I am bothered by people I knew from high school who treated me like hell, and now they want to add me as a Facebook friend. It’s like… you negatively molded my personality, contributing to my pessimism, and now you want me to be another notch on your virtual bedpost of insecurity? Nothxbai.

Now that the election is all over, I feel comfortable talking about candidates. I just don’t feel like my preferences should be displayed out there before everyone’s had a chance to vote. I don’t think it’s fair, and I feel that sometimes that whole pre-voting attention parade becomes an actual reason why people vote a certain way.

That said, HOLY CRAP I’M SO HAPPY. Mainly, because this never had a chance to bloom: http://www.eandppub.com/2008/11/fox-news-palin.html

I’m sure John McCain may be a nice guy and all, but the fact that he chose someone so incompetent as a running mate shows very poor judgement on his part. I would never want (another) someone like that leading my country.

At least Tina Fey can get maybe one or two more skits out of it though, amiright?

Today is election day. I don’t think it’s really anyone’s business who I’m voting for, and don’t let this post sway you into forging a guess, because you might be wrong.

One thing that drives me crazy about people (collectively) is their need for attention. Sometimes I need attention, sure. I mean, look at me, I’m all over the place. It would be easy for me to say I don’t like or need attention because I’m in the spotlight (granted, a dim spotlight) every single day. However, for people who make their decisions based on what type of attention it will bring them, it pisses me off.

A great example of this is a term I’m calling Spotlight Voters. These are the people who want everyone to know who they’re voting for, because a certain candidate will make them look better as a person.  These are the people who make it a point to announce to the world their candidate of choice in their Facebook status, blog, Twitter, daily apparel, bumper sticker, etc. There’s nothing wrong with being proud, but that’s a completely different issue.

This year, the Spotlight Candidate is Barack Obama, for several reasons. You want all your friends to know that you’re  progressive and hip. You want your friends to know that you hated George W. Bush, because you heard on MTV that he’s bad. Let’s face it, you want your friends to know that you’re voting for the African American candidate so that later when it comes up in a discussion, you can say “Well I’m not racist, because I voted for Obama.” It’s that age-old “I have plenty of black friends” argument.

These are the people who annoy me.

Vote for whoever you like today, but please make it an educated vote. Don’t worry about what type of status your vote will give you, or what types of conversations you will have later with your pretentious friends at your faux-liberal parties where you eat “organic” imported food and talk about how we all need a change so badly, because you’re sick of paying $4 a gallon to fill up your Ford Expedition. Research the candidates, know who you’re voting for, don’t listen to what the TV tells you and make the choice that you feel most comfortable with, deep down in your heart.

If you’re reading this and thinking that I’m way off base because you actually DID research and vote for who you honestly believe is the best candidate, without forming a parade about it along the way, then you have my utmost respect. If you’re voting for a candidate because you saw on TV that McCain plans to declare war on the world or that Obama is a baby-killing Muslim, then PLEASE do some research. You still have a few hours.

A few months ago, since the weather started to get warmer, I’ve been placing my laundry on a clothesline to dry in my backyard. I haven’t started up my old energy-hog dryer once in that time. Ironically, my washer is the one on the verge of a meltdown. It leaks water from the bottom, and I’ve figured since I only do maybe 1-2 loads a week (you wear a lot less clothes when you don’t have to leave the house for work…I’m just sayin’), that I could get by with a little leakage and cleanup every time (the washer/dryer are in my basement). Well, the leak is getting larger, and it’s just time to fix it. In lieu of fixing it though, I figured I’d try washing some clothes in the bathtub. Hey, it works. Amazing!

I’m convinced that I’m using less water and certainly less electricity doing it this way, plus I’m giving my arms quite a workout in an attempt to replicate the little washer movements. Lord knows I need all the workout I can get. So I’m very excited about this Little House on the Prairie-ism I’m doing with my clothes now.

In other news, the job is going great and I’m enjoying it very much. My garden is rebelling against me, but I do realize that plants need sunlight. There’s just nothing I can do about the walls of trees that surround my yard. Oh well, I tried. I may postpone the large garden thang until I can get a house out of the suburbs (i.e. ghetto). Until then, container planting is my friend.

Also, R.I.P. George Carlin.  As inappropriate as it may be, I grew up on George Carlin. My parents were HUGE fans and I bumped into him once on an elevator at Bally’s Casino in Vegas. Good times.

So things have really changed drastically for me in the last few weeks. I mentioned the Massively gig, and some upcoming projects, but I thought I’d take some time out and give my personal blog some much-needed love.

When I started writing at Massively, and even before that, I’d had my eyes set on making that a full-time gig eventually. I thought it’s certainly doable in a few months, or maybe a year, right? Well after I’d been hired, I learned of the potential to write even more for more money. They’re always looking for more feature articles or news stories. Plus, I discovered they have “sister” sites with various topics. The one that caught my eye was GreenDaily.com, because, as you may know, I’m way into green living. So I emailed the lead at GreenDaily and I’m happy to say that I’m now writing for them as well.

With all of this potential for more work looming overhead, and my day job getting more and more stressfully busy, I finally took the plunge and left my day job for good. I didn’t work out a notice. I didn’t tell them anything. At the end of the day (or what was supposed to be the end of the day, but with that job, you never knew when the end of the day really was) I told my manager that I’m going home, and not coming back.

He laughed at first, then when he saw me walking towards the door, not laughing, he asked me if I’m serious. I told him I was, and walked out. They called me as I was driving home, to let me know what a terrible mistake I was making, and how badly I was screwing them over, but I figured it was par for the course.

I’ve only quit one other job ever in my life, so this isn’t exactly a regular practice of mine, but I knew it had to be done. In order for me to better myself and live the life that would make me the happiest, I just went for it.

So currently I write for Massively and Green Daily, plus I am the editor and co-host for the Massively Speaking podcast and soon-to-be editor for the MMOG Nation Broadcast.

I’m finally getting paid to do what I most enjoy, and I don’t regret anything.

Wow, what a crazy week it’s been. GuildCast is ending next week, so I’ve been making some preparations for that. The final episode is written and now it’s all up to recording, editing and releasing. Plus, this last weekend was the GuildCast Grand Finale Event ™ held during ConNooga in Chattanooga, TN.

The convention itself wasn’t much to gawk at right away. We got there like RIGHT WHEN THEY OPENED at noon on Friday and it was D to the EAD. But to be fair, this was the first day of the first year of this con. I’m sure it will only get better.

We walked around a bit, mainly looking for other people, but also to get a feel for the event’s layout in case a mad rush of people suddenly stormed in, throwing off our equilibrium completely.

Well, that never happened, but it was at least making fun of the fact that it was not an amazing time.

The next day, on Saturday, we got in around noon as well and there were considerably more people there. Still not to the level of PAX or E3, but it was a nice-sized turnout. Saturday made it all worth it, definitely.

I placed my assortment of podcast stickers and flyers out on our “Fan group table” and we were off to see the rest of the con. To me, anywhere where there’s live music that’s halfway decent is an automatic good time. Extra points if they play 80’s music and dress in silly costumes. So when we saw Radio Cult I was thoroughly entertained. Sarah thinks it’s because of the bubbly (i.e. completely insane) lead singer chick, but they were all very talented. I did make a suggestion (to Sarah) that they change the name of their group to Attention Whore. What? Seriously, that’d be an awesome band name.

Afterwards, a few of us got together at the hotel bar and drank the evening away. It’s always fun to be the sober one in a group of drunk people while they tell you how they REALLY feel about you and your podcast, including what other people have told them. Yes. Fun.

On Sunday we had to get to the convention center at 10 because apparently I was speaking at a Podcasting Panel. Boy am I sure glad I got there with about 5 hours of sleep under my belt, because it would have been a shame for those 2 people to miss my infinite wisdom on podcasting. Pedantics aside, if those guys actually make a podcast and were inspired by something I (or the other podcasters on the panel) said, then it was seriously worth it. I wish them the best of luck.

The weekend wound down and we all decided it wasn’t so bad afterall. Granted, the most fun we had was outside of the con, with just a few of us hanging out together doing the hokey Chattanooga touristy stuff, but it was worth it.

Now, I have my sites set on PAX 08. If it’s even half as fun as it was last year, I’ll be there in a heartbeat, but the way that event has been growing each year, I imagine it will be even larger and more fun this year than last.

For the remainder of the week, I’ve spent every day so far doing an interview with someone new from the Tabula Rasa Community. Last night John and I interviewed Tia, the European Community Coordinator for NCSoft. That was really a blast and I’m so glad she agreed to do that with us. All day at work today I’m thinking about how much I want to go home and edit that thing. Stupid work getting in the way of the important stuff!

One of the beautiful things about having my own personal blog is I can write about whatevertheheck I want. Since I have other outlets of creativity and expression, this personal blog is more for me, and I’m truly not concerned about how many people read this (tell your friends!1).

So for this reason, here I can talk about touchy subjects, or “political” issues. One that is prominent in my life, is the state of our meals these days. I may get more into this topic in another post, but for now, let’s just say I’m not a big fan of the McDonaldizing of our planet. How ironic since I just talked about how I would steal ketchup and napkins from McDonalds, right? Well, that was many years ago. Read on

I’m against several things here: the mistreatment of animals for our consumption, the hormones used to create fatter, faster-growing animals for the sake of profit, and the insane misconception that we all need 86753876 grams of protein and 287623876 grams of fat in our diet every day to be “healthy”.

I’ve only recently really been made aware of all of this, but I think I’m now interested in taking things to the next step.

About 2 years ago I really started getting anti-processed foods and hormones in food. Then, while doing more research, I started to realize just what is actually put into the food that we consider basic nourishment. It’s really frightening. So from that point I stopped eating “as much” red meat, and only ate “organic” or “free-range” meat. Well, thats one of the biggest consumer jokes of our time. In about 5-10 years from now, we’ll look back at this free range and organic craze and laugh at how stupid we were.

For a year I raised my own chickens and slaughtered those chickens for my consumption. I don’t have much more to say about this other than killing an animal in any regard is no fun. And it certainly didn’t make me want to eat it later.

The fact is, the creation of animals and the slaughter of those animals for the sole purpose of providing this delusionary onslaught of protein that we’re all supposed to consume daily, is not only ruining our collective health, but it has made our healthcare system completely defunct, it is destroying our environment and use of land, and creating a generation of obese children.

Sure this is a lot to take in, and sounds a bit paranoid or conspiricy theorist, I understand that. But that’s kinda the point. We’re raised to identify Ronald McDonald over the current president. Or think that milk really does a body good. Guess what. Calcium is a mineral that comes from the grass that cows eat, not somewhere magically inside of them.

So in a natural progression, I’ve gone from 2 Big Macs a day to no red meat and only ‘organic’, to vegetarian, and now I’m looking veganism right in the eye. The only thing stopping me from giving up all animal products? Cheese. Hey, I never said I was perfect

But the point here is even if I never did give up cheese, or leather shoes, or wool sweaters, or anything crazy like that, I’m making steps in the right direction. Doing something is better than doing nothing.

If you’re interested in learning more about anything I’ve mentioned here, check out this video, and the podcast Food For Thought. Colleen Patrick-Goudreau is militant about what she believes in, and I love her for it.

Go away pervs, I’m not really a 14 year old girl, but I feel like it sometimes with my current music tastes.

I’ve always had this preference for female singing voices, but lately I find myself downloading (yes, legally) Top 40 “pop” songs like Colbie Caillat’s Bubbly, Sara Bareilles’ Love Song and Pink’s Who Knew. I’ve always been a closet fan of Pink (or, as she’s known now… P!nk…), but now I’m actually purchasing her albums.

/sigh

This coming from a guy who listened to Slayer and Death in High School.

I also saw the new Hannah Montana 3D movie this weekend (with my daughters…) and I actually enjoyed it. The 3D technology sure has come a long way since it’s previous popularity in the mid 80’s. Jaws 3D anyone?

Although I think HM has a great voice and a real knack for the stage, I predict a burn-out in about a year, followed by a hiatus and a come-back tour in about 5 years. I don’t think she’ll ever follow the path of Britney Spears though, because her dad seems like a good father and a good role model who’s downhome parenting set a solid foundation for HM to take fame with stride.

Yes, these are the things I thought about while sitting in the theater. Well, that and “Omg, were those tickets seriously $18 a piece? Did I seriously just pay that?”

Hi, my name is Shawn and I’m a recovering Free-2 Play-er. The reasons I never imagined I would ever pay a subscription to play an online game stem from the fact that it’s just how I was raised. I eat every bite of food on my plate. I snatch the extra soap at hotels. I’d grab extra ketchup and napkins with my order at McDonalds so I’d never have to actually buy ketchup and napkins from the grocery store. I’m a cheap bastard.

Well, after awhile, you start to realize that paying $1.49 for a bottle of ketchup is just worth it sometimes. The same goes for your online gaming experience. Wait, did I just compare online gaming to a condiment? Yes. Yes I did.

Your first reaction (as was mine) to the thought of a monthly MMO subscription might be something like “What? $15 a month! PLUS buying the game too! Thats just absurd! I’d never in my life pay that much money for a GAME! It’s just simple entertainment!”

Well, let’s break that down a bit. Let’s approach this with the cost of the game factored into the monthly fee as well, to be fair. So with a $50 game, that comes out to $19.16666 USD a month, but for the sake of argument and tax, we’ll say a nice even $20 USD month.

What can you think of in your life that you pay $20 or more for a month?

If you’re a smoker, you’re paying roughly $5 a pack on average. Even if you smoked a half a pack a day, which also is average, you’d be spending about $75-$80 a month.

Ok, so let’s be honest. Most gamers aren’t smokers. Fair enough. Let’s delve into some other past times, hobbies and downright addictions. What else in your life would equal $20 a month?

• One family dinner for 4 at any fast food restaurant.
• Turning your thermostat down 1 degree in the winter is said to save you 10% of your heating costs per month. If your bill is $100 or more a month on average, you can easily turn that thermostat down 2 degrees for a $20 savings. A long sleeve shirt won’t kill you.
• Skip buying the newspaper every day, read your news online.
• In fact, how many magazines do you subscribe to, and not even read? Each magazine subscription is anywhere from $12-$40 a month.
• Do you really need 500 channels on Satellite TV?

I could get even more extreme with this, like making suggestions about buying generic instead of brand named foods, or saving gas by not driving like you’re in a NASCAR race from stoplight to stoplight. But I think you get the idea. If you enjoy playing MMOs, and you enjoy the experience of gaming online, just weigh that experience against the other everyday things that have become habit, to determine what you can cut out to make room for that subscription fee. And put the ketchup packets back.

Welcome to the first insertion of what I hope will be an ongoing personal blog. Heh, I said insertion. My topics will include anything and everything from random news to gaming/MMO topics to podcasting or my latest project news, to whatever else I feel like sharing with the 2 of you who may read this.

Currently, I’m working on my first audio book, or podcast novel or podiobook or whatever you’d like to call it. It has a release date slated for March 1st, so expect to hear much more about this very soon.

I have also worked on several podcasts throughout the last 2-3 years, so feel free to check those out on the Podcast page right over chyeyah.

Some goals I have for this site:

• To feed my obsessively organizational nature by cataloging my projects; past, present and future.
• To help listeners of one or more of my shows to experience other things that I’ve done, or will do.
• To actually make my own blog where I can rant about whatever I want, instead of expressing myself on other blogs scattered here and there.
• To act as a bit of motivation for the projects I have in the works by presenting a visual of what needs to be done