GameRV

I've got a fairly well-developed roadmap for becoming a trailer home owner. Not the shitty 'Trailer Park Boys' kinda thing, but something a little smaller that you can pull behind an SUV or truck and live in while on vacation. I've been looking at some that have a master suite for my wife and me, and bunk beds at the other end for the boys, a full bathroom, kitchen, and main area for hanging out, as well as an outdoor kitchen and awning. Pretty dope. I went and looked at some last weekend, with 'early 2019' in mind. We'll be replacing her vehicle at the end of this year, with the intention of getting the towing vehicle as a replacement, and then doing some renting of a trailer a few times to make sure we really want it.

One of the designs that I have on this, and this is going to sound ridiculous, but is to get a traveling gaming setup going, where I actually game outside and on the road.

My existing standard setup is my MSI DOMINATOR!!! (sorry, that name is just so ridiculous) with a mouse, so I already travel pretty light.

Some of these have a TV built into the side of the vehicle, presumably for tailgating. I could output to that, get a wireless keyboard and mouse, and maybe do it like that? I dunno.

Sunlight can be tricky. I remember trying to play Alien Isolation in Key West a couple winters ago, and it just wasn't happening. I'd love to have a laptop that lightened or darkened the screen dynamically, like a lot of phone do now. Sigh ...

Yeah, I plan to do plenty of outdoor stuff while we're traveling with this thing, but I also want to enjoy my vacation in a diverse number of ways, including enjoying some good weather while playing games.

I'm also considering parking this thing in my backyard when we're not traveling, and possibly using it as a 'man cave.' Could be cool.

One of the real concerns, though, is space. My MSI DOMINATOR!!! is not small. It's probably 18 or so inches across, plus you gotta have space for the mouse, and that is not trivial surface space in one of these trailers. The space is there, but not while other people might need it.

I also have a lot to learn about these things, which is why I want to rent one soon, and see what we think.

I'd love to read any ideas or suggestions you all have.

Anyway, here's the one I'm thinking about:

So, we'll see where this goes. My general plan is to rent once or twice this year, then, after we buy the new vehicle at the end of this year, to rent again, and drive to and from Spring Training with it, and live in it for a couple weeks. Like I said, we'll see how it goes. I'm excited.

Before I go, check this out. This is the game about which I'm the most excited right now.



Also, I'm revising my streaming schedule. No more Tues and Thurs 1630 streams. It's just not workable right now. I am still on for Thurs 2000 streams, so I'll see you all tonight. Check me out!

-Blaine

wowsers (or 'wowzers,' if you're into that kinda thing)

Yeah, I know, I never posted Sunday's pics. And I'm not posting them right now. I'm going to do a monster blog post this weekend on the Star Trek convention from last week.

I have a lot to say about the convention, most of which I'm saving for the mega-post, but for now, I think I can summarize it simply by saying that it's as close to a religious experience as I've had in ... years, maybe? I dunno.

It was a really special five days for me, and the most I've enjoyed myself in a long time. I loved it, and I want to do it again in a few years.

Anyway, I got back midday Monday, and I've been scrambling ever since. I usually build in a 'buffer day' between vacation and work, and didn't this time, since I've already taken so much vacation time this year. With school starting back up this week for our oldest, it really did get hectic very fast.

And fantasy football is starting to ramp up, too, so that's taken some of my time.

And it's not like my weekdays were exactly overflowing with free time before this, either, so there ya go.

I definitely have more ambitions and goals than I do time. It's not like time is going to slow down or start adding extra hours to the day, so maybe it's time to start getting a little more real with what I expect to accomplish during the week.

I have ideas for two new books that I'd love to write. I have a Fallout mod that I want to make. I want to be able to game a little every day again. I want to have more time for exercise.

I'm already exercising, but I want to add more cardio to my routine.

So, I dunno. Going on that trip to Vegas to the convention really kinda shook me up, in a good way, and I have a strong desire to make some changes and just enjoy myself more. I feel like I spend a lot of time doing what I need to do, and not enough what I want to do.

We'll see.

OH! I almost forgot! Let's close this out with some awesome Star Trek: Discovery news!

-Blaine

Today's the Day

At 4PM central US time today, I officially start my career as a streamer. Note that this is distinct from a 'streaker,' though how much, I have yet to find out (pretty sure Twitch and YouTube have policies about this, actually, that I don't plan to test.)

I'll welcome you all to ... The Blaine Blast!

So, today, we'll be talking about some of the big news from this past week, such as Fig, FFVII on iOS, and some new and upcoming releases. I'll be live-streaming my dive into Shadowrun: Hong Kong, and also talking with chat about whatcha playin' and maybe even a topic or two.

You can check out the action here:

Twitch

And if you wanna take a gander at some of the video work I did last night with Dragonfall, Satellite Reign, and a modded KotOR, you can check out my YouTube channel, which gets all my Twitch stuff post-broadcast.

In fact, here's an hour or so with KotOR:


If you can make it out, light up the chat, and show some support, I'd REALLY appreciate it. If you ever listened to my old podcast, Untitled Podcast, there will be some content similar to that, but I really intend for this to be a whole new endeavor.

Thanks, and I really hope to see you!

 - Blaine

Video Games and Streaming Stuff and Stuff

So, I've not posted in a bit. Yeah, I hate seeing these 'dude, I'm sorry I haven't posted but my double-wide burned down and I lost my job, and my dog left me' and all the country song bullshit kinda posts, so I'm not making one. I just haven't really felt like posting anything, and I promised myself I wasn't gonna pressure myself to do recreational things I didn't feel like doing. Now I feel like it again.

I will say that I worked a pretty hectic schedule over the summer, and also took some time to think through a few things. Nothing crazy or worth sharing.

What have I been up to?

Let's see.

 - upgraded all my development and gaming stuff to Windows 10. That's pretty neat. Everything went smoothly. No hiccups or incidents.
 - the Cardinals, predictably, have been doing very well despite the entire goddam outfield getting hurt.
 - I don't remember if I talked about it on here or not, but I finished my epic Dragon Age: Inquisition - Pillars of Eternity - Witcher 3 playthrough that I started in November of last year. I actually shuffled Pillars to the end of that, since I kinda wanted to slow-jam that one.
 - I also played through the final Dragon Age Inquisition DLC, 'The Descent,' which was pretty fantastic.
 - lotsa reading, not as much writing as I'd like; but that's about to change

The big thing, though, is that I'm finally dipping my toe into the streaming world. I'd thought about it for a bit, and after taking some really good pain meds for my back, I decided to really go for it.. I've made some alterations to my setup, I still have some things to work out, but we're kicking off the streaming schedule starting tomorrow @ 1600 central time.

So, on August 21st, 2015, @ 1600 central US time, you can check me out at my Twitch.TV channel and see some live Shadowrun: Hong Kong, see some gaming news for the week, and chat with me about this week's discussion topic.

The intent is to also start posting here more regularly. Sometimes, it'll be quick, funny micro-posts, and other times, it'll be like a feature magazine article. Just whatever I feel like.

Hugs.

-Blaine