So that...

...didn't quite happen the way I had planned.

Just file me under 'easily distracted.'

Between Rockband 2, Spore, WAR, FO3 and Left 4 Dead, I've spent way more time gaming than I should have. And I have to say that, while not perfect, FO3 quickly made it's way to my personal 'Top 5 games of all time' list.
I've already finished it once and I'm going back through to try and explore every location on the map. I had planned on doing this with Oblivion but I just couldn't find the motivation since most of their interior locations just had this feeling of sameness to them.
I think the difference is that in Oblivion you were, in essence, exploring Ayleid Ruin #13 or Natural Cavern #27 - while in FO3 you're exploring Springvale Elementary School or The Museum of Natural History. In FO3 you understand immediately that the locations are different and each have their own history. So even though realistically the places are very similar, in your mind you see them as two very different places. You don't have to go searching for differences to make them stand out.

Now getting back to the subject of the Land Raider. I now finally have my new work area set up and the model pieces have been dusted off and laid out on it. I will have an updated picture of the Land Raider out by the end of next week.

I've also started studying a series of videos called The Structure of Man. For any aspiring artist who is having trouble nailing the human form, this series is a must. Now, I'll warn you, I've heard the speakers voice described as 'nails on chalkboard'... While I personally don't feel it's that bad at all, he is certainly very hesitant and rambles a bit. That said, it's still one of the best learning tools out there. He doesn't just give you the rules for drawing the human form - he teaches you how to learn and apply them.

And finally, I did the NaNoWriMo challenge again this past November. I failed this time, but I have only myself to blame. I kept putting off my writing time to play more FO3. That said, in the last 5 days of NaNo, I managed to crank out almost 20k words. For me this is phenomenal. Additionally I feel that overall my writing improved. I'm determined to win the next one.

Holy Cow

I can't believe it's been nearly a year since I've done a blog entry... time flies I guess.

I haven't done a whole lot in the way of MMO Gaming lately. When I've played it's been mostly back to EQ2 and PlanetSide. I did play Pirates of the Burning Sea when it came out, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I especially liked the tactical ship-to-ship combat. It ended up being a little too PvP oriented for me to take it up as my "main game", but I still like to go back and play it occasionally. I can be a nice change of pace.

I went to an eye doctor a few weeks ago after.. well.. years of problems with my right eye. Nothing major, just excessive tearing which was making my vision blurry. Turned out I was suffering from dry eye. Go figure. She had me get a bunch of over-the-counter eye stuff and gave me a prescription for eye drops to help with the inflammation. After just one day my symptoms cleared up enough for me to start working on miniatures again. Before that, the constant tearing and blurry vision had made working on them frustrating to impossible. Guess I should have taken care of it years ago...

So my first two projects since the eye doctor visit have been... painting a friend's Pikathulu (I kid you not) and I've been working on an old Revell-Monogram AH-64 Apache Helicopter model kit that I got years ago and never finished.

Painting the Pikathulu has been pretty fun so far. It's a big, low detail mini which makes it a pretty relaxing project to work on.

The Apache, on the other hand, has been a complete pain in the neck. Almost nothing fits together correctly and the instructions are pretty vague in certain areas. It didn't take long after starting this project up again to remember why I quit it the first time. I'm going to finish it this time, though, because I need the practice before I attempt my new Tamiya F-15 "Strike Eagle". That is going to be a sweet model to work on.

Did the NaNoWriMo event this past November and... I made my goal! Finished day 30 with over 52k words. I'm doing another novel challenge right now... and I'm way behind. Guess I should go work on that....