donderdag 12 februari 2009

Return from Paradise and new pupil


I've been neglecting my duties to all of you, my fans, to update my blog, so here it goes.

Though Paradise was creat for a while, in the end I longed back for honest work of Icemining.
When I was back to work, I did long for the sauna I had there, so go figure, one always wants what one doesn't have, eh?
Oh well.. after her tour was up, I hesitated for a while to take on a new pupil. Not that the end-benefits of training her hadn' t been nice and partially paid in some small manner to the persuit of the Orca, but because of the moral implications of taking advantage of such an honest... oh bugger this, I was lazy, okey?
But the corp had different plans. Just after the first pupil another was thrust onto me, with whom I landed into a fistfight only three days in. That was the end of that contract and as a reward, corp gave me a friggin' Galente to train!
I mean.. Galente! Really! Not only was she stubborn and obnoxious, she had such a strange smell on her, like she did wash, but used soap made out of stale eggs or such. She called it her perfume... well ladieda to her for me not liking the stuff. And she's a thief too, enjoys nothing more than to take other people's cans and salvaging their wrecks.

She did amaze me though...
After a week or such, Corp finally forked over the 200 mil that was needed to buy the Orca. Not that I myself hadn't mined the total amount by then, but to leave me with a sense that the Orca wasn't 'just mine', but I had to share with others. Well I don't play well with others... so my readers who know me from the start well know I recon.
But hey, about amazement: she did find the time to fill the Orca with just 3 tech 1 mininglasers... took her about 10 ours or so, I donno... I trailed off after a while, letting her do her thing, finally having time again to do my other important stuff like updating my weblog for instance... and doing a little interior decorating (putting up some walls, the Orca is BIG) to secure me some private space and also take a long rest in the sauna and steamroom I had put in. Hey... might as well use the room when I got it right? The secret compartment in which I built this the corp will never find anyway, it's not like they will notice 5 m3 missing from a 117k m3 hold and corp-hanger.

woensdag 11 februari 2009

Trouble in Paradise


I've been here a week now and I do have to note some things down, as not all is Paradisial, which is a word I have just cooked up but quite covers the load.

1. The intranet is slow, and hickups about every hour. I went to check on my protogee through my brought along mobile command unit and it froze. She at that time was just fighting rats, her systems froze and she lost her first Rifter. So I bought her a new one and checked in two days later. I watched her fight off some rats, it was quite beautiful, but the next batch... freeze, lag, boom... second Rifter. She kindly asked me not to check in on her until I was back. Now that's gratitude for ya...
2. Somehow they continuesly run out of wine, though it's free and I should think they would have a good supply line.
3. The bathtub is just a little too small for comfort for three. (you heard me).
4. It's at least fifteen minutes drive with the local transport to get to any nearest town. Not that the pleasure centre doesn't have everything one could desire, but still, if you wanted to visit the locals... fifteen minutes... really.
5. I am constantly beset on my friendly, but quite overattentive and even obnoxious fully rodents, birds, deer and the like. I ran when the bear wanted to give me a hug.
6. The fireplace doesn't stay on long enough, the logs, freely delivered to my cottage, only have so long a burning time. About each hour I, or one of my caretakers I keep around, have to prod and poke to keep the fire going. Now is it too much to ask for slow-burning logs??
7. The sauna is sometimes a little too hot. Plus it doesn't go higher than 110 degrees celcius. It is not that I WANT to be in it at 110 degrees, but still it clearly shows the limit of the so famous Risa hospitality.
8. I, or any of my charges, have to clean up after ourselves! Now Really!
9. the wishwasher, coffee-maker and sometimes even the sauna make noises when their on. Sigh.
10. The hot buns delivered fresh every morning are too hot when they come from the oven. Though we don't have to put them in ourselves and the oven turns on automatically 15 minutes before I awake (from the grinding of the fresh coffee maker, so I think there is a pattern there), their too hot all the same.
11. The light of the sun-sky (it's a mobile solar unit inside the cottage, truely an invention) is too bright. Though there is a nob on it to turn it lower, the nob is ON the sunsky and so too hot to turn lower... Sigh... There was a remote control for it when I got the cabin, but it got lost somewhere.
12. The Senseo coffee is sometimes just a little too sharp when I've put just not enough sugar in it.

And most of all... I got soo much free time on my hands here that I sometimes even go WALKING out in the woods that surround my cabin. I have time to THINK and RELAX! Now That I really can't abide.
Oh... 13... the windows that run from floor to ceiling and are about half the walling of the house, give a great view on the woods around, but also give any walker a view into the cottage. Though I'm no prude, even a bit of naturalist and exhibitionist, I don't like shocking other people who really have no business seeing my business.
I came to this last point after a walk where I saw a man and a donkey... I don't adress this further, I think you're already getting a nice mental picture... but no... it was worse. Yes, that kind of worse. I really didn't have to see that.

On the whole... I miss home, my ship, my pod, fighting for my life, dully mining while listening to reggae, talking to people through convo... That sorta sums it up.

But with an advertising phrase like 'We cater to your every fantasy' I still think I'm gonna sue. :)

Welcome to Paradise 2


I wrote a beautiful epilogue, a brilliant piece of music that would echo through the ages only lacking notes, about my first days here in Risa, advertised with the phrase 'where all your dreams come true', and they really do keep up to their word and even I have a warped mind. :P For those who don't know it, Risa is a starsystem not on any common map to keep only the highest clientelle and keep away the dumb masses who would fuck it up for everyone. So if this is the first time you have heard of it, you might still be able to enter, if you're looking for it... well... keep looking, it will give you something to do.

But the server hickupped and gone was my beautiful flower of words... lost forever.
Pitty.

donderdag 5 februari 2009

Protogée

Welll... as Corp-life would have it, I was 'volunteered' to train a new recruut, absolute noob, though her learning skills were quite capable. Minmatar, thank the Gods, for I wouldn't have suffered one of the uglier races, but rhgith of the bat she began shining about wanting to fly big ships like mine (just a BS, but what the hey, to her it was big). I sternly told her NO, that she wasn't ready and when she asked why not, I'd let her stunt around for a while in her Reaper in 0.6 space, which needles to say for shot to bits right from under her ass by the first rat she met. I know, I'm mean, but I just like myself like that.
Luckily the CCP is so kind when you loose a ship, to have a simler replacement ready. As things can't get simpler than a Reaper as even a frigging Shuttle is better, she just kept flying, shooting and shielding with what she found in loose cans (yes, i's stealing, but as she's not (yet) in my corp, I don't give a bugger). I gave her some pointers on how to best set up her skills, starting with salvaging, as this suited me the best as complimentairy to my mining and droning the rats from the sky. She did so, luckily, after I gave her a mil to buy her skills. In 14 hours flat, she completed her skillset, while three more Rifters were shot from her ass, and I bought a salvager for her to fit, thinking I was sinking an awful lot of money into this just one day old child, but hey, who cares, it's just ISK.
Then we set off, she trailing behind me, through the belts, me in my souped up Rifter (just about everything tech 2), and as I shot rats, she claimed and salvaged.
We shot and gathered, I was actually having fun and glad I didn't have to clean up the mess I made, when in the end, she was already learning for Rifter as she so liked seeing me flying it, yeah as is she'd ever get this good, and after this second day I gathered all we had shot, salvaged and hauled and sold it.
I was amazed at the result: We came to a whopping 11 mil ISK, just on her first day salvaging, second day in the pilot's seat!
And so I bought her the frigging Rifter she so yearned for. She's getting good lessons, so I don't see why I wouldn't get something out of it as well, right?

Next, when she can actually fly the thing, I told her to go for higher salvage-skills and shields... As for me, I'm taking a well-earned vacation for a week or so... I've heard Risa is nice this time of year.