PixlBit

My explained absence

Hey folks. It’s been awhile since I’ve been on here. Thought it was about time to once again give an update on what I’ve been up to. Quite a bit has gone on since my hiatus in Fall of 2016 so here’s a brief rundown of my gundown of bullet points of what kept me so darn busy.

Work

Ever worked in one of those jobs that sucked the life out of you? That drained your life force from your soul? A job that made you dread going in because you weren’t sure how much you could take being bossed around by small-minded individuals? Well that’s pretty much became my job during the second half of 2016. I had a feeling this was going to be the case which was why I spent most of last year trying to find another job. I did my best to do my job but as a result I came home so emotionally/spiritually drained that I didn’t have energy in me to do much of anything else. It’s why my yearly “Octoberween” blog series fell apart, a first since I started doing it in the middle of the 2000’s. I stopped going to the gym to work out, felt no urge to blog or even play games. I once again found myself in another job environment that I swore I’d never work. This leads to my next point.

Unemployment

Things finally came to a head when I was apparently causing trouble at my workplace by doing exactly what I was supposed to do. Heads were butted, complaints were filed and ultimatums were issued. I either apologized for doing my job and do everything like I’m supposed to like a good little drone (both unethically and unsafely) or I find work elsewhere. Of course this wasn’t actually said out loud to avoid incrimination in the corporate world but the threats were very clear. After trying to explain myself to my managers, their managers and corporate HR, I saw no alternative but to hand in my two weeks’ notice since I clearly was no longer welcomed. I was promptly let go the following work day after I issued by two weeks. Apparently the parent company I worked for wanted less of an assistant and more of a slave for them to do all their work while they kept their status quo like the lifers that they were. What sucked the most about this was the fact I could’ve avoided all of this if I didn’t follow the orders of my manager who insisted he had my back. Sadly when push came to shove he’d rather throw a co-worker under the bus than argue over the fact that fellow employees are being ordered to perform unethical and unsafe work activities that go against the very guidelines offered by the very company we worked for. Sad.

Home Life

Aside from all the work issues I had my hands full with tending to my household. Ever since my “Little One” has become the age of a sailor scout, I’ve found myself playing more and more of an active role as her big brother/ward/guardian/proxy father/uber or lyft driver/bodyguard/occasional verbal sparring partner. Thankfully she’s not a handful like some dummy headed teens out there but she does have a lot of things going on in her life that have me helping her in the process. Cello lessons, other school projects, ice skating and bowling outings, I’ve found myself pulling OT at times to keep up with her activities and see to it that they have the proper overview. It helps that I wasn’t working at the time to be more hands on but this of course lead me to having less time for anything I wanted to tend to. From cello lessons, pickups/drop offs at school, afternoon activities and recitals to attend to just basic interaction with my “Little One” is a changing learning experience. It’s not every day when you realize the little girl who used to sit on your lap just to have a taste of your salad is now getting her own salad and has moved away from wearing track suits to skirts. In the end I wouldn’t have traded the responsibility in for the world but there is something to be said in raising a teen in this day and age. If anything I feel I don’t do enough, especially now that she has her learners driving permit and is taking interest in boys……

Housework

Given I had all of this free time, “teh wife” decided that we could start work on converting my “mancave” in the basement into an actually living space for possible guests or entertainment area. This of course resulted in me having to tear down my GamingRigs (again) and making room for plumbers, electricians and building inspectors along with all the various materials needed to oversee this vast project. In the end we just build a full size bathroom in the basement given how much work it took just to get the proper permits In getting this project off and running. I’d show pictures of the end result but we are only partly done. Still have to map out where the walls, power outlets, heating vents and what kind of flooring will be needed.

Selling of the rare games

Given my unemployment status, the long wait time to be approved for unemployment and the longer task in trying to find a decent paying job, I’ve had to resort to selling some of the rare games in my gaming collection. I tried to hold off as long as I could, and made up for it with some choice, cheap buys but in the end it had to be done. Especially when I found out I got a PS4 Pro for my Bday just weeks before I was let go. “Teh wife” kept insisting that it wasn’t needed but given I wasn’t bringing a funds to pay bills I felt I had to. Plus it wasn’t like I was playing them given most of my retro systems are packed away seeing I didn’t have enough room to set up all the GameRigs again. I’m sure the regret of selling some of these titles will hit me eventually but at least I was able to pay for a month’s mortgage payment.

Gamer ReEvaluation.

This was also a good time to give myself a reEvaltuation of me as a gamer. Once again the gaming landscaped as changed in subtle ways that are now being felt within the gaming culture. I’m sure most have noticed this change in how games media is being covered, consumed, opinionated and disseminated. Gaming websites seem to have less pull than they used to, some prominent figures going independent with the push toward stranger interactions away from blog comments toward video views and twitch streams. Even the definition of a retro/hardcore/casual esport gamer has gone thru changes with the advent of clone consoles, emulators, ROMs, game repros PC genres moving to consoles, unfinished games and digital collections. The topic itself can be a great blog post for another time but I mostly have been focusing on myself in what defines me as a gamer. I’ve found myself becoming more and more interested in retro gaming, which is odd given that I my new GameRig only have mostly last gen or past gen consoles connected to it. And even that is a bit of mystery to me since despite owning new gen consoles; I have yet to find a game that makes it worthwhile to play them on aside from a handful of titles. Realizing I own more digital titles than physical ones also was a wakeup call for me, along with the interesting in owning more games but not wanting to go the distance in having a vast gaming collection like you see in various gamer YouTube videos. This then dovetails into my next point.

Gaming online presence

In the past I’ve most just stuck with blogging on various gaming sites that offering a blogging format. But it seems that those formats are becoming fewer and far between. I haven’t been able to find a backup site after the 1up.com shut down. IGN was a possibility but even though I am able to log in and post a blog, it doesn’t show up. My blog on there is in some form of limbo where it’s very disheartening that nothing new can be generated. I’m about ready to see about starting up a BlogSpot again if only to have some online presence that is N.Sonic79 aside from pixlbit. I’ve debated about trying my hand at online videos again given some of the ideas I have that I’d like to try out. It all depends really on what kind of time and motivation I have. Which is bad enough that I can hardly get myself to blog on a regular basis like I used to, it’s one of the reasons why I’ve kept up on my twitter and Instagram. Still haven’t gotten the hang of micro-blogging but it’s a bit easier to get on the other social networking apps.

Online video watching.

Since my urge to game was weak I decided to get caught up on some shows I’ve been meaning to watch on Netflix and YouTube. I would’ve included Hulu but since they’ve ditched their free model they are dead to me. I had the misfortune to watch Iron Fist and asking my comic book friend of mine if that’s what the Iron Fist was supposed to be like (spoiler: it’s not) but readily enjoyed the return of MST3K. I’m still re-watching that series off and on along with re-watching some old British comedy classics that I used to watch back in the olden days. Never did I think I’d enjoy ‘Allo Allo! As much as I do now like I did back in the day. I was rather surprised how it was allowed on the site given all the gay jokes and gay stereotyping that’s now considered racist in this day and age.  Speaking of offensive please don’t watch “13 Reasons Why”.  You’ll thank me for not dropping in intelligence after watching that idiot fest. YouTube has been hit/miss for me given that I’m going thru the same issue with other content viewers: burned thru the video content of one creator and only hungry for more. I don’t envy those who try to make online content on a regular basis while trying to walk the minefield of controversy and obscurity if you fall behind on entertaining the dullard masses. But then again it just motivates me to find others to fill the void as I wait for more episodes of Game Sack, LGR, Game Theory, Alien Theory, Top5, Unexplained Mysteries, The Supernatural Scholar, etc.

I could go on more and more, along in greater detail but once again my time grows short. I don’t even know if this blog is written properly for grammar and sentence structure but you show know me by now that I don’t write to be legible but just to enjoy doing something besides killing people in video games. At least I now own a netbook again with a proper working keyboard. As much I loved the speedy smoothness of my Asus 2-in-1 transformer PC, there is something to be said in being able to type properly on a fully set up keyboard. Depend how things go we shall see if I can get back to blogging again, if anything try to re-establish myself like I used to be in the past..

Ta-ta

“N”