I wonder how many readers realize I borrowed the title of this and the previous post from an issue of “Transmetropolitan,” where Spider Jerusalem does a travelogue of The City and all the crazy hobos who lives there (actually issue 41, February 2001, if you want to look it up.) There is a reason, he concludes, for their bizarre perception of the world around them and the conclusions they draw.

I often wonder how crazy I sound, to readers as well as to myself, including my past and future selves. I get over it pretty quick, though, as I’d much rather sound crazy than boring.

I said there was another reason I don’t write so much here anymore. I may as well say what it is.

Continue reading There is a reason, part 2…

OK, that’s a kick in the pants. Let’s see if it makes everyone pissed off about Mike Capps and Tim Langdell finally calm the hell down for a little bit.

I have not, as some people might well think, been slacking off.

It’s not just the clutch of internal excuses and traps that Jay Smooth calls the little hater. It’s not just that I have very little say to my dwindling local audience that I’ve largely turned my back on, most of whom are still friends of mine and who I can pester through other Internet media all I want.

Those are the obvious reasons. There are others not everyone knows about. Here’s one. Not promising I’ll make it to part 2.

Continue reading There is a reason…

I ran into Gordon Walton recently. You might have heard of him, he’s kind of a big-deal guy around town, especially in my circles.

We asked each other how things were going. We’re both busy, though him arguably far more than me. Not much to complain about.

He asked if I was still writing.

I said, not really.

He said, “At least I know I’m not missing anything.”

Totally happened.

My Facebook friends are probably getting plenty in the way of details, but everyone else (a rapidly declining number) might not be getting much at all.

Right now I’m in a coffee shop retraining my huge hands to use my netbook keyboard. I might finally be able to use this thing to take notes the week after next, when my Project Management class begins.

This is my second summer living in Austin, and part of me just can’t relax. It’s a part that’s easily swayed by Texas martinis and nootropics, varied entertainment options and a hassle-free workplace, though. I imagine it’s kind of like post-hypnosis. The days when I used to quack like a duck on command are long behind me, and by “quack like a duck” I mean “seethe with disempowered rage.”

I’m sure other people would react differently to such a dramatic life change. This year, I’m sure most in this country experienced one that they’ve had to endure — but I’m also sure I’ve groused about other people’s problems before, without useful conclusions.

Meanwhile, my journey of self-reflection has progressed with fits and starts. I’m currently testing out the notion that the way I talk, both with inflection and choice of words, makes me sound annoyed more often than I really am. Still not sure if it’s actually true, but being happy makes me more self-conscious about such things. I am also aware, as well, that I’m getting old and fat. Being a guy in his 30s, this is not something I feel comfortable questioning others about.

The classical radio station is on too loud in here, and my Step by Step Microsoft Project 2007 book is sitting like a big blue and white lump on the table. I’m probably the happiest I’ve been in years, and the only thing I wonder about is how long it’ll last, which means I still don’t really know how to smile.

Maybe once summer’s finally over.

Coming soon. Yeah, I want to see it, don’t you? Stephen Colbert’s in it! There’s also a Facebook page for it.

Been field testing new equipment around Austin lately, so check me out. Latest update: Amy Sage and Mike Boyd of Fiesta Explosion, covering “Game of Love” by Santana. Taken with a Flip Ultra 30-minute model, uploaded with my MSI Wind U123.

Haven’t seen this much news about square footage in a long time. So Vigil Games, owned by THQ, the latter flush with cash for selling one of their studios and firing 200-some people just four months ago, is going to move into a new 33,000-square-foot office space in Austin, in somewhere called Four Points Centre. (Austin Business Journal had the official word on Friday, not that I noticed.)

What the gaming sites have yet to point out is that Four Points Centre is barely what anyone would call “Austin,” at least not counting suburban sprawl. Its own location map advertises the fact that it’s way out in the sticks, and if anyone would care to check the Google Maps version, you might get double-checks their estimates on drive times.

I’d call it “out by Lake Travis”. Or, “about seven miles from Hippie Hollow“.

Edit: In all fairness, I’m not (officially) making a qualitative statement about suburban sprawl, just that while the developers most likely expect that the area will build up and become a growth center in the next few years, it isn’t much of one now, and while a 15-minute drive to anywhere might seem fine to anyone from, say, L.A., Texans would call it ‘livin’ in the country.”

But, in truth, the place where I go to work, out on Loop 360, was just hills and trees less than 30 years ago. ‘Course, back then they thought it’d be made into a freeway. Didn’t quite happen that way, and it’s still pretty nice country out there.

Trion World Network announced their new mumorperger, in connection with E3. PR-speak cut out, they’ve got a nifty server architecture, the game will be class- and subclass-based but will employ a “unique class system that allows the players to play every character class in the game,” there’s no release time set but you should set up an interview time in their suite on the convention center concourse anyway.

Only clear message: They really wanted a game with the abbreviation “HoT”.

Reasons why Austin is awesome and I love living here and please don’t move here unless you are at least benign if not awesome yourself, No. eleventy quantum quintillion:

I just saw a middle school stage production of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, and the whole cast was girls.

It was awesome in a bottle.

Continue reading Friday Night with Dr. Horrible…