greth's New Writeups

November 20, 2007 (essay)

2007-11-20T00:43:57Z

I have been on this website for 3.3 years, according to my homenode. Joined August 18th, 2004. In this time, I've met quite an interesting set of people, read quite an interesting set of work, and seen, more recently, a set of interesting things happen.

I will not wave a flag and yell that we have died, we are dead, and we are dying. I am no god, I am no editor. I can't even cool writeups yet. 48 writeups (61 if you count Node Heaven) in 3.3 years, averaging about 15 writeups a year. I'm not exactly prolific.

I remember once, back in my first few months, I noded SA (don't look, it's dead now). I remember wondering why it had done so badly. I remember an editor (or god, perhaps -- at the time, they were the same to me) messaging me, informing me about some great conflict about gender neutral pronouns that was before my time. I remember nuking the writeup due to that. It seemed that standards were different, or that a decision had been made in the past about this…

November 2, 2007 (thing)

2007-11-02T03:51:05Z

Depression, inherently, is not a fun thing to have to deal with. Sleepless nights, sleep filled mornings, bedridden afternoons and desperate pining evenings punctuated by trying so hard to be alright that it hurts. Surrounded by those who love you you are still so alone, constantly. And when you get really bad, no matter how much you want them near you, you can't let them. You can't let them see you like that.

Depression fucks up your life something awful. Every time you have something joyous occur -- a new friend, a relationship, a promotion -- you immediately grow paranoid that your problems will end it with a haste unimaginable. Even when it doesn't, it only makes you more fearful of the seemingly inevitable collapse until your own fear is what dissolves the happiness. You know that your fear was what caused it then, with both validates the depression and worsens it. How awful is it that you ruined something wonderful all by yourself? Something close to happiness, thrown down the…

Installing Linux on a Dead Badger (And Other Oddities) (review)

2007-10-18T01:45:40Z

Installing Linux on a Dead Badger (And Other Oddities) is our own lucy-s's second literary offering, following her first collection Sparks and Shadows. I received my copy today, straight out of her hands in fact, and raced through it as I do with fun reading. And fun this certainly is.

With twelve stories, some here on e2 in one form or another, the book clocks in at 110 pages (minus perhaps one blank page to my recollection for setting apart one story from another). These took me approximately an hour to devour, though admittedly I skipped one of them as it was one of my favorite writings of hers here on e2, Faery Cats.

Probably the biggest praise I can give of this collection is its self-consistency. The stories that are related really feel like they belong to a well fleshed-out setting, and the subtle details of each relate to each other without any dissonance. I am absolutely enamored with…

October 15, 2007 (personal)

2007-10-15T08:32:07Z

I've got to say, the task I've set myself up for is ridiculously daunting. It's a lot of work, every day, for quite a while. I should be able to handle it, though.

I mean, dropping out of school can't be so bad, can it?

Some clarifications: I say "drop out", I mean "withdraw". For those of you in the audience who don't know the latter's definition, it's a fancy term for dropping all your classes a given quarter, usually due to health or other unforeseen reasons. The problem here is that the reasons I have are actually quite foreseen; many years foreseen in fact. But that doesn't make them easier to deal with.

Unfortunately, I don't trust psychologists, or else this whole sequence may not have been necessary. Maybe I would have dealt with this in spring? Maybe the spring before? Or the spring before that? Spring is a time of new beginnings, yes, but the heat of summer has always…

October 4, 2007 (idea)

2007-10-04T00:04:45Z

I'm writing a bunch of stuff over the next year and everyone's invited!

It also didn't really need its own node I don't think.

..What?

This is the formal, official, and actually fairly spontaneous announcement that starting October 15th, I will be writing one thing every day (of at least 500 words) for a year.

Why?

Simple. I need to write more, I need the practice, and I need to prove to myself that I can. I also need something that will teach me some discipline -- all other attempts have failed, unfortunately. Writing is what I like to do. It's why I'm here, and I imagine it's why most of you are as well. I've been on e2 now for three years. I want to mean more to this community, and I want to start giving and receiving. You guys have written some amazing things. Things that have made me cry, things…

Bioshock (thing)

2007-09-20T01:01:46Z

Developed by: 2kBoston/2kAustralia (Formerly Irrational Games)

Published by: 2kGames

Players: 1

Released: August 21st, 2007 (some may argue August 14th, 2007, see below)

Genre: Science Fiction/Horror FPS/RPG

Systems: PC, XBox 360

Bioshock. Bio, meaning life. Shock, meaning holy-shit-what-the-fuck-just-happened. These two combine to form what many are lauding as a masterpiece of modern gaming, myself included. Its score on Metacritic as of right now¹, 98/100, is only surpassed by The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This game which has been in production since 2004, and gathering hype for these past three years, is actually seeming to live up to expectations.

And some say surpass them.

Plot (Spoiler Free)…