Sunday, September 30, 2012

Make It Bleed

Usually a sight like this would horrify me. Who would do that to a poor defenceless book? But, this is my book and editing it like this is very satisfying. Rather than doing it on the computer and not having this visual representation of how far I've gone and how much I've changed this keeps me working on it and just feels so much more right (righter?). Like this is the proper way to edit a book and trying to do it on the computer is just kidding myself.

And I'm trying really hard not to kid myself. I don't want to have to edit this any more times than I have to so I'm going to make it bleed (some people think once should be enough and any more means you're dragging your heels). Be ruthless, that's the only way to prepare it for the real world and, if you do it properly, it should reward you.

Back to editing. Later!


Monday, September 24, 2012

Nerdcrafteria

Nerdfighters now have a dedicated minecraft server! Yay! It's made of awesome (as you would expect from a nerdfighter server) but there is one problem. There are about 2200 nerdfighters that have logged on to Nerdcrafteria but only 120 spaces. That means that trying to get on can be a bit of a challenge sometimes, but it is totally worth it.

Nerdcrafteria is split into four sections. Nerdcrafteria proper is where you can buy a plot to build a house and is where the store is to buy items. The nether is just the same as usual but also serves as a PvP arena, and then there are mineworld and creativeworld. Mineworld is where all materials come from (except from the store in Nerdcrafteria) and it gets reset about once a month, so anything built here will not last. Creativeworld is for if you want time out from mining to let your imagination free. You get allocated a plot and can build anything you want there. This area is also used for competitions.

The in game currency are called Llamas and Crias with 100 Crias to a llama. You can collect money by mining and selling products or by killing monsters, which is the fastest way. Each monster gives between 30 and 50 llamas so in a single night it's very easy to make over 1000 llamas. This is useful as a plot of land starts from 8000 llamas (with ocassional plots at 5000) and the bigger, more dedirable plots are even more. Without a plot of land it's very hard to get anything done and locking a chest costs 1000 llamas (chests on your plot are automatically locked). There is a place in town where you can store some items in an enderchest (which are "client side" so you can only see your items) but that only helps for so long and you are best to save for a plot as soon as you can. If you really don't have enough then move far enough away from spawn and you can build without a plot, but chests will still need to be locked.

In town you take no damage and monsters don't spawn but in mineworld the server is on easy mode, this means you can die. If you die a "deathpile" is deployed (a chest with all your items and a sign saying it's yours) but I don't think these are locked so other people can open them and there's no easy way to find it again. It's not like technic where a waypoint is placed as well.

This is a great server with great players and I'm off to try and get on again.

Later!

Monday, September 17, 2012

Probably Not Long...

My gran had just started radiotherapy treatment last week, not to cure, because it is incurable, but to help with her breathing somewhat. She was meant to have another batch to day but last night she went seriously downhill. My aunt and uncle (who live closer to her) took her to hospital and it turns out that one of her lungs has collapsed and she has an infection in the other. She's finding it really hard to catch her breath and it looks like... it looks like she might not have much time left. They are trying to make her comfortable but there's not much they can do. Mum and Dad have gone to the hospital to see her. I can't imagine what Dad is feeling right now, she is his mother. We definitely never expected it to be this fast, it's quite a shock.

You might not want to hear this, might be telling me right now that I shouldn't be using this blog as some kind of diary but it helps. I can send all these thoughts and feelings out into the ether and it feels like someone, anyone, is listening and understanding. Someone to share everything with.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Judging a book by its cover

You know what I've just realised? It really bugs me that books are catagorised by the age of the main character. Books that are "young adult" can be just as hard hitting, just as well written and have themes that are just as adult as any other book. To that end I would urge any of you out there to not judge a book by it's catagory, by it's genre. You might be missing out.

Any great books you've read lately?

Later!

Monday, September 3, 2012

What Else Have I Been Missing?

Tonight I finally got around to reading The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness. Good god! Why did it take me so long to finally pick it up? It makes me wonder what other great books are out there that I just haven't found yet. Excuse me while I go buy the rest of the series.

Later!