Get Your Hole Face On...

~or "But if There's a Dance, I Have Nothing to Wear!"

Hold cloak, spam D-Scan...

I spent the weekend sailing as per usual. Sat & Sun are full of traveling, sailing, more traveling, unpacking, laundry, etc. and the usual being just simply and very happily beat unto death after it's all over. It still amazes me that for a day or two after a race I can't make a fist. My hands get so swole from hauling on sheets and lines and such that I really cannot quite close my hands into a fist.

Understand my forearms and wrists and upper body are also especially abused, but my whole body is sore. Try standing on a mechanical bull, over lava, while doing a full Battle Ropes exercise routine... for five HOURS... it's a little like that... and I'm 58... sheesh. So yeah, weekends are for sailing and (some) weeknights are for EVE.

So Monday night after I stopped groaning every time I move or use a mouse I logged on and settled down to get moved in. I'm in "Envy" our home hole, a C2/Hi/C4, stationed in our Keepstar "Visteen". When I first flew in I was in my hole fit Stratios. That day I had time to go out to Amarr and fit up a basic Guardian for armor logi and fly that in but that was it, all I had with me and, as I am in the "recruit" stage (and have no idea how long that will last) I don't have corp hangar access yet.

Home inaccessible home...

So I podded out (traveled, not died) to Amarr. I stayed off voice comms to indicate I was not available for ops etc. and settled in to setup a few ships for this new page in my EVE career. I went to open... shit, I went to download and install PYFA, done. So I open PYFA... shit, how do I import Tur's skills? What the API is no moar? Well, I do remember some talk talk about that back afore I left... So hmmm, OK, so "click Eve SSO tab" and "Add Character", this jumps me to the EVE login screen, log in, select toon and "Authorize"... huh, schweet. So I'm up and I start browsing through my saved fits.

As I suck at PVP... I have focused Tur's skills to be an L5 Logibro with a minor in L5 Scanning. I spent a few quietly very fun hours playing with PYFA and finally settled on (#1) my standard scout Astero (x2) to add to my Strat' for scoutwing, then fitted out (#2) an Osprey to join the Guardian for my logiwing. I then grabbed (#3) a Ninja Gas Prospect, a (#4) basic PVP Hurricane and a few frigates I had lyin' about, (#5) a cloaky Crusader interceptor and (#6) a mini-logi shield Scalpel.

OK, so I ask in Corp chat if it is OK to bring in an Orca and I get a variety of answers like, "Sure other's have Orca's and Rorquals in here.", to "Well, you can but why? They beat the snot outta the hole.", to "You should use Inties man...". Obviously I know Orca's are hard on low class holes, we used them in SYJ in the rage rolling fleet to roll C6's which is interesting in the extreme when using both Indy and PVP capitols to mass close a hole.

I know that "I" know all about hole mechanics... but to these guys I'm a noob. Oh they know or have at least heard on a rational level that I am a veteran player, and even that I'm an Anoikis vet also, but saying the stove is hot is not the same as touching the stove. I have to earn their trust and respect, and I get it, I don't like it, but I do get it. Plus I do have to learn the 'Via NOMEX', the Way NOMEX does wormholes as compared to, you know, the right way... the way I do wormholes.

Warp you fat bitch!!!  WAAAARP!!

Now why do I want to use my Orca? Why am I not going to use an Inty or some such that won't "beat the snot outta the hole"? Because fitting ships in a NPC Station, especially a trade hub like Amarr is far easier than anywhere else, especially inna POS (Player Owned Station, and yes, I shall continue to use that term as it is still technically correct), and most especially inna POS in Anoikis where I do not have any access to anything except my ships and my personal hangar. And, once fitted, I don't like to waste time unfitting and refitting ships (yes even with one-click fitting, because the mods do not always go exactly where I want, and yes it matters... to me), and let's just not get me started on rigs ok? I simply prefer to move my ships fully fitted and rigged and that's just that.

OK, so I load up my Orcabago's Fleet Hangar and Ship Maintenance Bay with the above list of ships, after unloading their cargo holds of course, can't risk the dreaded, "Notify: You cannot place a Planck generator container within another Planck generator, as it will cause a graviton harmonics chain reaction whose end cannot be determined." error... don't wanna blow up the whole 'verse 'cause we left a Mobile Depot and Tractor Unit in there, now do we?

Then I pull and stack the Giant (and other) Secure Cans I used to max out her cargo cap when mining... (don't ask, please... seriously, just don't), and I throw a buncha basic-always-needed-modules into a Med Can and fill 3 Med Cans with droans of all types and throw them in. Then I fill in the nooks and cranny's of the FH & SMB with shuttles and a few Leopards.

OK, ready. I exit and have a nice quiet trip making the 3 hops to the Hi entrance and thence to Visteen. Landed. Unloaded. Undock... out to Hi and 3 nice quiet hops and a landing later and I'm shutting down =]Grampus[= (<-- Orcabago) back safe in Amarr.

The last thing I do for the evening is PYFA up a fit I like for one a them newfangled (#7) Broadswords as a Hole Closin' Heavy 'dictor (I just LOVE blowin' bubbles!!). And DAMN... so much LOVE for the new 'Sword!! I have always had a place in my heart for the 'Sword, it'sa fukkin ugly boat that one is but I like her even more now... still fukkin ugly, but a far better version of fugly.

I fly the 'Sword in and dock up in Visteen. So now I got me some ships, I made sure to kiss each one goodbye as I jumped the hole...

So... where's the dance and what should I wear?

My new homehole...

Fly safe my friends... I aim to misbehave and I hope to see you in MY Sky!

=/|)=

So... This Thing Happened See?

~or "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Retirement Party."

Have you ever woke up and in the bright, painful morning light, you look in the mirror and ask yourself... "What the actual fuck happened last night... and just where in the fuck am I?"

So I wrote this little post, the one right before this one about how my Real Life had take several turns, some bad yes, but on the whole most were pretty good and the bad stuff, well it could be dealt with because the good stuff was so frakkin good you see?

And in a flash of inspiration I tied my new life sailing the seas on yachts with the whole flying in space on spaceships thing and I saw a way to basically say "So long and thanx for all the fish!" and not have it be one more sad sack sorry assed "EVE is dying and took me with it" thing... see?

I had stopped actually playing the game almost two years ago, but I couldn't let myself accept that fully... I hadn't got to the point of really owning that I had given up EVE. It meant so damn much to me... the way I came to the game, the experiences we had, discovering Anoikis and making a HOME, a very real home in EVE with people I cared deeply about... it was hard, hard, hard to finally accept what I had known for almost two years... That I was a former EVE player.

So I wrote my little post and I made my little graphics and I uploaded it and I liked it. It felt right, I felt good. Cool.

So then, I get a comment... Schweet! it's evehermit! My old friend! I had actually been catching up on his blog when the inspiration for my Goodbye post hit me. I responded... nice!

So I get another comment... it's Yadot! another blogger brother! Cool! I reply... all good stuff.

So I get another comment... it's Cheradenine Harper! Space Noob!! yet another blogger brother! And HIS last post, OMG... it was soooooooo good!

So... what do I do? Do I reply to Noob? Do I sit back and bask in the after glow of my EVE career? ummmmm nope,

I logged back into EVE.  =]

(What follows is actually my reply to Noob after I logged back into EVE yet once again...)(it's simply too good not to use here.)

I really enjoyed writing up that post, not for the 'official' "I have failscaded EVE, who wants my stuff?" part but the writing and reminiscin' about EVE and the enemies and frienemies I have met, fought and laughed with there, and then hearing from Hermie, Yad and now you! and lastly... your last post really got to me so... yup, I logged on.

I wait while the launcher updates... then had to T-shoot a few silly issues (no mouse cursor in the game client?) then, finally the screen cleared and... I had to T-shoot a few more issues (Video, audio, colors, etc.)... THEN I was able to focus on =]Grampus[=, my Orcabago Mobile Home and Floaty Fortress of Ineptitude as it gleamed in the docking station lights...

Where the hell am I?
Wait, what the frack station am I in?
What the...? How the hell did I get there?
Where is errybody?
oh, 10PM US EST and only 18k online... sad, so very sad...
OK, so where is all my stuff?
Wait, the Inventory now shows my stuff in Anokis?
Wait, I have stuff still in Anoikis??
Wait, What the hell corp am I in?
Wait, I don't recognize that corp name at all...
OK screw it, where is Amarr? OH HELL how do you use the overview?

OH DEAR GODS I'M A NOOB AGAIN!!!!!!

In other words... I had a pretty good time! We'll see how long it lasts... but I'm not in a rush and my weekday evenings are mostly free... so, let's see what we shall see hmmm?

(End of copy)

So... what happened then you ask, as well you should...

While flying my Ocabago back 26 hops to Amarr I EVEmailed some old corpies and friends, among them Epigene (aka Splatus yet another blogger brother...) and Epi immediately replied. That was all it took... we ended up in EVE chat and the next thing you know, I've joined Anomalous Existence (NOMEX) in their home hole, a C2/Hi.

I fitted up a Stratios, a Faction SOE CoveOps, armor, droneboat, cruiser... Jack of All Trades, Master of None but... it's wormholes where we live by the cloak and with a cruiser I can carry, besides ammo, spare drones, etc., a Mobile Depot and a Probe Launcher and probes so I can refit for scanning on the fly.

Anyhoo... as I had to to do a "Fresh Start" reload of the Win10 OS on my hoopty 7 year old laptop...  I have to download and install TS3 and other such needful apps. Then I start working through the corpmail, with links for Pathfinder, Slack, etc., etc. Then I had to dig up my old mungy headset, get it figured out, get server info for TS3, get on comms, get comms unfucked and say Hi to all as are on.

An Op started while I was busy doin all that so finally I get solid info on the... ummm... I mean "our" stat hisec system and off I go... 15 hops later I warp to the corp BM and I land on the hole...

And then I just sat there for a few minutes... contemplating nature, the verse and the vagaries of life... both real and virtual.

"Jump, jump!" I hear my old FC's say in my head...
"Bluefire!" we call out as we


Jump!

Yeah, that's right...   we live inna Keepstar

Fly dangerous my friends, and watch out for ol Tur in your Sky!!

=/|)=

"I'mmmmmm OFF to be a Pirate! A Wonderful Pirate of OZZZZZZZZZ!!"

~or "We watch as Capt. Tur sails off into the sunset... and lives happily ever after."

In EVE we fly spaceships... virtual amazing incredible stunning mind blowing spaceships... Wee itty bitty wittle spaceships and GINORMOUS MONSTROUS DREADNAUGHT TITAN SPACESHIPS... and everything in-between that the twisted mental imaginations of some of the most interesting (IMHO) devs and game designers and just plain ol' GAMERS could think of, and ALL of it swirled around and built from the raw ore to the fully finished and outfitted weapons of mass virtual death by us... by the players... and ALL of it, everything player made in the game is targetable and destroyable...
Loss is REAL in EVE.

Pirates are real...
Arrakis is real...
The Harkonnen are... wait, crap... sorry...

Pirates are real...
Anoikis is real...
The Harkonnen are really incredibly ebil fictional characters in the highly acclaimed Dune series by Frank Herbert, and if you don't know, you should be ashamed... 'nough said, K? so...

I used to fly in EVE. Used to. I stopped or actually ran out of gas... or POS fuel... or interest... I died of apathy. Turns out we aren't immortal, we can die... of boredom. I did. or... did I die? or did I just get interested in something else?

Those of you, the few, the weird, you band of red-headed-step-children-of-BOB, you know the changes wrought upon me during the death throes of my EVE days.

- Divorce;
+ Sailing;
+ My Amazing New Lady CJ;
Job Changes (both stressful bad and stressful good);
- walked away from a four year FT position;
+ five months later, landed a much better contract position;

add to these the ones you knew not of...
- broke a tooth, could not afford repair;
- three weeks into new job, company announced outsourcing my dept.;
  (my last day... Apr 30, 2019)
- Jeep needs new engine, is parked again;
+/- Buy very used Rogue cheap from aforementioned My Amazing New Lady CJ;
- broke another tooth, no choice but to repair;

add to these the new one I just found out about...
- Rogue in shop, needs work, something to the tune of four digits... sheesh

OK... I've had A LOT GOING ON ok??

But the main part, the things that really matter? My kids are doing great. All of them, the three step kids I don't see so much now after the divorce but they are all in their 30s and all have full busy successful lives. My teens are doing well, ok to very good in high school and no signs or portents of any of the real evils that teens are most at risk to. If we can just get them safely into their mid twenties they have a real shot at avoiding the Big Three Life Changing Mistakes of youth... drugs, alcohol and unplanned (yes I said it because it's the right word) pregnancy.

Other than that... Sailing and CJ ease all ills and make all problems as naught. Broke down cars be damned, broken teeth be damned and job and money issue be damned. We'll figure it out and make it better, all it takes is the will to accept that you yourself can make it better. Believe it and act out that belief and so far, it's working. We have several options we can work on and we are applying ourselves to each as we can and broken things are getting fixed and there are many options for making scratch. As long as I have CJ by my side and I can muster up a full working set of arms, legs, hands, feet and an at least semi-operable brain... I have all it takes to make it all better than it has ever been. And it's working.

S/V Luna Blu

Better you say? Yes, better says I! In EVE we fly... IRL I sail! I and CJ have been crewing on a number of boats in the Southern Chesapeake Bay Regattas over the last 2 years, most of all on S/V Luna Blu, a '66 Bristol 39 yawl rigged true, blue-water open ocean cruiser/racing yacht. I have devoted myself to crewing on her every race she's entered in, and CJ will crew with us from mid June through early August... and this year, we take her back to the waters she was built for...      open ocean racing.

That's CJ, up on the foredeck...

She is entered to take part in the 69th annual, 120 NM  "Down the Bay Race" (Annapolis MD to Hampton VA from May 25th to May 26th) and "Southern Bay Race Week" a regatta of three races, The Macolm Davis Race, The Casemate Classic Race and The Old Point / Blackbeard Race (a race each day from May 31st to June 2nd) and then the one I cannot believe we are going to get to crew on... The 37th bi-annual, 473 NM, "Annapolis to Newport Race" (Annapolis MD to Newport RI, June 7th to June 11th).

Heading out for the Hot Buttered Rum Race 2018!

So.. in EVE we fly our pixel spaceships through 7,500 star systems across uncounted light years of space... In real life I, and my lady CJ, will sail across more than 1000 Nautical Miles of  the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean in just these races alone this season... I miss EVE, I do... I miss my friends and my enemies and all the rest... but out here, in the real... I sail the blue waters and the open sky and the wind and the waves... I am with my skipper and crewmates...
and I am free,
and I am happy.

S/V Luna Blu Crew, the "Lunatics" (what else?)...  That's me, on the far right...

Fly safe my good friends, and maybe one day I'll see you out on the Blue...  =/|)= 

Your always affable host...

PS - Has anyone ever noticed that thing I always stick at the end of the end?
The  "=/|)=" thing?
Did you ever notice how it looks like wind and sails...   =]

PSS -  I believe this may be my last post. I will keep the blog up and possibly, just possibly I might add to it now and again. But all in all I had a good run in EVE... I "officially" take my leave with almost 8 years of amazing memories and experiences, and in the end, when we all really do finally 'shuffle off' as they say... what will we have left to us, what do we take with us, but our memories hmm?  Pack carefully, I am.

=/|)=