I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Bad writer, no biscuit

Okay, I'm going to say this here as a way of publicly shaming myself so maybe I'll not do this again.

You may remember a long time ago me posting about finally buying Neverwinter Nights II and it not working on my wife's iMac (at the time the most advanced platform in the house) because of the graphics card. Well, on a lark Sunday I downloaded it into the new machine (which reminds me, I should do a post about how, after 12 years or so I finally upgraded my personal laptop a few weeks ago). Anyway, it's been working great the past two nights as I've sunk about 7.5 hours into the game and stayed up way past my bedtime to do so.

Argh!

That time would have been better spent writing. Hell, I've got the gorram notes to key in if nothing else (a nice stack of scraps of paper). But instead I've put my head down and escaped.

I would blame Saladin Ahmed for sharing that link about Baldur's Gate being rereleased, but that's a cop out. I know how I am with these games, which is why I don't normally seek them out. I let myself get sucked in. The first few minutes are free, to paraphrase. The rest suck your life away.

And the worst part is I should have been reading and studying for classes. The first test is tomorrow for Grue's sake. I can't let this suck away my school like Bard's Tale tried to do. Put down the mouse and get back to work, damnit.

So, what do you think, self? You've dubbed up good by putting that software on your machine. Bad writer, no biscuit. Just don't let it suck up so much time again. Set a timer, or better yet, do it after you've done the writing/studying.

3 comments:

Eric said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Eric said...

I've had a good bit of writer's block over the past week, week-and-a-half (please don't let it be two whole weeks). Beyond writer's block: I haven't even felt like looking at a page.

And the existence of Star Trek Online in my life has not helped one bleeding bit.

I feel your pain, brother.

(And not in some kind of cheesy Spock's-long-lost-never-before-mentioned-never-heard-from-again-brother "feel-your-pain" kind-of-way, either. I mean: I feel your pain. Oi. The hating myself almost as much as the blank page kind-of-way.)

Steve Buchheit said...

Those games aren't good for anybody. Tonight, well, let's just say it's 9:45p and I just finished eating dinner, so no game playing tonight. But then I barely have enough time to study and go to bed.