Petopia 2

[Peterdea]

So as to leave the old thread as it is, and not to add anything to what is basically an LPF time capsule I decided a new journal on here is necessary. If nothing else, I might as well keep active on this site by actually using the journal sub forum by posting what I'm up to and why I'm doing what I'm doing. So here goes nothing.

 

17/02/2015

As it stands right now I'm keeping somewhat busy with a handful of things. Things such as building a Fighting Game Community in my home town, being a big part of the already established scene in Melbourne, looking for work anywhere I can find it and trying to re-establish some old friendships I lost as I distanced myself from my home town over the past couple of years. Basically, all of this, plus the small things I do every now and then are keeping me busy enough to stop me from having too much time to sink into the deep depressions I clearly suffered during the original Petopia and beyond.

 

Through all the time I'm spending keeping busy, I've only managed to meet roughly 10 people interested in playing fighting games around me. That's not such a bad number, except that people who play these games aren't even close to as social as your standard FPS player. Its a real effort to get them to just come out and hang out around a console and punch each other to death. I'm primarily a Smash Bros player (Melee elitist), so that's causing even more troubles for the numbers. If you have one SF player, one Tekken player, one Smash 4 player, one Melee player and a Skull Girls player you don't really have the tools to get very far. That's basically what I'm working with right now.

But there is some hope. Due to the release of Smash 4 there is a local gaming store attempting to build a team of players to beat out the other stores in nearby towns. Through that I've been able to meet two or three Smash 4 players who seem to have some interest in it, as well as one player who I may be able to get into Melee by showing him how much more skilful and technical the game actually is. But whether or not that happens, all I want to do is make sure out store wins the interstore competition by a significant amount... Which basically relies on my brother agreeing to come out and play.

 

There is much less of a numbers problem in Melbourne. As a part of Couch Warriors (who are known for putting on Fighting game events every month), I have been helping put together an event that runs every year called Battle Arena Melbourne. This is going to be the biggest tournament the city has ever seen, maybe even the country... Its looking to be massive, though I can't go into full detail yet as there is a bunch of stuff that is even blurry to me. But we've had meeting to discuss who is doing what and how things will run on the day and I'm confident as hell that its going to be a successful event.

There was another major tournament in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago that I worked called Shadowloo Showdown. Aside from a few little issues on the day, and a ridiculous lack of sleep, things went well enough. There was some behind the scenes stuff that had me regretting working at the event at all, but I went ahead and did it anyway, just so that all the Smash players could have a good time. Hell, I don't really get to play very much any more, I basically do the desk work. I don't mind too much, and I get the feeling I'll be the main organizer in the future as the rest of the TO team get better and better at the games they play.

 

Looking for work in this town is not easy. I could apply for 100 jobs in a month and the chance that I'll get informed that I was unsuccessful is only slightly higher than the chance I'll get an interview. In other words, I am reaching a point where I may have to leave this place altogether and find somewhere new to live just to make sure I can find any kind of job. Its not that I mind having to move or anything, its just a lot of effort to go through just on the chance that I might end up getting something out of it. I did have a job at a school here, but the government basically saw to it that I was no longer needed with their budget cuts. With that said I might actually have a similar job at the same school open to me around June or July if things go well, but that's not guaranteed by any means.

That leaves me just sitting here hoping for the best, or considering going back to school, which has been offered to me by a bunch of organizations. But I really do what to avoid going back to school if I can. I finished a double course mid last year and while I had a great time during that, I'm just not feeling like being stuck studying something I don't even know if I want to do. Yeah. A lot to think about.

 

At least I got some friends though right? Actually hung out with a bunch of them on the weekend and played through Diablo 2 from start to finish (Normal difficulty only since it takes so long to do). Was good to get to spend time with them again, and I would like to go ahead and do it again soon. Would be awesome to start a stream as well, as we pass a different game every week or two. Only thing about that being, I'm generally the only one who sucks at games compared to them who actually have skill at these things. Would be good to know of more games we can play though, since we co-op games generally. Four players or more... Any suggestions? Doesn't even matter what kind of game it is, or how good or bad its considered to be. We can try to play and pass anything if we put time and effort into it, and if necessary a handful of beer and whiskey.

Either way, its good to reconnect huh?

 

Anyway, super long post for a super new journal. So to conclude, a tl;dr!

 

tl;dr: I still play Melee, nobody here plays it, people in Melbourne do. I don't have a job. I played Diablo 2 the other day.

[Shots]

Great post and nice insight into what you're about.

 

Do go back to school. Never pass up an opportunity to learn.

[Peterdea]

Great post and nice insight into what you're about.

 

Do go back to school. Never pass up an opportunity to learn.

I don't want to. I finished a similar course last year to what I'd be doing if I went back, and I'm just not feeling up to it. Perhaps if something better came along I'd go for it but at this stage I'm pretty much finished with my education. I'd rather be earning money than spending it on more maybes. Not that education is a bad thing, by any means. I just don't think I've got it in me to study again, I'm burned out.

 

So for now I'll keep looking for work and doing my volunteer stuff until I don't have the time to manage it any more. While not completely happy where I'm at, I'm probably the closest to that I've been in a very, very long time.

[MrsBennington-Delson]

Peteee! Great idea with the new journal!

 

I think that even if it might not go too great right now that you'll make it You always did didn't you?

I'm excited to read more about what's going on

[Peterdea]

Thanks Josi. Things are going to be alright in the end. Life's always gonna be stressful, but there are good kinds of stress as well as the bad kinds. I'd like to think I live somewhere in a balance of the good and the bad. Would probably get a bit boring if it were all good all the time, right? Besides, what kind of person doesn't have anything to complain about?

Anyways, let's get a new entry going since it's been about a century since I last logged on here.

 

To start off I'll go over all the stuff I talked about in the first post with updates, and then add in a couple of things to continue my life story as if its actually interesting... Maybe (lmao).

 

The idea of a local FGC is dead. I'm way too busy to even think about it, and if it weren't for my cousin mentioning it every once in a while I'd have completely forgotten about it by now. That includes the store to store Smash 4 stuff, since I can't stand competitive Smash 4 right now. It really doesn't do it for me. I get frustrated with how the game works and in some respects the scene around it. But maybe that's just the Melee elitist in me talking. Whatever it is, I'm only going to confirm my Smash 4 competitive appearance for one more tournament, which will be Battle Arena Melbourne next month, where I am teaming with a Melee player from the USA known as Liquid Chillin. Gonna be free flowing alcohol at this one for me.

 

An update on my job situation is improved quite significantly. Although my old job is basically gone, there is hope for a similar role in a few months time. And if that ends up happening, that'll be some nice extra cash in the bank, though it will increase my workload pretty significantly. I've just started working at the same school as a teachers aide, which is definitely the most rewarding work I've ever done. It's cool to actually sit in on classes and help out some kids with their learning. It's good stuff.

 

I haven't played much on PC recently, since my laptop is broken. But I did steal my brothers PS4 and have been playing Shadow of Mordor and Dragonball Xenoverse. First game is fun, and I like the way that the orcs get stronger if you don't fight them enough. So hard though. I can't seem to be able to survive battles for too long though, but I guess that just means its more of a challenge instead of being something I get through quickly and never touch again.

DBXV is decent in its way, but its such a grind fest that I can't really be bothered doing. Want to unlock a certain move? Good luck. Better be willing to grind the same mission over and over again for a few hours. I don't like that from a fighting game. Grinding is fine, to an extent. But when you have to spend hours and hours to MAYBE unlock something, it's going a bit far. At least Star Wars Battlefront is coming out later this year. Gonna be intense. I think the Division comes out as well. I'm not even much of a gamer and I'm excited.

 

Otherwise, I'm still not sleeping even close to well enough. Sucks because it means I'm always feeling tired. But with that said, I have decided to take a break from going out and doing things. So no more pub crawls with the lads or late night movies or even parties that people invited me to. Hopefully I get it all on track soon so I can start having fun again. For now, its all video games and pizza lol. But there's some pretty sick food in my home town so maybe instead of pizza I'll get Thai or something. Anyway, going on a tangent here needlessly.

 

This is a good year for movies isn't it? Well... I mean... Mall Cop 2 came out and that's a disgrace, but we get a new Avengers (saw that one last night), James Bond, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Terminator and Mad Max in the same year. Chappie came out this year too, and it was brilliant. Juptier Ascending and Pixels both look really good as well. Its all happening.

[MrsBennington-Delson]

Cool thing about your job! I bet you're a good teacher

Oh I played Shadow of Mordor and I think it's pretty intresting cause usually the enemies all wait in line to attack you and here all the orc just run you over basically haha

Bout the not sleeping well, try some tea before sleeping, my bro had the same problem once and it got better with tea (there are some special teas that basically help you get tired).

:thumbsup:

[Clogz]

When I struggle with falling asleep, I listen to Demon Days by Gorillaz. I spent a year falling asleep to it when I was younger, so now whenever I hear it I get sleepy. Pick something you don't have a strong emotion towards and just listen to it when you try to sleep. There have been studies done that show that Coldplay is the best band to do this with!