Monday 15 December 2008

On Balance

The trouble with doing art and Eve: I can't do both at the same time.

Unlike my stories and many of my blog posts, which are written during particular classes I have where I can get away with splitting my attention between writing and listening, art consumes a hell of a lot of my biological RAM. While I may have Eve running on the PC and Photoshop open on the Mac beside it (or be sketching manually, for that matter) I can spare little more attention than what is required to keep up with light chatting.

Which is why I got pissed off because an alliance-mate got pissed off at me for not being around to save his ship from destruction on a gate last night. I wasn't even on comms at the time because it was late: I was working afk and had no intention of getting dragged out into runs which could take longer than I can afford (I'm late enough to class because the bloody bus schedules are still iffy due to construction on the route, never mind the all too frequent days I happen to sleep clear through my alarms. Like today).

I really have no defense: if I was serious about my work, I'd have Eve off and be wholly focussed with something I can sing along to running on the sound-system. But I like being able to chat with people; the friends I've made through Eve are as real as the people I hang out with in the pub.

Lesson 1: if you're going to be logged in to idly chat on Eve, use an alt you don't mind people knowing about

Lesson 2: if there's someone logged in who isn't in the fleet or on comms, do not assume they will be there immediately to pull your arse out of the fire

I've been reworking my website in prep for using it as an online portfolio in my search for a job. Alas, this means other non-degree work has to take a passenger seat for a bit: attempting to get a job after I finally finish college is kind of an important priority, even if most of my apps will be going to games-design companies. With a long holiday off from classes coming up at the end of this week, I should hopefully be able to get everything done which needs to be done. And my laptop and tablet will be coming with me on the train down to London for the Bastards meetup this weekend; hopefully I can find a place to plug into the wall so I can get a little more work done on the Hellcats pin-up calendar (the pencil-works are looking fantastic, by the way, and if you want to see a scanned-quality low-res untouched prelim, I could be persuaded to drop you a link for, say, a million ISK...)

I can't tell if I'm joking there. I suppose if Mynxee threatens GBH upon me for that, it's a joke; if not, then the offer stands ;)

In addition to that, my writing style has come around to bite me: rarely do I plot stories out in advance, and Thicker Than Blood is far from being an exception. It's reached the point where I'd damn well better know what's going on, which means I have to sit down, take what I've written so far, the bits of plot I do have already in place and the ending I have planned, and find the clearest possible route using all that as a sort of orienteering map. Hopefully, what already exists won't need to be altered any; but my writing philosophy stands: If it's too good to be changed to better the whole, it wasn't worth writing in the first place. I have the same approach to art. And hopefully, you won't all be disappointed with the results ^_^

In related news: the Hellcats has a corp logo, now. It will be appearing on merch in the Hellcats store (maybe in The Bastards store, too, but that's being discussed still) once I get the high-res version done. It's already appearing on our corp-standardised forum sigs.
Update: now in high-res!

I know I'll be claiming a t-shirt for myself ;D

11 comments:

Bahamut said...

EVE can sometimes be a little too involving. Prioritizing certain other RL things can be healthy.

When I'm AFK, I just let everyone know. If someone blames me for not being online when HE instantly needs me, I just tell him where he can stick his pod.

Sard Caid said...

I'm with Psyche on AFK status: I can't be at my keyboard 24/7 for someone else's spontaneous needs.

Logo looks good, though it seems to be lacking something that makes it hell-related. Add a pentagram or horns to the head?

Ivanneth Maethor said...

Not wanting to be around 23/7 is why I left nullsec. And when you're an outlaw, people will randomly attack you on gates, and sometimes you can't do anything about it. By the time I got undocked, there was only a wreck and a hostile Megathron on the gate.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hellcat
See definition 2.1

There's not much that has to do with 'hell' there. And anyway, since most of us are atheists or just don't give a crap about religion in general, adding pentagrams and other rligious symbology is a bit, well... lame ^_^

Carole Pivarnik said...

@Shae: I fully support any ISK-making efforts you choose to engage in--go for it! The logo is really cool...as are the forum sigs you've created for us. Such a talented young woman!

@Sard: What Shae said regarding religious symbols. "Freedom From Religion" is my personal philosophy.

Sard Caid said...

/me shrugs

Not trying to make a religious statement or conflict with others beliefs. Little bit of constructive criticism, however misinformed it may be.

And I agree it's corny. Doesn't mean it wouldn't 'fit'.

Carole Pivarnik said...

@Sard: It's all good. I think I pushed poor Shae right to the edge with suggestions when she shared the original concept with me. She's a good sport, though, and tried a lot of different ideas before we settled on this one. Personally this version hits the nail square on the head, as far as I'm concerned. And it looks AWESOME in the forum sigs she's created for us.

Anonymous said...

EVE and related activities, with the blog, maintaining the three killboards, emails, twitter and actually playing EVE, it all adds up. I started a while ago taking a break every Sunday. No EVE, perhaps some twitter and blogging, but I don't actually start up the EVE client.

Something we started to do in our corp. If you are not on the vent server, you are considered AFK and not available for corp ops, assisting a corp mate, etc.

It does help us a lot as we don't have any confusion as to who is available to help out if we get into trouble.

BTW, Love the logo, total awesomeness!!!

Anonymous said...

SWEET LOGO. In Ceptacemia I consider most pilots AFK unless I am actively talking with them or I am on TS/Vent. As for yelling at you they were prolly venting, and if they weren't i'd shoot their ship out from under em. I don't take kindly to ppl blaming me for their loss. I'm stubborn that way, plus others lack of planning normally do not constitue my Emergencies...so tell em to bugger off. Unless of course it was the redheaded CEO of yours..sigh I'm so waiting for the Calendar * wipes drool off keyboard

:) TC happy multitasking

Carole Pivarnik said...

*laughs at the adorable Mule*

BTW, Shae, you've been tagged!

Anonymous said...

I'd wear a Hellcats T-Shirt, fuck yeah.

Don't worry about anyone giving you agro for being AFK. You know we're a relaxed bunch (lawless, you could say) and if you weren't in gang, you weren't around to help. Simple as. ;)

AlansJourney said...

dammit, looks like you've been tagged before I tagged you... but I look forward to reading your facts :)

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