Mandalorians and the Return To the Armpit Of America

[Darth Bootay]

New Jersey was a wonderful place to live. The neighbors were great, the food was better and being able to go outdoors after April without becoming dreadfully sick for weeks on end was just... well.... indescribable to anyone who takes breathing and health for granted.

Unfortunately, what New Jersey lacks is a booming tech industry. So, when we realized that Cam's position with Vonage was becoming untenable for him, we had to bite the bullet and look out of state for his next job and our next residence. There are worse places than Virginia. I should be glad he didn't accept an offer in some place like southern California or Texas.

So here we are, back in the armpit of America, in a temporary apartment until we can find and settle on a suitable house. I'm remembering all those things I always hated about this state. The people are rude, irritating, narcissistic bitches with more money than manners and class. The food is old tasting and leaves one feeling slightly ill after being eaten. The houses are cramped, poorly built, more poorly designed and despite the popped real estate bubble STILL priced well higher than the properties are worth. I got sick within a day of moving down here and haven't felt all that well since then.

It's been two weeks.

*sigh*

However, there are still my Mandalorians. I run a roleplay city in SWG named Bral Ven Parjaii (Fort Victory). The people who play there make all this real life disaster bearable. They roleplay Expanded Universe Imperial era Mandalorians so well that you'd be amazed. They speak the language, know the culture and have recreated an experience of that way of life. It's probably as close as anyone could get to being one without being a figment of Karen Traviss' (the writer of the bulk of Lucas' Mandalorian canon and the creator of the Mandalorian language) imagination.

And then there is the book. Well, it may be more than one book. The notes and outlines are becoming fairly large. Writing anything can be a real life-eater. Taking on a full scale novel is a task I never thought I'd have it in me to seriously tackle. But it looks very much like I'm going to see this through. I have a passion for it.

Writing inside someone else's universe can be a challenging thing. If I ever manage to get the thing completed, then I can deal with the entire process of negotiating with the Lucas empire to have it (or them) published. Why not do these things in a different order? Well, truth be told, I don't want to never actually finish the thing. I think that the publishing, licensing and legal aspects of the thing would kill the story before it is finished being born. Best to leave those until after the fact.

We all have our dreams. I'm one to pursue mine.

So there it is.

And how is everyone on RubiKa doing?

[Mivat]

The people are rude, irritating, narcissistic bitches with more money than manners and class. The food is old tasting and leaves one feeling slightly ill after being eaten.

Sounds like Norway, if you add -10c and fog ^^

Let me know how the book-thing works out. I'll buy them when they get published, even if I have to travel stateside to get them.

[Vallikat]

Right at the moment, I'm terribly busy.

I'm so glad to hear from you and so sorry that you're sad where you live. It doesn't really much matter where it is. If you don't find it suitable, it's hell.

As I recall you used to live just outside of Washington before moving to NJ. From what I know this area of the country has a very high cost of living. My brother used to work in the Tyson's Corner mall. He was the manager of a highly successful Bose outlet and he still couldn't make ends meet. He also found the people to be unconscionable snobs.

I wish you the best of luck finding a good place to live. I'm certain VA must have some decent areas.

I also wish you the best of luck with your book.

On that note, gotta run...still trying to finish my gift wrapping!

[Darth Bootay]

Mivviiieeees!

/pounce

Honey, if I can manage to get this monstrosity finished, published and licensed through Lucas, I'll SEND you a copy. If not, no one will get to see it. I'm not crazy enough to mess with George Lucas' legal team. They're eeebil.

/chuckle

And yeh. I miss ya.

Even after all this time.

[Mivat]

Hehe, sounds good. And definately do NOT mess with Lucas' AoL (Army of Lawyers).

Miss you too ^^ How is SWG these days? Haven't played it since a friend of mine and me went through the pilot-missions in less than a week.

[Tastyvixen]

......There are worse places than Virginia. I should be glad he didn't accept an offer in some place like southern California or Texas......

That there definitely are. lol

I'm remembering all those things I always hated about this state. The people are rude, irritating, narcissistic bitches with more money than manners and class.

I'm a rude bitch?

The houses are cramped, poorly built, more poorly designed and despite the popped real estate bubble STILL priced well higher than the properties are worth.

ah ha! Your not talking about Virginia hun. Most of VA is rather nice. What your speaking of are the people in the Washington DC Metropolitan area. Its not just Virginia but all the areas surrounding DC that people tend to become big time asshats. I find that when it comes to driving its usualy the Maryland drivers who cut you off on the highways 9 times out of 10 while the people on the Virginia side are the ones cursing out their windows at them and giving everyone the finger. lol

It tends to be that way when anyone has to live in overcrowded areas. People were never meant to be stacked on top of each other like that and it does something to you.

I live far enough out from the DC area that people tend to be a lot nicer. If you drive another half hour out it gets to the point that its the pleasant country feeling when you walk around the towns. heh So, its really not Virginia overall but the heavily overcrowded DC area that is the problem. I'm planning on moving out further west into Virginia this summer cause even the city I live in is starting to loose its hometown feeling now.

Anyway, its nice to hear from you again hun. I've missed our chats! *hugs*

[Darth Bootay]

Hehe, sounds good. And definately do NOT mess with Lucas' AoL (Army of Lawyers).

Miss you too ^^ How is SWG these days? Haven't played it since a friend of mine and me went through the pilot-missions in less than a week.

Surprisingly less sucky than you might expect. We still have the NGE. That still blows diseased banthas. But they've adjusted it enough that it's playable now. And they finally got to the adding content thing. By the beginning of the year, we're going to have player ownable gunboats. Bigger than the 1300s and Decimators. If you can imagine that.

You should see my city. It's totally neat. I'll give you a couple screens.

The cloning center

Our cantina, the Rusted Helmet

One of our RP supply shipment events

The space control center in our main fortress


Oh... and my little mando commando's ship...The Haraan'ad (Hellchild)

[Darth Bootay]

......There are worse places than Virginia. I should be glad he didn't accept an offer in some place like southern California or Texas......

That there definitely are. lol

I'm remembering all those things I always hated about this state. The people are rude, irritating, narcissistic bitches with more money than manners and class.

I'm a rude bitch?

The houses are cramped, poorly built, more poorly designed and despite the popped real estate bubble STILL priced well higher than the properties are worth.

ah ha! Your not talking about Virginia hun. Most of VA is rather nice. What your speaking of are the people in the Washington DC Metropolitan area. Its not just Virginia but all the areas surrounding DC that people tend to become big time asshats. I find that when it comes to driving its usualy the Maryland drivers who cut you off on the highways 9 times out of 10 while the people on the Virginia side are the ones cursing out their windows at them and giving everyone the finger. lol

It tends to be that way when anyone has to live in overcrowded areas. People were never meant to be stacked on top of each other like that and it does something to you.

I live far enough out from the DC area that people tend to be a lot nicer. If you drive another half hour out it gets to the point that its the pleasant country feeling when you walk around the towns. heh So, its really not Virginia overall but the heavily overcrowded DC area that is the problem. I'm planning on moving out further west into Virginia this summer cause even the city I live in is starting to loose its hometown feeling now.

Anyway, its nice to hear from you again hun. I've missed our chats! *hugs*

You don't count. XD

And yeah, it's the metro area. We're looking as far out as South Riding. That will be an hour commute.

There's this place in Freehold, NJ called Raintree... it's this horrid little planned community where they planted houses, townhouses and condos onto this small little area so close that you could barely get in and out of the gate. That's a lot like what we've been seeing on the market in Loudon County. Only in Raintree, the houses were well maintained and you weren't afraid to look at the properties.

I shit you not, we've seen places down here that you'd swear you were going to see chalk outlines on the floor of the next room. There was actually a place where the drop ceiling had... dropped... onto the floor -- and not only had they not bothered to try to clean it up, they were calling the place "pristine" and trying to move it for 400K. This week I saw a place that had french doors coming out of the dining area... onto nothing but a story high drop into a pit filled with gravel. No safety bar. The doors opened. Obviously there was supposed to have been a deck there, but no... no deck. Just air over gravel pit. I've seen single family homes built so close together that I could stand between them with my arms out and touch both houses... with windows that looked directly into their neighbor's bedrooms.

This is all in the 350-400K range, mind you. Not ghetto prices by any stretch. It boggles the mind. The market is overflowing with.... crap. Really expensive, money-pit variety crap.

[Shigy]

mmm thats looks awesome...now I just need to invent some money and about 6 more hours in the day and I might give it a go

[Tastyvixen]

I've seen single family homes built so close together that I could stand between them with my arms out and touch both houses... with windows that looked directly into their neighbor's bedrooms.

I know what you mean. lol My ex's parents bought a new home a couple years ago and their master bathroom looks out into the neighbor's master bathroom. They ended up getting one of those shades that lets light in but people can't see in from the outside. I don't see the point in a window in the bathroom who's only view is the side of a house and another window.

They have a house on the corner and a rather large yard in both back and on one side but its only about 10 feet between them and the house next to them. Its just odd that the builders didn't build further away. May as well have been a Duplex and had that 10 feet on the other side.

[Jugsmalone]

Huggles Boo, much success on the book hon, the housing market everywhere has its good and bad. My poor old house is falling down and way too big but I could not even afford to move to something more modern and small. I am just now able to think of repairing the things that need fixing without breaking the bank. I will wait for the market to switch back to being a sellers market again before even thinking of moving , Merry Christmas!!!

[Ashval]

Hey there Bootay! Long time no see!

I guess there's really not too much new with me...let's see...

Kira and I are still stupid for each other.

I'm still into my single-player RPG's and spending way too much time playing them.

I'm back to working in the field as a parole officer, but outside of the city of St. Louis (much happier doing so).

I finally decided to take the plunge and become a season ticket holder for the Blues, and it's been a blast.

There's more news that'll come after the first of the year, but I can't talk about that yet.

It's good to hear from ya. It's too bad you can't find your way to St. Louis. The cost of living here is fantastic. :/ *hugs*

[Dedojo]

Holy sh*t, what is up Bootay

Whats new?

* Better job
* No longer single / got a hotty living with me
* No longer depressive bitch
* No longer play anarchy online
* No longer play damn near anything
* 79lbs lighter and still working on it
* Blood pressure down to normal levels
* Brain not as fried from playing AO 22 hours a day and night

Lifes good

[Innari]

There's more news that'll come after the first of the year, but I can't talk about that yet.

Dammit, I wanna know.

[Vallikat]

There's more news that'll come after the first of the year, but I can't talk about that yet.

Kira's pregnant??

[Ashval]

There's more news that'll come after the first of the year, but I can't talk about that yet.

Kira's pregnant??

As if.

[Bluebots]

*bleep* sony! I'm sooo pissed at them for destroying swg .. those bastards

[Mivat]

*bleep* sony! I'm sooo pissed at them for destroying swg .. those bastards

Which is why I'm playing Pirates of the Burning Sea instead Played SWG for a while, completed the so-called hardest squadron missiontrack impside (didn't think it was all that hard, in my own opinion) and then quit.

[Tastyvixen]

There's more news that'll come after the first of the year, but I can't talk about that yet.

Kira's pregnant??

As if.

Veldron would have a heart attack.

[Acushla]

This week I saw a place that had french doors coming out of the dining area... onto nothing but a story high drop into a pit filled with gravel. No safety bar. The doors opened. Obviously there was supposed to have been a deck there, but no... no deck. Just air over gravel pit.

*laughs* that ain't a deck, that is an In-Law disposal