It’s hard to have to see a person for only a short time each day after for some time in which you were besides her 24hours a day. It’s hard not to feel her breath, not to see her sleep, not being able to take her in your arms whenever you want and talk to her. The room seems so empty and all that remains is a feeling that it has all passed too quickly, much to quickly… I miss you my sunshine!

OK, so today was a strange day… I managed to get cought while riding the buss without a ticket so naturally I had to pay extra. Besides this I somehow got burned and feel like crap (the usual head ackes). Now, the cute thing is that I don’t know if I have to money to pay the rent, and if I do I don’t think I’ll have the money to pay for the train back to Bucharest. Besides this, I have to go to Liberty Parade…. yey, house music, yey, drugged ass-holes (what would Glaurunga say when he’ll here about this). The only thing I regret so far is that I don’t have my guitar with me so I could get the money for the rent and train.

OK people, I’m off for Constanta so this is probably the last post for some while (Monday or Tuesday I will resume posting). Sun and games, here I come!

Here is an article from the e-mag The Escapist, no 1. written by JR Sutich. You can find it in html here or you could download it in pdf from here.

“I weep for the future of mankind. These tears are not born from concerns over global warming, killer asteroids, or nuclear despotism. My pain comes from the knowledge that, someday, gamers will inherit the Earth. Did I say inherit? Sorry, I meant conquer. Someday the coin of the realm will have the words “Play2Crush” in place of the familiar “E Pluribus Unum.” And as much as I am distressed by this thought, I am at the same time fascinated by it, and dare I say, almost looking foreward to it.

I find myself anticipating it because it will usher in a new era for humanity. The humans who evolve from the environmental conditioning of games will think and move faster than those unfortunate not to have been forged by generations of gaming legacy. Already, in my own offspring, I see examples of the next generation overtaking my abilities I thought were honed razor sharp. I see this not as an isolated case, but rather the normal state in thousands upon thousands of households around the world.

There are those who refuse to see the direction of the next stage of evolution for our species. The ones who try to legislate agains this evolution, those who dismiss outright humanity’s progression as not the real issue, are the very ones who will bring about their own destruction. The sad fact is, the more the gamer sub-species is challenged by it’s environment, the stronger it will become. This is a Darwinian struggle, with a rule set written by Nietzsche. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and we have learned nothing from the example of Prohibition in the 1920’s. When laws are passed against videogames, those who played them are just going to grow up and repeal the laws. This revisionist action may be the catalyst. Gamers will realize they have the power to change the past, and with that power will come the ability to pwn the future.

The gamers will embrace their destiny as the dominant life form on the planet, and begin to actually dominate. Social practices seen only in small scale with Guilds and Clans will pe applied to the masses. Those who are not willing to be assimilated will be cast out. LiveJournal Bloggers will be herded up and sent to live in “re-education” camps where they will be forced to perform slave labour to ensure the New World Order. Political systems around the world will change drastically. We will see exchanges on the floor of the Senate that consist of nothing more than, “You suck,” “No, you suck.”

Wars will be fought without a single drop of blood being spilled, as the United Nations will hold million-player, single elimination LAN tournaments to settle disputes between sovereign countries. The Blogger slave-race will manufacture hardware to ensure that Digital Forces of its side has the best equipment. The arms race will be measured in megahertz, not megatons. Vast amounts of resources and man hours will be dedicated to perpetuating the Gamer’s ability to do nothing but game, in defense of their 127.0.0.1.

Eventually, the UN will see that most of the disputes are caused by the Mutually Assured Obsolenscence mentality, and declare the nations of the world are trully united. Under one console, under one platform, the next stage of the evolution of the Gamer super-race will begin. It will be determinated than an expansion is needed, and to a Gamer, this means new content, a newer version. The search for Earth 2.0: A Call to Conquer will begin.

Advancements in science and technology will actually allow the Gamer Race to take their true form, beings of pure energy. They will be able to travel across vast distances of space with the power of thought. With this, the final chapter for humanity will open. Free from the bonds of normal existence, the Gamer Race abandons Earth, Bloggers, and all those unfortunate enough to have not joined a guild during the first week of the Great Gaming Revolution. Left without a purpose, the descendants of LiveJournalists will go back to the ancient ritual of Blogging, and non-gamers will gravitate toward everyday, mundane endeavors, like hunting for food and gathering resources. Devoid of its best and brightest, the Human Race will fall into a second Dark Age. And somewhere in the Cosmos, a voice will echo across the nether, “GG, NM?”

A bleak vision of the future? Perhaps, but the first series of long-term research into games’ affect on people is starting to show gamers to have higher IQ’s, faster reflexes, better hand-eye coordination, superior problem-solving skills, and the ability to multi-task on a larger scale. A generation has been born and raised with gaming available in several forms. From arcades, to living rooms, to where ever you can hold an object the size of a bar soap in your hands, gamers are quietly fine-tuning their skills everywhere. Over hundreds and thousands of years of human evolution, it has been those who dared to dream who have set the course for us as a species. Did not DaVinci inspire men to build flying machines? Did not Verne inspire men to travel to incredible depths and set foot on the moon?

I say that somewhere, there is a child who will someday invent a plasma-cannon, a time machine, a matter transporter, and a universal med pack which will instantly heal all wounds, and cure all diseases. He will do it because someone with the almost god-like title of “Game Designer” dared to dream, and because the child was inspired and asked the question, “Wouldn’t that be cool if we really had those?” That child, and many others like him, will truly conquer the world, for they are destined to become our leaders, our great thinkers, our best and brightest.”

OK, another update for today. Recently I discovered this Pong game which can be found here. I haven’t had so much fun in some while, and the time spent around this game worth mentioning. It’s not classical Pong but a 3D one, done in Shockwave (so you’ll need the plugin) but despite this fact it is a very addictive game and can be played with relative ease (the mouse is the only control tool).
Also, the theme of the blog will temporarily be different until I fix the background problem.

I usually don’t post in Romanian but this article can’t be translated into English without loosing it’s special flavour. Accept my apologies all you non-romanian readers out there.

“Am fost la Mamaia si am observat ca, din motive ce scapa mintii umane, din ce in ce mai multe fete se tatueaza deasupra mai mult sau mai putin superbilor muschi fesieri. E dubios din mai multe puncte de vedere. Unu la mana, e unul din putinele locuri de pe corp pe care chiar nu poti sa ti-l vezi singur - deci nu e pentru ele. Pana si silicoanele mai pot sa cred ca si le pun pentru a capata incredere in fortele proprii si in stima lor de sine, desi ma indoi de ras de fiecare data cand aud asta, pentru ca e de parca un barbat si-ar mari penisul ca sa poata vana mai usor parsul de campie. Doi la mana, ele sunt romance, dar tatuajele sunt tribale. Si nu sunt insemnele sluttycocksuckers.com, deci in mod clar nu e tribul lor. Stand stramb si judecand drept, tatuajul in acel loc nu poate fi decat pentru momentele intime in care admiri perna de sus. Si atunci, de ce sa nu folosesti ocazia in scopuri utile? Poti sa trimiti indemnuri la ordine si disciplina - “Nu uitati sa iesiti la timp!”, informatii de interes general - “Lasati orice speranta, voi cei ce intrati aici” sau pur si simplu poti sa iti aduci si tu afacerea in mileniul 3 - “All major credit cards accepted”. In interesul eficientizarii comunicarii, poti sa scrii strategic “Salut, sunt Mariana. Incantata!” si daca stii sa te misti o sa se anime exact ca in Powerpoint. Pana si transmiterea intelepciunii populare e un scop mai nobil. Adu-le aminte ca “Inteleptul isi face iarna car si vara sanie”. Eventual pe omoplati, dar invers, poti sa scrii “Nu vinde castraveti la gradinari” ca poate in camera mai sunt oameni flamanzi de informatie. Orice e mai bine decat un fluture inconjurat de trandafiri cu ghimpi. Concluzia e doar una: Fetelor, nu mai irositi spatiul publicitar cu prostii, educati poporul cu fesierul!”

I have recently found out that the display of the blog on Mozilla Firefox has some problems concerning the background: it doesn’t show it. The blog should look like the one in the image. If it doesn’t please view it with IE 6+ or Opera. I’m currently trying to figure out how to fix it (any hints and suggestions are wellcomed).

(Click to enlarge)

Friday it’s off to Constanta to get some tan and to drink some tequilla with my good friend Elf. I’ll be back on Monday so my next post will be either Tuesday or during the weekend if I have internet acces there. Happy because Andreea and Eliza with some of her friends will join in so we’ll have enough things to do.

I’m glad to announce that the Suicidal Tendency Forum is now online. It can be found at http://www.suicidal-tendency.uv.ro. Hope you’ll visit us soon and have a nice stay.