episode of Plastic Detectives tomorrow. We’ll see.

Haunting music plays through crackling speakers. Water flows, hypnotic in it’s ripples. Lush vegetation sprawls through the area.

You hear a mother talking to her baby. Singing a lullaby.

Quickly, I ready my camera and move as close as possible, snapping right as the woman turns.

This is Bioshock.

So today, because of my six month deal, I re-discovered another gem of a computer game. Bioshock. It’s been sitting in my Steam list for a while. I got through about a quarter, maybe less.

Have been having a blast with it.

We played some great sessions of Sword and Skull today. Went a lot further than before. The kids are really loving the interaction, decision making, rolling of dice.

Have to get some other board/dice games.

The kids have created this game in the back yard (could be played anywhere, kind of). We’ve got a mega tub of big chalk pieces. Whoever is “in” takes a piece, and runs around the yard writing a series of numbers, let’s say 1 to 5. The other people are inside.

The object is for the seekers to find each of the numbers, preferably in order, although it usually degenerates. Once the numbers get past about 15, it becomes harder to recognise them, even after changing the color of the chalk. Particularly when the locations are forgotten by those who drew them.

Was a wonderful day. Looking forward to what the rest may bring.

The last computer game I bought was Depths of Peril, back in June (2008). It’s only 4 months, but I can honestly say it feels a LOT longer.

Back then, I made a decision. Games would only be bought every six months. This included not only my precious PC games, but also Wii and DS (those are the current consoles we’ve got. N64 and XBox didn’t really figure into my estimation :).

For the first couple of months, it was easy. There were no games that called. Then, last month, the Enhanced Edition of The Witcher came out for download (had the original). This allowed me to take a break from working late nights for a while.

It’s November, and the exciting games are mounting up. The World of Goo. Sacred 2. Fable 2 (although not having an XBox 360 helps there). The second Penny Arcade Adventure. Wrath of the Lich King is almost here. The list goes on.

There’s one month left to go. It’s going to be hard. Especially considering this week is holidays for me.

I haven’t talked about _why_ I’m limiting myself (and the family) to buying every six months. That’s for another post. But I’ll finish asking the question:

Is money the only reason you limit your Computer Game buying?

Rest is hard. Proper rest. Not lazy vegetating, but true rest. I spent most of the day NOT thinking about work, salary or otherwise.

It’s always a different matter when you read a series of books in a row (or at least a few of them), as I’m doing with Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle.

Eragon made a big splash as a movie a while back, at least in my memory. I’m finding the books (a good way into the second book, Eldest) quite a good read. Easy, excellent momentum, and full of imaginative story-telling.

When I think about other authors, Raymond E. Feist springs to mind. It could be the map, and the Elves being at the top, and the fact that Eragon is about to meet the Elves in the section I’m reading at the moment.

This evening, early while the light was good, I shot the outside scenes for the third Plastic Detectives episode. It’s going to be a cracker, at least, I’m excited :).

Will do the rest of it tomorrow hopefully, along with the recording, and possibly the editing and release. All depends on how the motivation goes, and outside disturbances like wrestling with the kids, or eating food.

Watched an excellent episode of Bones tonight. Seeley gets shot at the end, the very end. It’s such a good show. All the characters are like gems, revealing more with each turn of the sun.

That’s a wrap.

We had an excellent worship service this morning. The sermon was taken from Matt 5:27-30, looking at sex as heaven and hell.

One point in particular I thought was excellent.

Sex will not of itself produce the reality to which it points.

The reality is, in summary, that we wish to be fully loved, accepted and known.

We had friends over for lunch, so the still newish bbq got a workout. Woolies had porterhouse steaks on a big special, plus some beef snags.

All in all, some good eating was had.

Lastly, because I’m missing out watching the end of the new Frost episode, Prison Break will no longer be in my taping/watching schedule. I started watching tonight, and really, it was ordinary. I loved the first season. But this, season 4, is getting ridiculous. I’m happy to suspend disbelief, but Michael just seems to be over-acting more with each passing scene.

Course, I’m not an actor, so have no real basis to ground that on.

Tomorrow, the fun begins. My Todo list awaits :)

Because the All-Blacks play the Ref better.

Because they niggle better, despite Stephen Moore doing a standup job.

Because Richie McCaw is too good (and if you know how much I’m a fan of George Smith, you’ll know that’s a pretty hard statement for me to make).

I’m going to chronicle my week of holidays. So we’re beginning with a Saturday, as many things do.

This morning started early. Took my eldest swimming. He’s really coming along well. School lessons give him the technical, and I just try and cement that a little more.

Last time I was shocked to find, after finishing the time with the eldest, that two laps completely blew my steam.

I’ve been running and walking between 15 and 30 kms every week for a couple of months now. I’m not _fit_ like a Wallaby, but am a lot better than what I was.

This morning I went for six laps (fifty meter pool). And felt a lot better. Laughable I know. Back at school playing waterpolo, I would have looked at myself and wondered how the whale could keep afloat. Well, maybe not a “whale”. Heh.

Am reading a couple of books. Other than going slowly through “A Game Of Thrones“, there’s “Eragon” plus book 2, and then “Digital Fortress” by Dan Brown.

Eragon has rocketed to the place of read-everywhere. Over halfway through, and I’m hooked. Most captivating and simple fantasy I’ve read in a long time.

The last element of my Day #1 to mention is that the beginnings of our first “game” were laid. Plastic army men, big plastic connect blocks, a pair of dice and a super ball. That’s all I’ll say for the moment. It’s at such a rudimentary stage that things will most likely change a lot. But it was fun.

Especially at the end, well, this caused the end, when our littlest one dropped his big new “water” ball on top of everything, scattering half my fort. We all collapsed laughing, even I did, after the initial shock of painful “mass” defeat.

Tomorrow is Church and then friends coming for lunch. I’m hoping to get some more of The Plastic Detectives Episode 3 done in the afternoon. Shooting and recording are underway.

Oh, and yes, we watched the Wallabies lose in Honkers. Must have been a sweltering time for them.

• RT @stilgherrian Today’s strange weather in Sydney is brought to you by the letters “C” and “O” and the number “2″ (url).
• Author: @aDB
• /listening to Russ is like watching the 1960’s version of Batman. Biff! Pow!<g>
• Author: Mark Riffey
• Having a great camera moment with my youngest last night.
• Reading this post.
• Author: Paisano
• We have such a blessing in our kids. Make the most of them! They bring Bits of Happy in the most unexpected places. And the expected ones too :).

Who is Rach?

Rach is one of the coolest people you will ever meet.

I’m not just saying that because she is my best friend. Nor is it just because we have been married for ten awesome years. Nor still is it just because she’s the most amazing mother of our four kids.

Why should you care?

If you catch her on Twitter, there’s every chance you’ll have one of the funniest and memorable conversations in your day.

Her tweets showcase what is best about Twitter. They are not self serving, nor, like most of mine, are they attempting to get people to talk by linking blog posts or pictures or topics that are in flux.

Rach writes real. It’s not fake. That’s something special in our world of quick follows and social-media plasticity.

A Game Of Thrones, Sansa 2 (Chapter 30)

Image via Wikipedia

Gregor Clegane is such a massive character. From the moment he was introduced, I was intrigued. It’s the way GRRM paints him. So .. BIG.

It gets better as the story goes on. There’s a passage where GRRM talks about the tall men in the Seven Kingdoms, I think perhaps Catelyn’s pov. From my recollection, which may be wrong, it’s the Mountain who towers over all.

You know, it might be in ASOS, where Tyrion is watching the Red Viper and The Mountain go at it. Hmmm.

EDIT: It’s the very next chapter after Sansa’s, where Ned is the POV, and he convinces Robert not to enter the Melee.

But in this chapter, the first time we are introduced to Clegane, it’s Sandor that gives us the best insight into his brother. I mean, the chapter’s got so much in it, this isn’t a major point, but it’s a point.

Gregor works a little off-center. Kiltered. He pushed his brother’s face into a brazier because he stole a toy. And throughout the series there isn’t any “redemption” of him. He’s not misunderstood. He’s not even like Jaime or Sandor, who have unapologetically done henious acts, but are on the road to some kind of change.

Ha ha, I guess that’s wrong though. Gregor has been changed. Anyway.

Who is ChattyDM?

About three weeks ago, exploring deep into an ancient Mayan temple as I do every September, I came across a scroll. It was old. Old and older. A prophesy of great power. It said .. That Phil and I were actually long lost brothers, bound by chords of nerdery and geekness far stronger than mere mortal friendship.

Ahem.

Chatty (Phil Menard) started his blog, Musings of a Chatty DM, back in July 2007. Here’s his first post, Blogging or bugging my friends? That’s just over a year ago, and he’s already amongst the premier Role-Playing Game blogs in the world.

What does Chatty do on his blog? I’ll tell you in his own words:

I like to talk about D&D, Tropes, Coolness in RPGs, my current campaign (Prep and journal), my geeky thoughts and my poking at the Crunch and Fluff of my favorite RPG.

Chatty is a guy who will further your imagination. He’s a compassionate Dad who’s passion for story-telling flows out into all facets of his online (and offline, given posts like this).

• I met Chatty on Twitter.
• He’s also just landed on FriendFeed.
• There’s a very cool comic blog, updated infrequently, called Suburban Overlord.
• Lastly, Chatty Studios is the portal for his Kobold Love project.

Why should you care?

Stories are universal, regardless of whether you play Role-Playing Games. Chatty understands the art of _telling_ stories. He’s open and friendly and has a great sense of humor.

That’s why you should care. Because stories are part of our fabric, both individually and collectively.

Chris Brogan gave me the thumbs up to post on DadOMatic, which I just did now, here. It’s a fantastic site, something that struck a chord in me the first article/post I read. Awesome stuff!

The script for the 3rd episode of The Plastic Detectives is coming along. It’s putting aside singular time to do it that’s the problem.

Am working on the first flash game for the The Plastic Detectives site. “Working” means at the moment I’ve thought about it, installed FlashDevelop, and done a couple of tutorials.

I’m working on something new too. Not sure what will come of it. A couple of things I’ve tried to solve is modelling “Relationships” and some other customer relationship functionality.

Oh, and I’ve been successfully walking and running 5 kms each way to my salary work for the last two weeks. Walking TO work, and running FROM work. Heh heh.

Two posts I’ve just read (thanks to Lindsay for posting them on FriendFeed) have sparked my mind into action.

1. Do you know any programmers that exhibit these personality traits?

2. How to get the most out of your Eccentric Programmer/”Genius”

Lispy, the author, seems like a cool dude. The blog is very minimalist.

 

To get a full understanding, read both of the articles in that order, and be sure to at least scan the comments.

But for those who don’t want to, let me sum up for you.

• The first article listed a bunch of personality traits. I imagine for most programmers, at least half of these traits are easy to identify with. I did with most of them.
• The comments in the first article are mostly people saying “Wow! Stop following me!” I’m in observational mode, not judgemental with this statement.
• The second article goes further into ramifications of the personality traits. Real life examples, more stark warnings and subtle messages.
• The comments in the second article take a turn. From the beginning there is opposition. One of them follows:

  • Bruce Says:   
    August 28, 2008 at 1:37 pm
    I call shenanigans. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’re all misunderstood geniuses. Right.

    In 20+ years of working in this industry I’ve never met anyone like this who I’d describe as a genius. Generally, the real words that come to mind are “pain in the ass”, “loser”, “loose cannon”, “unreliable”, and “dangerous”. This guy kills teams, code, and projects stone dead. If you find someone like this on one of your teams, terminate with extreme prejudice.

The comments really add so much to these particular discussions. Especially the second one. The starkness of perception.

This kind of person is me.

This kind of person is a mad scientist (genius and misunderstood).

This kind of person is bad news.

I’m not a misunderstood genius programmer. Sure, I exhibit these traits. But there’s another side.

Looking through these articles, a lot of what is said strikes a chord. But then, a lot doesn’t.

Here’s the breakdown. It’s a little egotistical to write a post looking at myself, but my point was to highlight the the similarities and differences with the above articles contents. The other side.

YES! You Must Have Been Spying On Me!

• I’m absolutely idea driven. And like was said in the posts above, my dreams are my reality. A project will consume almost every waking thought.
• I have half a dozen big ideas floating around my head at the same time. In combination with Problem #1, this means my brain is fighting for time to give each of them
• The idea, the initial creation, is exciting. The implementation, the building, is hard. A large trail of “awesome” projects is littered behind my feet, shelved in pursuit of the next one.
• Sometimes my kids will have to ask me a question ten (and more) times before my mind will snap into gear and _listen_ to them. I will have been solving a problem or expanding a feature in my latest project.
• In arguments, I will hone in and be merciless and ruthless in pointing out the logical imperfections. I will then turn around and be completely honest about my intentions. I will use logical imperfections in arguments, because I know what they are, and the power that they hold.
• I love to create. I’ve written stories since I could write. I’m learning to branch out into other mediums of storytelling than just a pen and paper. I’ve also spent a few months drawing comics, learning how to use GIMP. Been writing songs since I learnt to play the guitar, over fifteen years ago. Have started a bunch of blogs throughout the last few years, and then let most of them go.

NO! That’s not me!

• I’m in a wonderful, stable, exciting and committed relationship with my beautiful wife.
• I’m father to four amazing kids, and we bind our family together every day we are together.
• Presence, not just with the family, but in the totality of my relationships, is very important to me. I’m far from good at it, but it is part of my life. (Read this post at Dadomatic about Presence, it sparked my  understanding a bit more)
• Responsibility is a big part of my life. And was previous to me getting married and having kids. Responsibility to my friendships, to my family.
  • I got beaten up a lot  in year five, after we moved interstate. I was an annoying kid, a preacher’s kid, and I couldn’t understand why people just didn’t _like_ me.
  • My folks signed me up to boxing lessons at the Police Boys Club. After the first week I _hated_ (and if you know me, “hate” is too strong a word, “dislike” is more appropriate, heh) it. Absolutely did not want to go back. My Dad was immovable. I bent first, and became far stronger for the experience. It was a very important lesson for me. Commit. See it through to the end.
  • Although it sounds a little out of place, this lesson taught me a lot about being responsible in relationships. Let my yes be yes. If I say I’ll do something, then I should do it.
• Discipline. Daily Disciplines. Experiential Disciplines. Random Disciplines.
  • Daily: Each day there are things I do the same. Quiet times. Reading feeds. Time with kids. Time with beautiful half. Exercising. Teaching the kids.
  • Experiential: Looking someone in the eyes when talking. Asking questions AND listening. Apologising when I’ve caused a problem, when I’ve said something stupid, when I’ve done a wrong thing.
  • Random: Helping people on the street, on the road, in the shops.
• Grace.
  • None of the above would be possible without Grace. I’m a christian. Jesus Christ is my King. He has saved me from death and hell. From what I deserve for my sin. That’s Grace.
  • It works out in every aspect of my life. Every bit of ME wants to forget about taking time in prayer at the end of the night. I’m tired. I’ve just coded for hours straight, or played a game for hours straight, or read till three in the morning. Every bit of ME wants to put my headphones on and return to the project. To immerse myself, and not have to drag my brain into reality.
  • I know someone who is ME down to the model airplanes from early teenage years. Except he’s the opposite. He can’t commit to a relationship. He has no control over his emotions, especially his anger and lust. He’s out of relationship with his family.
  • I’m only able to do these things because of grace. Cause left to my own, I’d be on the same road. Please, even if you are opposed Christianity and the idea of Grace, understand what I’m saying:

On my own I would be a Mad Scientist (not genius) Programmer. But I’m not alone.

Thanks for reading this far. The post kind of veered, creating a new road. Hopefully it has sparked some thought in you. I hope some good conversation will come of it.

Do your personality traits rule you?

I’ll take some photos of the rest of the kid’s drawings for later posts.

Enjoy!