Hey! I'm in the process of moving house!  For two weeks, you'll be subject to pre-written and scheduled posts.  They're likely to be short, as I'm pressed for time writing two weeks worth of blog posts out.  Please forgive me! I promise I still love you.

Good morning, Readers!

So, since I'm in a new place and I'm currently unpacking like a fiend.  Because of all the stress of the move, plus unhappy family news, I've decided to keep the next scheduled posts light and silly.  To that end...

Does anyone else ever develop very strange crushes?  When I say strange, I mean on people that don't actually exist, be it in books, movies, or video games.  Because I do... a lot.  It's really quite embarrassing to admit, more so because I'm past thirty-years-old at this point, and it's still happening.

I know I'm not the only one.  So, for the remainder of my pre-scheduled posts, I'll be profiling one of these crushes.  These ones are all from video games.  You get to explore my weird, weird brain.

So first up...

Okay, so, this character is described as being in his late forties or early fifties.  He's a survival specialist, going the distance in a world filled with mindless monsters, and very mindful monsters.  He's cold, calculating and capable of extreme brutality; even resorting to torture.

He develops a close fatherly bond with Ellie, another character in game.  In fact, this bond is really the only indication that there's anything remotely human left in him.  It died, I think, with the murder of his young daughter at the onset of the plague that devastated humanity.

The fact of the matter is, Joel is a very complex, wonderfully written character who is actually quite a scary person, if you think about all the shit he's done just to stay alive.  They allude to some of his darker moments in game, but because he's becomes so fiercely, heartwarmingly protective of Ellie, you find yourself empathising with him a great deal.

In the end, you even celebrate a decision he makes that is exceptionally selfish and may well just condemn the whole human race to slow, painful extinction.

Perhaps, quite tellingly, as a character in a video game. I love his darker side.  I love the capable, cold killer side and how it exists in the same person as the warm, fatherly side.  I love that the writers made him complex and more than - or less than - a stereotypical good guy.

As a "person," his protectiveness of his young charge makes my heart hurt, even if it ultimately it and his selfishness pretty much condemns humanity.

In short, in the event of a survival situation, I would want this brute on my team.  Also, purely on a shallow level, this man is hawt!  I mean, early fifties or not, I would...

For these reasons, Joel from The Last of Us is today's video game crush.

Agree?  Disagree?  Leave your opinions below!

Hey! I'm in the process of moving house!  For two weeks, you'll be subject to pre-written and scheduled posts.  They're likely to be short, as I'm pressed for time writing two weeks worth of blog posts out.  Please forgive me! I promise I still love you.

Sonia

Good morning, Readers!

Moving day is almost here.  I'm stressed (probably), but also excited.  Hopefully everything will be awesome.  Looking forward to the new place, though.  It is currently 2:00 am at the time of writing this, and I should really get to sleep.  Here's a beautiful picture to start the day:

Ciao!

Hey! I'm in the process of moving house!  For two weeks, you'll be subject to pre-written and scheduled posts.  They're likely to be short, as I'm pressed for time writing two weeks worth of blog posts out.  Please forgive me! I promise I still love you.

Sonia

Good morning, Readers!

So, it's Wednesday, I'm four days from moving and probably a wreck.  I wouldn't know, really, as I'm writing this ahead of time.  Judging by how I feel about change in general, though, I'm probably a wreck.

I haven't much to discuss with you, except to say that I'm really very proud of my current digital painting work in progress.  I posted what I had to Facebook on Friday, thinking that I'd have time to finish it during this week... except I won't because I'll be away from my computer all of this week and next and so won't actually be finished the piece until three odd weeks from now.  It makes me sad, but it does mean that I can share with you what I've got so far without feeling much guilt.

Seriously, guys, I'm excited about this one.  It turned out better than I could have hoped.

I cannot wait to show you all the finished piece!

Right, I'm off to do more packing.

Ciao!

Hey! I'm in the process of moving house!  For two weeks, you'll be subject to pre-written and scheduled posts.  They're likely to be short, as I'm pressed for time writing two weeks worth of blog posts out.  Please forgive me! I promise I still love you.

Sonia

Good morning, Readers!

I'm packing furiously.  To music.  Speaking of music, here is a single from Two Steps From Hell, one of my favourite modern composing teams.  The song is epic and I can't stop listening to it.  Enjoy!

Back to packing I go!

Ciao!

Hey! I'm in the process of moving house!  For two weeks, you'll be subject to pre-written and scheduled posts.  They're likely to be short, as I'm pressed for time writing two weeks worth of blog posts out.  Please forgive me! I promise I still love you.

Sonia

Good morning, Readers!

So, this weekend, five friends and I attempted one of the rooms in Ottawa's Escape Manor.  What is that?  Well, here, let this explain:

For those of you who play games, it's essentially a live action Myst.  That is to say, a room with a bunch of puzzles.  You must solve the puzzles in order to acquire the key and escape the room.

We did very well.  Very well indeed.  We were not successful, but we were inputting the last code into the last lock in order to acquire the key when the timer ran out.  Literally ten more seconds and we would have gotten out.

This, despite ourselves, really.  Of the people in the room, perhaps three worked well as a team.  I was not one of those three.  You see, I'm not a team player at all.  Not even a little bit.  Given the first opportunity, I would wander off and start doing my own thing... which is precisely what I did.  Granted, I did solve a number of puzzles that way, but it wasn't conducive to any kind of order in the group.  In fact it was chaos.

This, I know, was quite frustrating to more than one member of the group; largely because I was not the only person to do it.

And the thing is, I didn't even notice how badly I strayed, or how chaotic the room was precisely because I'm so used to working in isolation.  I disappear into my own mind, which is working a mile a minute, and bouncing between different puzzles so fast, I could barely keep track myself.

Now, that's not a bad way to start out, but I failed to lead well also, and what ended up was a bunch of people talking over one another with no real direction.  I should have taken the reigns more, since I booked the group and even assured everyone that if anyone got too out of hand, I'll lay down the law.  I didn't lay down the law... mostly because I was so busy doing my thing, trying to follow thoughts that were bouncing all over the place, that I didn't even notice how chaotic it all was.

I feel vaguely responsible for the lack of success, because I'm such a terrible leader.  Even though we were close.  SO DAMNED CLOSE!  Literally, we were almost there.

Dear people who may lead me in the future, just point in a direction and set me loose.  That's how I work.

That said, despite my frustration, this was the most fun I've had in ages.  I demand more.  In fact, I had so much more, I'm planning another night in December when the gang will get back together again.  This time around, I will be giving everyone a role.

Because I'm such a scatter-brain, the organisational role will be going to the Amazing Flatmate.  She excels at the logical thinking stuff and can corral cats, I swear.  The rest of us can flounder around until we find something!

In all seriousness this was crazy fun, and I can't wait to do it again.  If you're in the Ottawa area, I cannot recommend this enough.  Best $21.00 I've ever spent!

Good morning, Readers!

Today is the birthday of my little brother.

He is one of the coolest, most laid back people I know, and I'm so very proud of him.  He works for UbiSoft here in Canada... which ups his coolness by a factor of a thousand or so.  He's fun, funny, clever, generous and absolutely wonderful company.  I heart him to pieces.

He also adults far better than I.

Yeah...

I don't want to get too mushy, so I'll leave it with this:

Christo, you're one of the best people I know.  I admire you so much, from your extraordinary levels of patience to your unfailing good humour and your incredible work ethic.  You're everything anyone could wish for in a brother.  I love you!

Right, now I'm done being soppy.  I'm going to go learn some Welsh now.

Ciao!

Good morning, Readers!
\
First thing's first, I did a quick interview on a friend's blog.  You can read it HERE if you like.  And while you're there, please give Tanya a follow on all her social medias!

Now that is out of the way...

It seems like just yesterday that I was gushing about how proud of my friend Jen I was, because she is now officially a published game designer?

Oh wait... that was yesterday.

Lame jokes aside, the game is just cool.  It's called Blush: A Card Game and it is designed to be a sex ed. learning and teaching tool.  I'm so looking forward to seeing this game once it's out.  For now, however, Jen is looking to answer some of your sex ed. questions.  She's even set it up so you can ask anonymously for, you know, those really embarrassing or weird questions.

Please go here to ask your question anonymously!  I think she is planning to answer them in blog posts, but I might be mistaken on that front.

In other news, is Facebook screwing around with anyone else's page "likes" numbers?  It's been bouncing between 307 and 308 for the past few days, but I've received no new notifications about likes.  It's weird.  I was just wondering if others had the same issue.

Maybe I just keep pissing one person off and they unlike and then like again for some reason.  Who knows?

In writing news, I broke the 90 000 word mark on Daughters of Britain two days ago, and there is still a bunch of story left to write. WHY YOU USE SO MANY WORDS, STORY?!  By the way, I want the interrobang back, please.  It's such a handy piece of punctuation.  I'm annoyed, because now I'm going to have to edit a whole whack of stuff out.  I hate doing that.

That, alas is the nature of the manner in which I write; which is to say, word vomit.  It really is.  I just spew words onto a page to get the story out of my head and clean it up later.

Don't write like this if you can possibly avoid it.  It's messy and you have to spend ages cleaning up afterwards.

Alright, alright.  I'm done whinging.  Off to practice my Welsh.

Ciao!