MyGeekLife

Yesterday, my new computer finally arrived, after a week of waiting (and a bit of buyer’s remorse.) Today, I’ve spent most of the morning/afternoon setting it up… but wait, it’s tuesday, tuesdays are usually reserved for Meep/Mr. Geeklife days of fun. Notso today. I’ve been allowed to pretty much coop myself up in my room setting this thing up.

So, what did I do last night/this morning?

1. I took apart my 9 year old G4. (a bit bittersweet, but it is back in it’s cave, just sitting there.)
2. I dusted my desk and peripherals. It was gross…
3. I attempted to unravel the rats nest that pretty much had accumulated due to my futile attempts at keeping said 9 year old G4 up to date.
4. I plugged in the G4 and Targeted it without a monitor.
5. I excitedly got the 27″ iMac out of the box.
6. I started plugging everything in and started it up… BOOOONG!
7. As much as I dislike the “welcome music”, i sat through it and watched it like it was my first time seeing it.
8. I/it began to migrate my data from the Ole G4 to the New iMac. (it took about 2 hours. (that’s it!)
9. I ran software updates.
10. Went to bed around 3am.

11. Woke up around 10am.
12. Started working again on setting this up… primarily consolidating files.
13. Moved iTunes library and updated iPhoto and Mail.
14. Resynced my iDisk.
15. Ran to Bridgeport to exchange the wrong monitor adapter so I can span my screen.
16. Finishing up minor settings.

All while watching episodes of Futurama.
This iMac is huge, my desk is beautiful and my wacom tablet finally works perfectly!
I’m a happy geeky girl.

Lets just come out and say it. In the world of digital entertainment, I’m a gamer. I enjoy video games. I always have. Way back in the day when we had shit like Intellivision, and Nintendo’s Game & Watch, I was playing games based on digital content. Over the course of my life, I’ve had:

The original NES, multiple controllers, and hundreds of games

A Sega Saturn, and tons of games

A Playstation, games duh.

Multiple PS2′s

A Sega Dreamcast

An Xbox

An Xbox 360

The original Gameboy

Gameboy color

Gameboy Advance

Sony’s PSP

a Neo-Geo Pocket

And those are the systems I remember putting decent time into. I think I also had a super nintendo, and an N64, somewhere in the mix. And not to put too fine of a point on it, but I also happen to have done my time working for the Electronics Boutique (EBX/EB/EBGAMES/GameStop) during college, in order to put food on the table. Yes, I qualify as a gamer. However, I wouldnt call myself a zealous gamer. Yes, when I worked in game retail, I did my share of midnight launches for consoles and games. It was fun and an adventure. However, I was being paid to be there. Since then, I think I went to one midnight launch. GTA IV. I needed GTA IV. Grand Theft Auto has been a staple of my gaming lexicon for a decade. It was important. Since then, I’ve picked up stuff later on, or through Gamefly. My recent attention getters, Mass Effect 2, and Borderlands, were both from Gamefly. It wasnt until Red Dead Redemption, that I actually hunted down a game on launch day (Thank you Fry’s!)

In the last couple months though, I’ve watched the Missus. She went from casually watching me play, to wanting to watch me play, to being excited to see me move through a game. Then, she decided it was her turn. Being not dumb, I handed her the controller and said, “Okay, so play.” I had no idea what to expect. Maybe she’d like it, maybe she’d have a fleeting fascination with it. Who could have known?

In the beginning, M struggled a bit with controlling a first person shooter. She had trouble with the concept of looking and moving at the same time. But she enjoyed the gameplay and the challenge of it. Over time, she really liked Borderlands. She grew into it, and even co-oped with me in multiplayer. Then she finished the base game by herself. Then she started in on The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned. She kept talking about wanting an Xbox360 of her own. So we found her a good deal. When she opened it up and set it up, configured it, got her an xbox live account, and so on, she was giddy with excitement. When we got her the Borderlands strategy guide, she hugged it as we walked around frys.

Today, we went to GameStop. She traded in two old games, and picked up her own copy of Borderlands, and Lego Indiana Jones. I picked up the component cable for her system, for hi-res graphics. She was awash in video gaming and loving it. She couldnt wait to get home and get it all put together. Once all was said and done, she killed, while I made dinner. Then, we settled in to watch netflix on the Xbox after dinner.

My girlfriend has discovered modern gaming. She likes a first person shooter. She wants to play the Lego games, and she’s voiced an interest in playing Red Dead Redemption. She’s excited by the interactivity, the story lines, and the adventures contained therein. Its a good thing.

I wonder though. Was I ever this excited by video games? Some of my favourites, I played endlessly. But I dont know if I ever got excited. Hellcats Over The Pacific, Sim City 2000, Bushido Blade, Colony Wars, GTA3, The Wip3out series, the Tony Hawk series, Monkey Island, the other lucas arts games. I vested hours, days, weeks, into these games. I enjoyed them greatly. But I dont know if I ever truly got super excited. In a sense, I look back on them in similar fashion to books I’ve read, that I loved. I fondly remember GTA3, with the same affection of William Gibson’s Neuromancer. I think back on the Monkey Island adventures, in the same way I remember Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. I could equate my fond memories of Rudy Rucker’s cyberpunk novels to the same fond memories I have of the original Medal of Honor games. I could even equate my love of Kirkman’s The Walking dead to my continuous enjoyment of the series of WipeOut games over time.

But I cant move to say excitement is the right word. More along the lines of quiet enjoyment. I quietly enjoyed sitting in my chair, playing the game, much like I enjoyed reading the book. Sure, the parallel is a little loose, but in some sense the narratives were there in the games, as much as they were there in the stories. The books created a frame of mind, a mental construct with an emotive content. I can say that the games too have given me that frame of mind, and the mental construct with an emotive content.

As I nurture M’s gaming hobby, I can only hope that she derives the same kind of enjoyment out of the games that I have. Likewise, I can only hope that developers keep putting out games that are as rich and immersive, and pull her in, as the games I’ve played over the years.

Games are good. Gaming is good. And I support the healthy inclusion of video games into human existence. Be them violent, or not.

meep, melew, megz legz, meg, my o’ meg, megmeg, aunt megmeg, megT, tee, meg o’ my heart, megamania (never call me that!), duracell, hazel… these are just a few of the many nicknames i have been given over the years.

the ones i hold most dear are the ones that have been bestowed upon me by loved ones… i suppose that would be all of them.

but anyway, hi! i’m meep.

i am very much a geek (or i wouldn’t be dating mr. mygeeklife)
i went to bradley university in illinois to study graphic design
i graduated from both high school and college in the mid to late 90s.
i’m a boomeranger (i moved home after college and again in my late 20s)
i tried being a vegetarian for awhile, then moved home.
i love to cook
i also love to bake cookies
i’m primarily a beer drinker, but enjoy my weekly taboo at thatch.
i love hostess twinkies (a guilty pleasure, yes.)
i enjoy working out at the gym, especially early in the morning.
i love to sleep.
i (recently found that i) love sonic cheeseburgers (omg!)
i love the color green (in almost all shades/tints/highlights)

but most of all, i love my hart. it’s great that i get to date my best friend.

of course the long and sordid history (hee hee!) of how we managed to not screw it up is a story for another time. right now, i must sleep. class is at 6am tomorrow morning, not to mention the hour of cardio afterwards… g’night!

Yesterday, my relationship hit the 6 month mark. I’ve been with this amazing girl, in a relationship, for half a year now. I’ve known her way longer than that, but still the day bears noting. The picture doesnt do it justice. This smart, funny, talented woman picked me. Mind you she’s wearing my “Lime In The Coconut” shirt, holding a beer, and sitting next to a barbecue grill, but this is indicative of just a few of the things that make her Miss Awesome.

I honestly cant imagine being anywhere else, with anyone else. She makes sense, balances me out, and most importantly, she puts up with me when I’m tired, A.D.D., frustrated, sniffly, surly, and not at my best. She takes me as I am, even when I torment her with Mr. Jinx, the foul mouthed puppet I found at Target.

My amazing girl appreciates the nerd things in life. She appreciates why I enjoy video games, computers, and snowboarding. She understood my sentiment when for Valentines day, I gave her a circuit board heart, that I spent several hours soldering components to, so it would blink when she turned it on. She sees the intrinsic value in a twinkie, and knows why rubber chickens are funny. She road tripped all the way to Seattle with me, so I could go christmas shopping at Archie McPhee, because I love that place. She squeals and shoots back when I attack her with Nerf darts, yet wont walk more than ten feet with me without holding my hand. When I bought a winter coat, she repeatedly mentioned that I was handsome devil, while I struggled to find the words to tell her that I cant take my eyes off her.

As time passes, I lose a little more of my hair, and a little less of my stomach, yet she continues to get prettier. She appreciates my need to sit in front of the computer and read the news and my RSS feeds, and always smiles when I make her coffee, knowing that the only reason I keep a coffee maker and coffee in the house is because its for her. She’s keen on my moods and my nuances, and knows that when I’m having a bad day, surprising me with packets of hard to find kool-aid flavors will cheer me up. She chastises me for wanting that damned Boba Fett hoodie Mark Ecko sells, and then periodically asks me if I’m ever going to get it, because she knows how much I like it. She puts up with me when we go shopping, because I cannot leave a store without checking the toy aisle. She text messages me after work, to wake me up, so I can come downtown and have drinks with friends, because she knows that regardless of how tired I am, I need it, and she’s right. And of course, she almost never fails to be sitting next to me at the Tiki Bar on Fridays.

She professes an enjoyment in watching me play absorbing and sometimes violent video games, and then decides to play them herself. She’s discovered the stress relief of sitting in front of the tv and killing pixels. I let her order first at restaurants, and more often than not, she orders exactly the same thing I was going to order. In the car the other night, we both burped, at exactly the same time, in the same pitch, for the same amount of time.

She steals my old t-shirts, my snack cakes, my xbox controller, and most importantly, she’s stolen my heart. Every now and then, the internet topic “how to date a geek” pops up with tips for the ladies about how to find, date, and understand/keep a keep for a boyfriend. My girl needs no pointers, lessons, or tips. She has this topic nailed.

My girlfriend is pretty damned awesome. All of you motherfuckers should be jealous.

(Mr. Jinx still thinks he has a shot at winning her heart and stealing her away from me. The furry blue bastard is in for a fight. He may be the Muppet Show answer to Don Juan, but I saw her first.)

Today is my Saturday. Yes, Tuesday is my Saturday. I work Thursday through Monday. Weekend days off are a rarity, and I dont see them. Instead, I work the weekend, and have weekdays off. Luckily, The Missus™ also has the same days off. Its good to spend time with one’s girlfriend, at least once in a while.

So yes. Today has been my Saturday. It hasnt been crazy, but its been fun. I slept in, read the news, and goofed off with M. Then, after committing hygiene, we wandered through several of Portland’s better adult stores. Why? Just for the hell of it. We then made it to the Lloyd Center Mall (yux) where we wandered around looking at randomness. In the process, The Missus™ was rewarded with a bounty of new underwear from the great franchise underwear purveyor of the western hemisphere, Victoria’s Secret. This was a plus. While out, we also ducked into Hot topic. I remembered hating them for many years, due to the fact that they took my punk rock heritage and repackaged it for the mainstream masses. Anyone could now get unnatural hair dye, and spikes for their jackets. Curse them for making my rebellion main stream!

Today’s trip to Hot Topic however, was bittersweet revenge. Their inventory of stuff was crap. They sell no hair dye, most of their shit was marked down, they cater to mainstream culture and there were even t-shirts for country musicians on the wall. Hot Topic repackaged my rebellion in order to sell it to the masses. They themselves were then normalized and rendered irrelevant by the same faceless millions that they hoped to sell the rebellion to. What a waste. Hot topic isnt punk, industrial, or goth. They never were. Its a franchise retail brand that tried to be, and then catered to the masses when being punk and goth wasnt popular anymore. Oh, but Twilight is. Bullshit vampire knock offs are everything now. H.T. had an entire wall of that shit. In short, if you want a blue mohawk and spikes on your leather, go somewhere else. But if you want a Twilight snuggie, Hot Topic has you covered like a motherfucker.

Okay, so I needed to rant there. I see that now. I think I’ve made my point. Well, maybe I need to get in one or two more jabs. While in hot topic, M discovered the small stash of Invader ZIM stuff that Nickelodeon is still licensing, in order to milk money out of the aforementioned masses, in order to turn a profit off ten year old cartoons. She couldnt leave without purchasing an iphone case, earrings, necklace, beanie, and so on. If it makes her happy, I’m for it. Conversely, I’m sorry, Mister Scolex, at the pillaging of your creativity. Oh well.

Anyway, I also wandered into the local skate shop, and was disappointed there too. Is nothing from my younger years, the way I left it? Dammit. At least I was able to walk into Nordstroms and find my shaving soap. Yes, Nordstroms. I had to brave my way into a department store in order to purchase a $22 jar of shaving soap. Because I cant use aerosol shaving cream. Because all you morons dont know what quality is, and shave with crap. I buy quality shaving soap. Which means department stores. And scary, patronizing sales people. Are they always that plastic? Fucking creepy.

In the end, while I bitch, and wax poetic about how much I hated the mall, I realize that I spent the day with The Missus™, treated her to new undies, actually DID get my shaving soap, and even swapped out one of M.’s earrings without tearing her earlobe off. I’d call it a good day. Now? I’m going to make mac & beef, play some borderlands with my laydee, and look forward to another day off tomorrow. Nooch.

yeah, stuff...

She’s figured it out. She’s stuck with me. She’s embraced the horror. There’s no escaping now. She’s doomed, kept, owned, taken, and so on. She has no recourse. She is, yes…wait for it….Ms. Awesome.

For the hell of it. Ten years ago, I was living in Richmond, VA. I was slogging through college and working for E/B. I was in a rat hole apartment, broke, and fighting with Rachel.I didnt have a handle on my personal life, my professional life, a career, my relationship, or anything else for that matter. One could call it a low point. Ten years later, I’m in Portland, Working for MotherFruit, living in a pretty damned nice apartment, way less broke, and not fighting with Meg.

So, my goals since then…

1. Better town. Check!

2. Better job, and possibly a career. Check!

3. Better living space. Check!

4. Less debt, more income. Check!

5. Financial independence. Check!

6. The right girl. Check!

7. Still Snowboarding. Check!

8. Not dead. Check!

9. Apple Certified Macintosh Technician. Check!

10. Happy. Double Check.

I’m in a good place, with an amazing girl, doing what I love, surrounded by people I call friends. I have a busy and hectic life, thats pretty interesting, and a decent amount of fun. My Dad is gone, and so are all my grandparents. but my Mom is still here though, which is good. I could complain, but that would be stupid. I have it good, and my karma rewards me. I know this, and I dont take it for granted.

And, as of this writing, I’ve spent new years with good people. My mother text messaged me a photo from the Kennedy Center of her and my stepfather. I was so proud. I didnt even teach her how to do it. I replied with a picture of us. I think she was overjoyed to have an M&J photo.

Now, It sounds like meg is winding down and getting done for the evening. Time to find my girl, find a pillow, and call it a night. Here’s to a new year

So, I’m not going to bring things up to speed. I’m just going to recap slightly. After work last night, I hauled it up to Target, and dropped $60 on a humidifier. I’m tired of the winter air killing my sinuses. After setting it up and getting the world cleaned up a bit, I went to bed. It would seem that I slept pretty soundly last night, as M messaged me 3 times this morning, and I slept through them all. I didnt wake up until she rang the doorbell. So I’d call the humidifier a total win. I then got the chance to spend some morning time with my laydee. I say this because she’s given me permission to speak about her in the digital space. Since she’s no longer a banned subject, yes, I spent the morning with my girl. And of course, just as she’s heading for the bath, the doorbell rings a bunch. Its the UPS guy. I’d recognize how he rings the bell any day. I run to the door, and he’s gone, but as always, he’s left my package. The dude rocks.

I bring the box inside, and I open it up. What’s inside? A present from my five year old niece, my step-sister, and my brother in law. what did I get?

Lego Falling Water!

Yes, you see it correctly. I got FLR’s Falling water, in LEGO! I have the best niece (and her parents) ever.

Between my girlfriend, and one awesome christmas present, I cant lose this morning!

For someone who maintains an online writing presence, I’ve discovered, more and more, that I tend to be vague, and to speak in what may very well amount to riddles and other misdirections, in order to keep certain things within their pre-determined bounds. In short, there’s a ton that I could say, and that I want to say. But out of respect for others, I hold my tongue. Its not my place to hang laundry, so I choose not to. Bearing that in mind, here’s another post, chock full of nothing.

So yesterday and today have been somewhat down and up. Yesterday was a long day thanks to (CENSORED). 10AM to 10PM is a long shift. but there  was a decent interlude in the evening, which helped make it better. On the downside, I spoke to my mother and she passed along some disheartening news. Or rather, news that made me want to throw my phone and scream obscenities. I was rather upset about certain developments involving those I love and call family. I was particularly angry because I felt helpless. There was nothing I could do to help fix things. My protective instinct had no outlet, and it definitely burned me a little. I hope for the best though.

Today was definitely the up/rebound. Certain conversations were had and certain things were said that needed to be said, leading said participants in a positive direction. While this makes no sense other than, “A conversation took place,” it was positive, and I smiled for the rest of the evening. Someday, I may actually speak more on this subject, but I’m not at liberty to, and therefore I shan’t.

Now, its quiet in my kitchen, the rain and wind are howling outside, and I can hear the quiet tick of the fireplace as the metal backstop expands. One could aptly call it a dark and stormy night. Here in Portland, we get our fair share. In a bit, I’ll head for bed, falling asleep to the sound of the rain on the windows, most likely waking up tomorrow because the power has gone out. (its flickered several times this evening) At least I have the day off tomorrow. Tomorrow, a day filled with house cleaning and prepping for the arrival of my parents in 7 days time. Thanksgiving? I think so.