Grues, Games, and Gainful Employment

So I now have requests in to several individuals to allow me to use them as professional references when I attempt to get a job this summer, and I'm just waiting to hear back before I start filling out online applications.

Seems like the old "sidle up to the place of employment with the classified ad clutched in hand" method of job-hunting seems to have fallen by the wayside. On the one hand I'm a bit disappointed by that, but on the other I'm glad to be saved the trouble.

In any case, I've got two projects that will also be keeping my attention for the rest of the summer, along with (hopefully) my job. The first of them is a bit of interactive fiction that I started last summer, but put on hiatus when school started kicking my ass. I picked it back up again yesterday and added a few more rooms on to it, along with at least one instant game over for the player.

In my experience, IF enthusiasts seem to like those. At least, the third or fourth time I was strangled by the janitor in The Lurking Horror, that was the conclusion that I drew. Strangely enough, it had to be the time I went to try to catch the snippet of the game where you realize he didn't blink the entire bloody game that I figured out how to beat him. Go figure.

The other project is (at the suggestion of a friend) to write my own role-playing game. I've been working on the opening fluff since yesterday, and I've got a good solid four pages or so of it (single-spaced, at that). I'm liking it. It's going to have some nice layers to it, I think. Or at least as many layers as Western steampunk fantasy can have. After I'm done writing this I'm going to post a chunk of the fluff on Literary Bushido, just for the hell of it.

So between those two and the job I'll (optimistically) get, it seems I'll have a fairly productive summer. And hey, one of my reference hopefuls just emailed me and said that he would. Just one more to go before I start putting in applications.

Then I will be gainfully employed. How about that?

----
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.

Literary Bushido

I've just made the first post over at my protected writing blog Literary Bushido, for those of you who are interested (and who are allowed to read it). It's a brief swatch of my most recent addition to The Fair Folk, a story which seems to be insisting on becoming a novel as I compose it. And seeing how I composed both the new section of Fair Folk and this post while fueled by Mountain Dew at this ridiculous hour of the night/morning, I think I'm going to go on to bed now.

It's the sensible thing to do, after all.

----
So you heard Big Blue's pitch. Now for the democratic response...

Fresh Beginnings

My old blog, which here shall remain nameless, is now inching close to being three years old. It's crammed with far too much, and as well as it has served me I feel that I must retire it. Which brings me here, of course. To Blogger, whose services seem simpler and cleaner--elegant, even. I suppose one would expect that of a Google service, though.

Prepare to see all manner of weirdness on this blog. I'm going to attempt to keep its public aspects restricted to my random thoughts and occasional transcriptions of tabletop RPG hijinks (yes, I am that kind of geek, thanks for asking). I will also be posting (as you may have guessed) snippets of my prose writing on another blog, Literary Bushido. Access there, however, will only be available to a select few. I'm very touchy about posting my work on the internet. Does sketchy things with copyright if too many people can read the bloody stuff.

In any case, as an introductory post this has gone on quite long enough. I suppose I must bring it to an end. Being seeing you soon (I hope).

----
This isn't Dungeons and Douchebags. If you want something to happen, you have to play a card.