Random Subject Saturday - Blogging Music (DjVick, ElectroDanceMovement, Others)

Hello and welcome Random Subject Saturday; the day of the week where I tell you what I listen to while writing on this blog, and where to find it if you're so inclined.

Yes... I made the "DJVick" text out of alignment just to drive you crazy... Image is a screenshot of https://www.youtube.com/user/DJVickOfficial

A lot of people have been asking me to talk about music... Truth be told, I'm not sure what I can really say on the subject, apart from perhaps what I listen to while I'm writing these blog posts. So I'm going to talk about some "Blogging Music" that I listen to each day while I write for this blog.

Blogging is not exactly an easy task. You have to figure out what you're going to say or talk about, try not sound boring, make sure that the blog looks good and is interesting to see, and mainly, put your nose to the grindstone and actually sit and type the posts out. For some people, that is somewhat easy I suppose, but I find the prospect of sitting behind a desk for long periods of time painful these days, and only mainly bearable thanks to what I fondly refer to as "Blogging Music" these days.

While perhaps somewhat strange (like myself), I've got a bunch of songs and mixes of music from YouTube arranged into playlists that I listen to while I blog. Two of the largely featured YouTube channels in the Mixes category are DJVick and ElectroDanceMovement quite simply because they have hour long sets of good music that can help me ignore the fact that I've been sitting in one place for an extensive period. (That's not a great thing with me. I'm a very active person. Imagine bottling up a Jackrabbit that's just been fed Redbull and Speed inside a tennis ball tin. That's me.) You can find the youtube playlist of these mixes that I listen to here: Mixes

The other one is something that is a bit more painful to add to, simply because it requires me to find each song individually, but on the other hand, it's a good representation of my music tastes if you're interested in that for some strange reason. Everything from Lana Del Rey, to Demon Hunter, to Cherry Kab and tons others can be found in this playlist. (There was some Taylor Swift at one point, but she got irritating. Teehee)

If you would like to go and listen to this random assortment of songs, you can find them here: Music

Admittedly, sitting behind a desk for long periods still freaks me out pretty badly despite the music, but it makes it somewhat better, so hey. And nothing good has ever been gotten easily, so I'm still more than happy to bash away on my keyboard to provide you guys with something to read each day. (And hopefully enjoy.)

In any case, so now the subject of music has been spoken on. You can stop nagging now. If you want to tell me that I listen to crap music, or wish to thank me for the playlists, you can do so in the comments below or on my Facebook or Twitter pages which you can like and/or follow using the associated buttons on the bar to the right. Also, don't forget to share this with some friends who need good music playlists I guess. I add new stuff to those every so often, and enough people have listened to them to make think they aren't all bad. I could be wrong... Regardless, I thank you for taking the time to read this article; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again tomorrow.

Keep rocking my friends.

Storytime Sunday - The Tale Of Plugless (Another Of My Nicknames)

Hello and welcome to Storytime Sunday; that day of the week where I detail the story of how I earned yet another of the countless strange nicknames I have.

This could be the weirdest thing I've used in a header image so far... Well. First time for everything. :D

Have you ever done something so incomprehensibly silly, that the only reaction for both yourself and those around you, was to laugh? Probably. People do stupid things all the time. In my case though, it was bad enough that some of the fairer humored individuals took to calling me Plugless afterwards. Quite the story actually.

If you've read some of the articles that I post on this blog, such as the fantastic idea I had of jumping off of a almost 2 story high platform of sorts, you'll understand that I have a certain propensity towards ill thought out decisions, often in the name of spontaneous fun. While perhaps not always a bad thing, this does sometimes lead to strange situations such as today's topic, how I came to be known as Plugless.

Just less than 3 years ago from today, I had just become a leader (prefect) at my High School, and was, alongside the rest of the leader body, tasked with helping to get the school into a condition that would allow for the marking of that years Matric Examination papers to proceed without an issue. This also involved the assistance of running a small shop which was to provision the South African teachers marking said papers with food and drinks so that their job could pass by with less hassle.

So here's the fun. For some reason, South African teachers are coke addicts. (Not that coke... The stuff you drink. On a side note, I've tried sniffing coke before. The bubbles kept tickling my nose.) In any case, running this shop passed by with relative ease apart from the near constant demand for cans of Coca-Cola. The shop had set up a massive metal bin which was filled with water and ice in order to keep the cans cool as they were sold nearly as quickly as they were put in.

The problem with such a setup of course, is that the freshest cokes were always placed into the tub on top, and the oldest ones were to be found at the bottom of said metal container... by the rubber plug which held the frigid contents in their watery suspension. So of course Murphy's law dictates that at the end of the day when there is no longer a supply of ice to further cool more drinks, I knocked the infernal plug out of the drain.

Allow me to place this into perspective. This bin was tall enough to reach over your average persons hips, and deep enough that placing your arm in, your shoulder would be submerged if you placed your hand flat against the base. So there I was, innocently searching for a cold coke, when the sudden splatter of water on the ground gives away what I've done, and seeking to preserve the now more precious supply of cold water for the remaining drinks, I quickly weighed my options. 

There was no way to refill the bin, and no alternative plug, and after frantically brushing my hands about the bottom for 30 seconds, I decided that the only remaining option was to sacrifice my own limbs to frostbite in the name of preserving the precious commodity that was cold water. (I should point out that almost 3 years later, I'm still laughing at how ridiculous this sounds.) Placing one hand over the drain to prevent leakage, I stood with my arms up to my shoulders in icy water with my behind dangling over the edge of the bin as if I was bobbing for apples. 

If you're wondering how funny that looked, one of the school teachers accompanying the leaders with this job spotted this and asked what I was doing, only to break out into non-stop laughter for 5 minutes when I told her; while I continued to desperately find the rubber plug beneath all the cans of drinks with my remaining arm. Good times.

Thankfully, as luck would have it, I eventually managed to find the rubber plug and pulled my now shinning pink arms from the water. If I'd seen that colour on a hunk of meat I would have called it pork most likely. And it hurt... a lot. Thankfully, this was during the spring so they warmed up quick enough. As an added bonus, the still cackling teacher decided to thereby dub me "Plugless", hero of the cooldrink bin from there onward. In good humor of course. Still, what a sight my round bottom over the edge of that tub must have been. (Teehee)

In any case, since then, Plugless has been one of the many strange nicknames that I am known by. Still not quite as strange as "Dr. Unikorn" though. In any case, if you think that Plugless suits me as a nickname, or perhaps just want to let me know how stupid you think I am, make sure to do so in the comments below; and make sure to share this with any of your friends who appreciate stories of people doing things that make no sense. Everyone likes a good laugh. And of course, if you would like to read more stories like these, make sure to like my Facebook page and/or follow me on Twitter using the associated button on the bar to the right so that you can get the latest articles as I post them. Regardless of what you do however, I thank you for taking the time to read this post; hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again tomorrow.

Fare Footing (and solidly held plugs) in your travels.

Random Subject Saturday - Tabletop Roleplaying Games

Hello and welcome to Random Subject Saturday; the day of the week where I expose some of my nerdier interests, and talk about how awesome they are anyway.

Assorted gaming dice; the trademark of any self-respecting nerd. And look, they even shine. (Teehee)

Have you ever sat down and thought: "Man. I wish there was a game that was like real-life where you could do anything you liked."? If so, you might be happy to find there are games like that. They're just inherently multiplayer and don't involve computers. If you are a 90's kid, or born earlier, you may have even played one.

Before I start, I should probably explain what I'm talking about, and clarify something. Firstly, I'm talking about "Tabletop Roleplaying Games" and secondly, they aren't so much games, as systems. (You'll get why I make that distinction in a moment.) Tabletop Roleplaying Games are the great grandpapies of modern video games. They're those crazy old coots that say "In my day, we didn't have any of this technology stuff. We had to use our imaginations to have fun." while watching Commander Shepard headbutt a Krogan. (Fistbump if you get that reference.)

To be fair, they aren't wrong with that. Don't get me wrong, videogames are great and will always be a favorite hobby for me; but playing a Tabletop Roleplaying Game is incomparable to that, despite modern games being based upon them. (Games like the original Fallout and Fallout 2 were based on a gaming system called GURPS.) To put it into perspective, one of the greatest strengths and weaknesses of videogames is their elimination of the need for imagination. Like the argument of TV over books, they simply remove all need for you to imagine what something is, because it's displayed at face value and requires no further forethought. Nice as not having to think can be occasionally, that can become extremely unfufilling if you ever get a taste of what imagination has to offer. Basically; if imagination were money, then videogames are expensive loans. They get you what you want, but basically rob you of a greater pleasure in the long run.

Inversely, playing a Tabletop Game is like putting a ton of money into a retirement fund. Maybe not as great at first, but the outcome is far greater than anything you could have had in the meantime. Since these Tabletop games are more like systems than the games you might be thinking about when I say the word "game", this allows them a far greater ability to pull in random aspects from anywhere and take the story anywhere. A computer game can only do what it's programmed to do, these tabletop "systems" as I've called them, are limited by a single thing. Your imagination.

What do I mean by that? Say you're playing a videogame and something annoying keeps happening. Maybe your character keeps dropping their weapon for example, and because of that, you would have to pick the stupid thing up every single time that happened. In the case of a Tabletop Roleplaying Game, and I'm speaking from experience, having done this in the first tabletop game I ever played, you can come up with all sorts of clever tricks to solve an issue like that. In my case, I was playing a somewhat poorly made archer character who kept managing to drop his bow. So I asked what it would cost to buy some leather and strap said piece of infernal pine to my characters arm so that I would not have to climb out of tree's to go retrieve the thing. The DM said that works for him, and so a painful issue was solved with some imaginative ingenuity. 

So what do you need to play these tabletop games? ("And what the hell is a DM?" I bet you're asking.) Well, you need yourself, maybe 3 other friends, some time, dice and the rules for one of these Tabletop Games. You might be thinking: "well, what about imagination?". That helps, but usually after a few games you develop one of those anyway, so no stress. 

So what's the downside to these games? Well, you can't play them alone. A minimum of 2 people required, but it usually requires a skillful DM to make sure that it's not boring for so few people; so about 3 or 4 is best to start. And of course, before I delay any more, the Dungeon Master is essentially the Storyteller that makes these games work. (and technically only referred to as a DM in Dungeons & Dragons. Other games have other terms.) I should point out that it's a good idea to have the most imaginative of your friends as the DM, since they're the people that get the game going and dictate what is happening in the game. 

Your DM is the guy who sits and has some cool ideas for a story, writes them down and comes up with an adventure for the other players's characters to experience, and then describes things as those characters interact with the world he is portraying in the story. A difficult role to explain, but you could essentially liken the DM to the world's puppeteer, pulling the strings in reaction to the events caused by the other players. A hefty burden to carry as the person who determines if the story is one worth remembering or not, but ultimately rewarding if done well.

I will admit to being somewhat bad at explaining things occasionally, so instead of listening to my fanboyisms's, perhaps you're interested in seeing a game like this played. If so, while not quite the same as playing it with friends in person, my resident YouTube favorite Quill18 actually has a 4 part video series (1, 2, 3, 4) on YouTube of him playing the recently released 5th edition of the Dungeons & Dragons system, which he plays with some of his subscribers online. Check it out. While somewhat informal, it better demonstrates how things work than my ramblings.

So, I'm guessing, at this point, you're either bored stiff with my vague/detailed descriptions and nerdiness, or you're itching to try one of these games out for yourself. If you're the former, I understand. Pretending to be someone else and dictating your actions while someone tells you about the consequences of said actions isn't for everyone. However, if you're the latter, then you're probably looking to find out what kinds of Tabletop Roleplaying Games there are, and where you can get them.

Firstly, there are a ton of them... Waaaay too many for me to mention, and they're not even limited to "Roleplaying" games, which is why I've been talking about those specifically. There's strategy type games like Warhammer that I might talk about at a later date, and many others; but having never played those, I'm going to keep those discussions for other articles.

So what systems do I know about? Well, the first is obvious. Dungeons and Dragons, which is by the company Wizards of the Coast. Essentially the staple of these gaming systems, and maybe even the progenitor of them if I'm not mistaken; it's a fair place to start in terms of Tabletop Roleplaying Games. The rules are relatively simple and make sense, there are 5 editions worth of rules for you choose from, and basically everyone who's every played a Tabletop game has probably played DnD, so with a bit of luck, finding someone to play with shouldn't be all that hard. (Unless you live in South Africa, like me, then it's a mission.) Luckily, the website RPG.co.za has forums and such to help out with that sort of thing. (They're also run by the same people who hold the ICON tabletop games convention in South Africa each year.) Probably a good idea to check them out if you're interested, since that's where I found the people I played my first Pathfinder campaign with. There's also an online "Wiki" for the base game, so all you internet savants can go check out some of the things people come up with for their campaigns.

 (As an afterthought, if you do decide to play DnD, dodge 4th edition for your first campaign, it's combat rules are fairly draconian compared to the other editions.)

The other system I know about is a somewhat more... obscure game called Mage: The Ascension that was created by White Wolf; who are now owned by the CCP Games, the Iceland based creators of the MMO EVE online. (Again, an article for another time.) I say game, but in technicality there were many that were more or less the same thing, but spun in different directions for the game "universe" that White Wolf created, known as the "World of Darkness". Perhaps one of the most popular, (yet still fairly obscure), videogames based on the World of Darkness was Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines; which was again itself based on the ruleset for Vampire: The Masquerade. However, the tabletop rules I know of are for Mage: The Ascension, for one simple reason. That game is fucking cool. (Excuse the expletive, that's how cool it is.) Based on the aforementioned "GURPS" gaming system, these rulesets from White Wolf ranged on everything from Vampires to Werewolves, Regular Humans and Mages, to Fey and various other creatures, all as playable characters; and, for the more adventurous Storytellers, able to be used all together. Cool as that is, it is Mage: The Ascension that is of the most interest to me.

Mage: The Ascension takes the idea of doing anything you can imagine, and literally pushes it to it's limits. While I did say that these Tabletop Roleplaying Games are only limited to your imagination, I should add that there are the bounds of the rules for obvious reasons. A game is not a game without rules that everyone agrees to play by. Here's the thing, Dungeons and Dragons is pretty awesome, but depending on your tastes, slightly limited. It's great for it's medieval high fantasy and ease of access to new players, but for people looking for something more, things like it's magic are completely limited, and using it in a modern setting does make things difficult and confusing. The World of Darkness setting and Mage: Ascension has the opposite issues. It's modern, and it's rules are so broad that for the inexperienced, it can be overwhelming. (Damn it Greg, explain better.) Consider this: in Dungeons and Dragons, you get the "Magic Missile" spell that shoots three bolts of magic, everytime, the same way, every time you use it. Seems cool, but you would expect magic to be more freeform than that.

Mage: The Ascension takes that idea, and runs with it. While it makes place for what they call "Rotes", the focus of the game is based around the concept of molding reality to ones will. The rules don't detail spells and their effects, they talk about spheres of magic, and what kind of things can be done at various levels of expertise in them. A character who knows the Sphere of life can manipulate all things related to life, seeing life visually, to healing the injured, to eventually even outright snuffing it out or creating it with the click of his fingers. A character that knows the Sphere of Entropy can see the strings of fate about him, and begin to play with them as he carries gains more expertise, forcing normal dice to always roll sixes, or causing the supports of a wall to fail, bringing the rubble onto those nearby. Sounds fairly mystical no? And the best part is, it truly is limited by your imagination. (and your characters expertise within the rules obviously.) Anything from guns that never run out of ammo to time travel is possible within the rules of this game. So I'd say that's pretty awesome no?

Warning: The Next Paragraph contains heavy fanboyism. Read at your own risk.

I should point out that you've probably heard of a similar sounding game or two. Firstly, Magic: The Gathering and Mage: The Ascension are two separate things, the former being a card game by Wizards of the Coast. Secondly, Mage: The Ascension is in technicality a discontinued version of what became Mage: The Awakening, a reboot by White Wolf again. I'm gonna be blunt about this, though you're free to have a different opinion. Mage: The Ascenion = Awesome. Mage: The Awakening = Garbage. The technicalities being the Mage: The Awakening took some perfectly reasonable, sensible and just plain cool ideas, and trivialized them for ease of play, while ruining the idea in the process. Not saying it's a bad game, but in my personal opinion, it can't hold a candle to Mage: The Ascension.

The Danger has passed.

Oh yes, I mentioned that Mage: The Ascension was an old, obscure and rebooted game. You're might be wondering how you would get your hands on the rules and such for this game then. Thank goodness for DriveThruRPG, an online, print on demand service who offer the printing and delivering of all the related game materials for Mage: The Ascension, it's brother games, and even other games like Dungeons and Dragons if you're struggling to find them. A handy service to be sure. (And if I'm not mistaken, you can even just buy the PDF's of these books from them at a steal.)

In any case, before I decide to further carry on about how cool Mage: The Ascension is, I should wrap the article up. If you think I should shut-up about Mage, or maybe talk about/try out another gaming system, make sure to let me know in the comments below... Otherwise, I can't know now can I? Also, be sure to share this with any of your bored/nerdy friends out there, maybe they'll find something to like in this veritable wall of text. And of course, if you would like to see more articles likes this one, make sure to like my Facebook page and/or follow me on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the right. Regardless of what you do, I thank you for having taken the time to read this and that I have redeemed myself for my lack of a proper article yesterday, hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again tomorrow.

Farewell adventurers. Safe Travels.

Flu Friday - The Sudden Arrival Of Winter Flu

Hello and welcome to Flu Friday? Yeah... sorry about that... I'm afraid I'm in no condition to stick to today's scheduled topic.

The makeshift work of a semi-drunk and rather ill blogger. I'd say I can do better... but really, I can't in this state...

You ever have those days that start out like you're feeling perfect, and then suddenly by about 3 O' Clock you realize you're probably about to fall over and die temporarily. (Don't ask me how that works... Couldn't tell you.) I'm having one of those days.

I should preface this with an apology for breaking from the usual schedule of talking about philosophical thoughts on Fridays. I'm sorry. However, before you get the pitchforks and torches out, do not that I am near completely sick at this point, and between aching joints and a dizzy head, am only able to write even this apology because of a liberally applied drink of "medicinal" rum. (That means I'm trying to make myself feel well enough via intoxication that I can write anything at all.) While this hardly a good way of doing anything, I figure an slightly drunk apology beats an incoherent philosophical discussion, so I hope that you will forgive me for this minor indiscretion.

On the upside, my strangely inhuman immune system usually allows me to recover from this sort of thing absurdly quick, so we should be back on track with the proper topics of discussions from tomorrow. Until then. I think I'm going to go sleep. I cannot tell whether it's the rum or the flu that has me stumbling around, but neither are exactly fun.

Anyways, thank you again for your understanding, and I will speak again tomorrow.

Thoughtful Thursday - 1000 Pageviews (What It Takes To Get That)

Hello and welcome to Thoughtful Thursday; the day of the week where I talk about the fact that this blog has just hit over 1000 pageviews, and what kind of person it takes to get to that.

The delightfully minimalist Blogger stats dashboard.  Probably their property... just so you know.

 Today I hit 1000 all time Page-views in one and a half months. (45 straight days of blogging to be precise) So today, I'm going to thank you, the readers, for getting me to this point, and talk about what it took to get here. ONWARD!

45 days ago, I decided to do something. I decided that plain Photoshop was boring, and that writing fun articles about life, the universe and everything would be far more interesting than posting my occasionally interesting Photoshop creations. 45 days ago I didn't have 1000 pageviews for this blog. (Truth be told, this came at a great time too. I had no idea what I was going to write about today. So thanks.)

First and foremost, I would like to thank you guys, each and every one of you, who have read one of the many articles I have posted on this blog in all this time. I could never have reached this point without you. Some of you, my friends, come each day to read what I have to say, either in support of me, or because of genuine interest in what I have to say. Then there are others, such as those from across the world, in countries from India to America and countless in between; who, while I may never have the pleasure of knowing you, have my immense gratitude as well for helping me get to this point.

So, as part of a special celebration for today's achievement, I decided to share the story of what precisely, it took, to get to this point so far. In the past, on my 30 day special, I did mention how blogging has affected me in my day to day life, but did not mention precisely how it was that I came to be writing this blog. So that is what I'm going to talk about today.

To start with. I obviously never envisioned myself as a blogger from the start. Can you imagine a pre-school teacher's face as a 5 year old says they want to be a blogger? (I can, the look is incredulous at best.) At various points in my life, I've wanted to be things ranging from a Game Designer, to a Writer, a Graphic Designer and an Actor. (Still do on all of those to varying degrees.) 

So how did I get to blogging? Well, at various points in my life, I figured that blogging sounded like fun and gave it whirl doing anything from doing philosophical discussions to game reviews. (Sound familiar?) Ironically none of these past blogs ever held my attention for any degree of time, and quickly fell to the wayside as I continued with other tasks in my life. Why? Perhaps I was bored; or maybe just not ready to take on the personal obligation. Who can say?

In any case, as time progressed, I began my middling Photoshop career playing various online games. You would be surprised at the way people enjoy graphic design as simply an addition to what they do in games. Perhaps I will speak on that subject sometime.

And then it happened. I finished High School. Egads. Now what was I to do with all this free time? That was a difficult question to answer. High School is short on ceremony when it dumps you into the real world. You simply wake up one day and realize that your life just started, and you have absolutely no idea what you're going to do with. Some are (un)lucky that this delayed until after University, but the problem usually remains. What do you do?

For me, the answer was slow to come. Having come from a successful acting career at school, I was hopeful to start acting in the real world. Were that it were so simple. Following various jobs of sales work and what not, I eventually stumbled upon some somewhat inspirational things on the internet which are partially responsible for the creation of this blog. Of course, I had initially started this blog simply as a place to show off my photoshop artworks, I had yet to realize what I could actually do until my perusal of a YouTube rankings website by the name of Social Blade brought me to the YouTube channel of Caspar Lee. (The highest ranked South African YouTuber so far.)

My discovery of Caspar Lee however, was not so much interesting, as his video's with a very lively and friendly British blogger and vlogger (Vlogger = Video Blogger) by the name of Zoe Sugg, whom he met while living in the UK with her brother Joe Sugg.

A lovely, hideously cropped screenshot of her blog http://www.zoella.co.uk/ 

Now, I can't precisely remember what it was that interested me in Zoe Sugg. Perhaps her friendliness or genuine attitude while on camera for her video's, and perhaps her amassed stardom in the UK despite doing little other than cosmetic product reviews. (Not counting the fun things she does with other YouTubers) This somehow led me to her blog, and her "Draw My Life" video. (Draw My Life was/is a fad on YouTube where people would illustrate their lifestories on a whiteboard at the request of their fans.)

In hers, Zoe describes, among other things, the start and growth of her Blog and viewership. While definitely a lovely video to watch, it was this, as well as some of her more personal posts on her blog, which largely inspired me to begin this blog in earnest as she described how she grew from a simple online diary she used to talk about the things she liked, to the huge blog where thousands of people went constantly to read her reviews.

As always, spontaneous decision, which is a common factor in about 50% of my choices, led to me immediately designing the graphics of the blog you see before you, while my brain worked to think about what precisely I would talk about. While I eventually decided upon an amalgamation of all previous blog ideas as well as many new ones, it still took sometime before various faucets were fully imagined, such as the alliterating names which decide the type of topic I discuss each day.

45 days later, and here we are, with 1000 all time pageviews, and prospects good for the future if I may be optimistic. I look forward to continuing to write and produce content for what has largely become a big part of my every day life, and furthermore look forward to entertaining and telling you guys and girls about the awesome things I see, hear and do. Which draws today's 1000 pageview celebration and thanks to a close. If you would like me to mention anything else, or perhaps simply want to suggest something that you would like me talk about, please make sure to do so in the comments below. Also, don't forget to share this post with any friends you have who are thinking of starting blogs but are not sure about their odds, perhaps it will give them the inspiration they need. Of course, if you would like to see what more I have to talk about from here on, don't forget to like my Facebook page and/or follow me on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the right so that you can read my latest posts as I make them. And lastly, but not least, I thank you for taking the time to read this somewhat lengthier article, hope that you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again tomorrow.

Bye for now my friends.

Storytime Sunday - Steam Trains (Reefsteamers Open Day)

Hello and welcome to Storytime Sunday; the day of the week where I tell you about the story about the random subject from yesterday so that the random subject accurately talks about a story being posted the next day. I also talk about steam trains.

An actual South African train this time. Also, photography is hard...

Yesterday I saw actual Steam Locomotive's for the first time in my life. And they were working too. Perhaps that doesn't sound very exciting, but for people who enjoy learning about the way technology has evolved over the years, and the history behind things, (Like myself), it was a fantastic experience. If you're one of those people, you may enjoy this post.

So, prior to yesterday, I had never actually seen a Steam Locomotive in real life. Of course, having been born in 1995, I was brought into the world far past the age of steam, and the use of diesel and electric locomotives was by far the norm. I won't say I was immediately interested in the idea of going to these trains, having never really known enough about them to spark an interest, I am quite glad that my old man took me along to the Reefsteamers Winter Depot Open Day yesterday. (Not that it was entirely just to look, we were there as members of the N Gauge Guild, but the opportunity to check out the trains was one not to be passed up. Besides, I did say I was going and would talk about it today in yesterday's post.)

I'm a terrible photographer occasionally. Don't expect too much from these images.

 So what exactly did I enjoy about the event? Well, for starters, I always say I'll try anything twice. I didn't imagine that would involve climbing onto various steam trains, one of which had a fire burning a mere few feet from me, within it's giant steel belly.

"Not even hot" the driver said. "If it were hot it would be white."  he said. It was roughly at this moment I realized just how much engineering went into these steal beasts.

Perhaps another interesting part was the history behind the machines and the men who worked on and with them. Many of the train drivers, (and enthusiasts), present at the event spoke about the trains as if they were people, often saying things like the trains were "alive". Which makes sense considering the degree to which they had to get to know each individual locomotive in order to drive it. Each loco had different behaviors, and would not act the same way to the same things like boiler heat or the amount of oil used on it's parts, likely due to the lack of standardized parts from which they were built. Considering the expense of building one of these, only those who knew the train as well as they would know a sibling were aloud to drive it. (The drivers would often be chosen from the most veteran "firemen". Those are the poor fellows that shovel coal into the train's fire for years on end.)

Worth noting: This was taken at head height.

However, the greatest part of this entire foray, was the further growth of my appreciation for the sheer ingenuity of people in years gone by. No computers or magical implements to do stuff, these trains were basically held together by hard work and prayers that whoever drew the design, (by hand), didn't screw up. There are no counters screens up in the engine cabin, just a large variety of valves, and a couple gauges, with which the driver would have to try and drive the train optimally and without wrecking it. (Which is significantly easier than you would expect, considering the heat within these engines often got hot enough to split the atoms in water into hydrogen and oxygen and further burn them. Yes. They sprayed water into their fires to make them hotter, because logic is for losers apparently.)

If you were looking for an indication of age, the words British and Detroit on one of the control mechanisms within the loco are good indication of it's near 100 years of service.

 If there's one thing to take away from something like this, it's that people in the old days got things done, hell or high-water as the proverb goes. One of the most phenomenal things to consider is that they would sometimes run 2 of these unholy metal behemoths in tandem. (That means to put the together to pull more weight.) That doesn't sound so hard these days, but remember I mentioned they didn't have any special monitors for their trains? Lets add the fact that radio's didn't exist when they did this, and the trains are long enough that there is no possible way to communicate from one engine to another. I'm not saying these guys were superhuman, but there must have been some telepathic stuff going on for these guys to get these trains moving in perfect time. Remember, the trains don't behave the same, so the drivers would have to somehow, in perfect unison, get their locomotive to start moving and pulling at the exact same speed and exert the exact same amount of torque. (My mind has yet to find a rational explanation for how this was possible. If you know, be sure to let me in on the secret in the comments below.)

It's 2014 and the height of the digital era, it would have been near sacrilege to not take an obligatory selfie while standing next to various metal components.*Goes to hang himself for saying that.*

 In any case, it was a fantastic experience to get to see these majestic, metal monsters in action in an era where they are near completely outmoded by more efficient technologies. I certainly would enjoy seeing more interesting events like these and learning more about the crazy things that they did in the bygone eras to get by.

In any case, I have a variety of other pictures that I took, some of which I'll leave below for laughs since I couldn't think of any reasonable way to work them into this post. If you found this interesting and would like to see me talk more about stuff like this, or anything in general, make sure to let me know in the comments below. Also, if you know any train/history/general knowledge enthusiast friends, make sure to share this with them. They may appreciate your consideration. Also, if you would like to read more articles likes these or articles by me, make sure to like my Facebook page and/or follow me on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the right so that you can get the latest posts, as they're posted. Finally, regardless of what you do, I thank you for taking the time to read this, hope you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and I will speak again tomorrow.

Totsiens mense.

She approaches...

You would think it obvious, but I'm wondering why there was no warning not to touch the obviously hot metal when there was a sign warning about moving trains. Also, who made such a sign necessary?

Choo Choo yes?

Apparently, a random fighter-plane propeller engine isn't out of place at a train exposition. Who knew.

Found this randomly in the dirt. Seem familiar?

If it's not familiar now, you may not call yourself a Borderlands fan. (Teehee)

Philosophy Friday - Happiness and Positivity

Hello and welcome to a somewhat late Philosophy Friday; the day of the week where I talk about the strange serious tone I seem to have picked up as a blogger, and why being happy is awesome.

Because nothing says happy and positive like a Pink haired unicorn wearing armor. (Teehee) Come back on Tuesday next week to find out where said Unicorn is from.

Happy people are awesome people. How do people stay happy? I could be wrong, but I think positivist play a rather large role in it. You ever seen someone smile after saying; "Were all gonna die..." and meaning it? Lets talk about that.

Before I start thought, let me preface the idea behind the article. A friend of mine who reads my blog pointed out that I've become rather somewhat serious in tone lately with my articles, with far less joking and lightheartedness than I'd actually like. A large point of this blog is that I'm seeking a balance between being informative and interesting, while also fairly entertaining. While I can manage that in person easily, it's admittedly an interesting challenge in letters and words. Unfortunately, as I pointed out to my friend, I have been having something of a rough patch in my life, and that has, inadvertently, bled through into my writing. I won't apologize for it, since it's unrealistic to expect anyone to be perfectly happy all the time, but I shall endeavor to bring the joy back from now on.

So, having said that, I thought it was as good a reason as any to talk about why happy people are awesome, and some of the things that typically make for a happy person. (Apart from armored unicorns. Those are so obviously awesome, they don't even need to be mentioned.)

So; what makes a happy person? If we consult the expertly drawn graph I made below, I believe that we can ascertain three visible things which define a happy person.

No need to tell me; I already know how fantastic my drawing skills are.

To summarize; a smile, lots of talking and singing and moves like jagger... I mean swagger... No wait... You know what I mean. Shoulders back, protruding chest, etc. So how does one be happy? Well, there's a there are a lot of things someone can do which may or may not work. Google is your friend if you're really down on ideas, but I find that there are two things that make me a happy person mainly. (Sadly not a pet unicorn though, as much as that would make me happy.*sadface*)

Those two things, are positivity and confidence. Although they are largely the same thing in terms of myself. Other people would tell you the things that make you happy are your family or your religion or any number of other things which; don't get me wrong, can be large factors in your happiness and maybe are key to it for some people; but for me, they were never quite good enough to maintain a happy disposition.

For a long time I was a fairly morose individual, not precisely the funnest person to be around. I was not confident, nor was I positive. I was as defeatist as they came, and would probably have let anyone walk all over me, which they did on occasion. That changed, however, when I finally had a reason to be confident in myself. Turns out, school awards aren't quite as meaningless as they sound. (And things like "Team Award"  sound pretty damn meaningless.) Something I've mentioned a couple of times on this blog is how I started acting and the successes that followed from that. That and my selection as a prefect at school are both what largely gave me the confidence to change as a person; which obviously made me into a happier person.

Something I often say to people, is if they had to meet who I was before all that happened, they would not recognize who I am now with who I was then. From a quiet and timid individual who expected nothing great from them-self, I grew into a confident person from the recognition of my abilities, and thereby a positive person as I grew to believe in what I was able to do. It's an epiphany that likely comes rarely in one's life, but, I think, a great one to help people to grow and mature as people.

So happiness and postivity, fed by confidence. Self-belief is a very important factor in happiness. Quite simply, how can you be happy, if you don't think you can do anything that would make you happy? (If they existed, Unicorns would be a legitimate answer.) So if you're feeling down, consider the great things you've done in your life, and how you know that you have the ability to do so again. Feeling like you can do what you put you mind to is one of the greatest feelings in the world, and when you feel like that, even the non-existence of unicorns can't bring you down.

In any case, I hope that you have found something meaningful in today's (tonight's) post, and perhaps at least appreciate my attempt to bring some lightheartedness to a somewhat serious subject. If you do or did, make sure to let me know about it in the comments below so that I can know to keep at it. Also, make sure to share this any friends of yours who may be lacking in self-confidence. Maybe it'll give them what they need to feel better about themselves. And of course, if you really enjoyed reading this and would like to read more like it, make sure to like my Facebook page and/or follow me on Twitter using the associated buttons on the bar to the right so that you can get the latest posts, as they are posted. Lastly, I thank you for taking the time to read this, hope you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day, and will speak again tomorrow.

Goodnight my friends.

Storytime Sunday - Kings (Drinking And Losing)

Hello and welcome to Storytime Sunday; the day of the week where I tell you why drinking games are terrible if you don't have good luck, and then thank my lucky stars I don't suffer from hangovers.

This card is not your friend if you don't have good luck.

Birthday celebrations are awesome, awesome friends are awesome, losing drinking games, not so awesome depending on what you're playing. We played Kings this weekend, which was pretty funny until I lost. Thankfully, I've got good friends.

It's days like these that make me glad that I don't suffer from the joys of hangovers, having spent the weekend at my friend Jerome's place as part of a late birthday celebration for the old man. (Better known as Mister Canoe on this blog. Teehee)

Considering the majority of the blog readers are of legal age, you can probably relate to the idea of playing drinking games in celebration of someone getting older. (If you aren't, I'm going to preface this by saying that I by no means condone underage drinking, and you should not do it.) Not that drinking is a fantastic idea even when you can do so legally; I'm usually only really happy to do it with good friends and/or people I trust. In any case, that's not the story. The story is why I'm glad I have good friends.

If you don't know what kings is, here's a link to a website that describes the games rules. It's essentially just a list of actions that you need to follow when you choose specific cards from around a mug. Strange things of course, else why would it be fun? Some of the more notable ones being; the King obviously, in which the person must pour their drink into the mug if they get one, unless it is the last king, in which case they have to drink what is in the mug; or the Jack in which the person gets to make a new rule that everyone must follow. If they don't follow it, they drink. This gets quite ridiculous around people such as myself and my friends though, since we ended up having to say "nostrovia" (Russian for cheers) every time you drink, drink only with our left hands, pick up cards with your left hand only and say a specific phrase after every sentence that I'm not going to tell you because it's terrible. We also somehow started speaking in Russian accents, likely as a result of saying nostrovia so many times. There's also number 7 "thumbs", where you can place your thumb on the table at any time, and everyone else needs to do the same. The last to do so, of course, drinks!

I should mention that for some reason, we didn't think to get any light alcohol's for said game, and were drinking a variety of mixtures of anything that tasted good. Which, strangely enough, involves Vin Coco with Appletizer, some Brandy or other, Cane Spirits with Ginger Beer, and Sidekick coffee liqueurs. Which was all fine and good... until I lost the game. (*facedesk*) Alcohol is pretty bad yes, mixing alcohol is worse. Drinking a lot of mixed alcohol quickly, very bad idea. Thankfully, my dear giant of a friend Mister Canoe saw how worried I was at having to drink said concentrated mixture of alcohols, and decided to split the punishment of defeat with me. (I don't drink all that often, so I was fairly guaranteed a bad time with it.)

In the end though, I think the experience was still altogether worth it, and I'm happy to have spent the time with an awesome friend. Happy 19th you old softy. We shall have to do it again some time.

In any case, that's enough about my livers sufferings, from here on, were back on track to begin doing some of the more interesting blog posts I have planned for this month. If you're keen to find out what they are, make sure to like my Facebook page or follow me on Twitter using the associated buttons on the right so that you can read them, when they come out. Also; don't forget to let me know in the comments if you think I should (or shouldn't) talk about my exploits with my friends more, and make sure to share this with anyone who likes stories about drinking games, losing, and good drink mixes. I don't know how many of you know someone like that though. (Teehee) Regardless of what you do, I thank you for taking the time to read this, and as always, hope you have/had an absolutely FANTASTIC day.

Proshchay moi druz'ya.

Random Subject Saturday - The Oddball Dialect

Hello and welcome to Random Subject Saturday; the day where I tell you about the extremely strange words that myself and friends use, and then try to teach it to you for laughs.

There are occasionally times when I really have no idea what to use for a header image, and just look for something vaguely relevant. Today was one of them.

Odds are, you have friends. Odds are even better, you've been friends with said friends for long enough that you've developed an understanding of the way they think and speak. If I'm correct, then Odds are good that you'll be able to relate to "The Oddball Dialect". (As I so named it 3 seconds ago and nobody has agreed to refer to it as.) That magical language that apparently only I and my friends speak. It's weird.

You may have noticed a fairly common trope on the internet where people poke humor at everything from languages, to accents, to slang, and everything in between. (Here's looking at you, YouTube.) So here's the fun, it occurred to me the other day that the people I spend a fair bit of time with, (and myself), seem to speak somewhat differently than others.

The difference isn't English to Japanese obviously, but there are occasionally times where even the most open minded individuals have difficulty following precisely what we're talking about. Even more interestingly, is that the words we use weren't made by us, but are simply an amalgamated jumble of slang, jargon, game terms and 1337 speak from such a wide variety of locations that it's weird to hear. (Seriously, where have you ever heard a bunch of people talking about an "APC ganking a nub tank for lulz?" And that's just mainly League of Legends jargon.)

As such, just for "lulz", I'm going to put a list of some of the strange words and terms we use, just for the laughs to be honest. Perhaps the words catch on, perhaps they don't. It'll be funny to see either way. So without further ado:

• APC: Usually means Armored Personnel Carrier, APC is also League of Legends jargon for an Ability Power Carry, which is character that uses their abilities to deal immense damage and let their team win. 
• ADC: like APC, but stands for Attack Damage Carry.
• Lulz: A word that came up, literally, because it sounds funnier than "lol" (laugh out loud, not to be confused with the abbreviation of League of Legends.)
• Teh Lulz: This is about as internet as it gets, teh lulz is basically "the laughs" and is often used as the reason when you don't actually have a good reason or just to be funny. "I did it for teh lulz."
• Gank: Some military folks would probably understand that to "gank" someone means to kill someone. Again, the term was appropriated to LoL (League of Legends) as a term for when several people gang up on a single enemy.
• Ossim: Like "Lulz" but for the word Awesome.
• Tank: A large, motorized military vehicle normally, a tank in gamer speak is a character with an immense amount of health whose purpose is simply to stand "soak damage" while other character deal it.
• Fanks: A funnier way to say "thanks".
• Facedesk: This one is somewhat common on the internet, but since I use it so often on this blog, here's a link to help you figure it out. (Teehee)
• BSOD: IT guy's term for Blue screen of death. 
• PICNIC: IT guy's term for Problem in chair, not in computer.
• Dakka: A fun term from the orcs of Warhammer40K, this is a general term for anything guns, ammunition and explosive.
• Nub: "None-useful body". It's about as insulting as you can get for some people for obvious reasons.
• Noob: Considered rather offensive among gamers, a noob is someone who is not new to something, but is bad enough at it that they could be compared to a Newbie.
• Newbie: Often shortened to Newb, someone who is new to something. Not to be confused with the offensive Noob.
• Sexy: An adjective to describe good things, strangely, this term has ended up being part of a greeting just to make people feel awkward. (Possibly, we say "Hey Sexy" because we're describing good things when we greet each other. But I could be wrong.)

Strangely, I feel like this isn't even half of the strange words and terms we use, but it's hard to remember this stuff off the top of my head. Perhaps I'll make a list of more for "teh lulz" at some point. If you would like me to do so, please tell me so down in the comments below. Also, don't forget to share this with your friends if you think that they also talk funny. (Or maybe just for lulz.) If you found this entertaining for some strange reason, or perhaps just like the way I write, perhaps consider liking my Facebook page and/or following me on Twitter using the associated button on the bar to your right. Regardless of what you do, "fanks" for reading, I hope you have/had an "ossim" day and I will see you tomorrow.

Go well my friends.

Madness Monday - Organisation (What on earth is that?)

Hello and welcome to Madness Monday; that special day of the week where I explain why my desk looks like a war zone, and then crack jokes about it to help you get through another week.

Warning: Those with OCD may become violent while reading this. (Teehee)

Do you feel like your life is disorganized? Are things too hectic for you? Well, if it'll make you feel any better, I don't even know what half of the papers/things on my desk even are, and my daily decisions are often made spontaneously without forethought. I also have a habit of leaving things half-way through. Sounds like fun doesn't it? (Yes.)

As a somewhat rather free-spirited and creative person, I've come to terms with the fact that bomb-craters often look and sound more organized than my desk. (and my mind to be honest.) It is a common occurrence for me to begin doing something furiously for a hours on end, only to promptly stop, walk away and completely forget about it. In yesterday's post, I mentioned how my dear friend Angela Pellobello can devote herself to her writings more than I can. I'm not kidding, there's a folder on my computer's desktop for stories I've started writing. None of them are finished. (*facedesk*)

You think this looks bad, you should see my harddrive's file structure...

I also draw, a lot. Which is awesome and terrible at the same time, because I have a habit of liking to display things I've made. So not only is my desk horrifically cluttered, the wall around it looks like a (fairly cheap) art gallery. Frighteningly enough, this is just some of the drawing's that I've mostly finished, the rest living in a large pile somewhere on the desk to my left.

Wall? What is this wall? OHHHHHH You mean the thing I stick my drawings to.... Forgot that was there.
The TV is older than I am if you're wondering. It hasn't been used in a while.

Perhaps worse, is my habit of keeping things with semantic value. Actually, no, worse is my habit of giving things semantic value in the first place. (Teehee) So apart from countless school books that I've yet to turf out, drawings, stories that I decided to write on paper instead of a computer, a computer, various electronic components and several other oddities, (And beanies and gloves apparently), my desk is filled with several small and mostly pointless trinkets from over the years.

My shelf with various containers and an obligatory Hello Kitty birthday card.
You see that pink Tupperware on the right side? That has marbles in it. I dunno what is in the rest.

 Thankfully, there is one small saving grace. For you see, there is a mystical tome upon my desk, in which I write everything I need to remember for the upcoming days. Without it, any sense of organisation would be lost... Which would probably be bad, since idea's for what to write on this blog come at random. As we all know, you never just remember those ideas. It's also where I doodle randomly when I'm bored. There's a magnificent bird I drew on page 3.

My Blog schedule. The only modicum of organization on my desk.
There may also be spoilers if you can read my handwriting.

 Considering how easily I seem to completely forget things, I'm fairly certain that I'd have lost my head long ago, were it not for the fortunate fact that it is attached to me. That and it talks... it's always helpful if things can get your attention, otherwise you could be liable to forget what your're... *stops talking and stares blankly at a wall.*

Hmmm. Oh, sorry. Was I saying something? Oh yes, Organization. It's a good idea for those who are good at it. For crazy people like me, it's a pretty word that we don't particularly understand, but get on well enough without somehow. Bearing in mind that I still know where my head is, I still think it could certainly be worse.

Whether it is worse or not, I hope that you feel a bit better about how organized you are in your life at least, or maybe just think I'm funny. If you have a suggestion, or need to let me know where I've left something, please feel free to do so in the comments below. Perhaps even share this with a friend who feels like they don't know what they're doing. If you particularly liked this post, or maybe just want to read about some more of the strange things that I do, consider liking my Facebook page or following me on Twitter using the associated button on the sidebar to your right. And, of course, I hope you have/had and AWESOME day, and I will see you tomorrow.

*forgets to say goodbye*

Storytime Sunday - cheshireSorrows (Writer and Friend)

Hello and welcome to Storytime Sunday; that day of the week where I tell you about one of the many wonderful people in my life, and why she's worthy of such a title.

The 7th unique blog header I've made. At least now I've got templates for the future ones. XD

cheshireSorrows; Angela Pellobello to those who know her. (And I guess, you too now. Teehee) Writer and friend, if you are someone who enjoys hearing about the wonderful people in the world, or admire a well written story, (much like I do), then I believe that that you will likely find something of interest in today's post.

Angela Pellobello is one of those individuals who manage to avoid the grasp of being easily definable by any typical grasp of language. During my long, (and arduous), years of high school, it was no mistake that I had a tendency to befriend those who made their homes outside the bounds of what many would consider "usual". (I refer to myself as OddballGreg if that isn't indication enough.) Angela was among those that I made friends with over the course of those years through a common interest which a select, incredible few in the school shared and gathered around: Writing.

Intelligent and wise, Angela has always been able to discern the sense in a situation and willing to prompt people towards the right course of action as a result. (Even if it means yelling at them and making them feel slightly stupid. Teehee. Thanks Angela.) Angela has always been the type of person I was always exceedingly happy to talk to and discuss interesting things rather than pointless banter. She also put up with my terrible jokes for 3 years of high school, so there's definitely points in that. 

Of course, Angela is not alone remarkable for her amazing personality, as of course, she has impressive skill as a writer as well. While I myself have a strangely sporadic tendency to pump out interesting small stories at random, Angela is able to do a few things that I cannot. Committing to actually writing a story for longer than a few hours is among them. (*facedesk*) Apart from that, she is also remarkably proficient as a storyteller and has written many a story, both original and fanfiction, which I have found immensely enjoyable to read. I am by no means a critic, but it is ever so slightly difficult to keep me interested as a reader. As such I would personally say that she is certainly a writer of skill.

As such, I decided today, that instead of featuring a story which related to me alone, I would feature the most popular of her fanfiction stories to date, purely because it is such a lovely and absorbing story to read. If you enjoy well written literature, then I advise you to proceed below and enjoy a taster of the creative wonder which is her writing. If you find that you like it, the link to the entire story will be at the end of the preview, as well as link to some of her less renowned, but by no means less enjoyable stories as well. Without further ado:

Sibling Intervention

Chapter one

It amused him that things had come to this.

Easily entertained as he was, the country squire by the name of Benjamin Bennet had rarely found company in London that was not trying to his patience.

Indeed, the young man was exposed to two types of people on his visit to Town en route to university: those that either pitied or turned up their noses at his meager fortune and poor connections, and those that wanted to assist him in his appearance in Society (albeit with plans and hopes of their own).

After all his fortune, though inadequate by the fashion's standards, was not completely dismal.

In fact for any mother wanting to get rid of a daughter, Ben was a very modest catch. Not to mention his connections were far from poor if it included two particular bachelors that had yet to be metaphorically chained with marriage.

These two gentlemen were considered great catches in the eyes of London society for they were well-known, rich, young and handsome…

Good lord, if his mother heard of this there was no doubt she would descend upon him and his companions with frightening alacrity.

"Something must be truly diverting for you to not pass a comment Bennet, pray enlighten us."

Shaking his head from his reverie, his grey eyes flickered to his two friends.

The first of which was a blond man holding a cue as he stood on the opposite side of the billiards table, his unassuming air easily insisting a continuation in the discourse Ben had forgotten the contents of.

The second gentleman, a dark haired man in possession of a pair of unusual blue eyes straightened at the head of the table as he withdrew from the shot he took, sending a ball into the corner pocket. He too looked at him, his brow raised in curiosity.

Mr. Charles Bingley, the first gentleman, was a young man with a jovial disposition that matched his fair countenance. He was highly favored by most of society if it were not for his roots in trade.

Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, the second gentleman, was a more serious man who happened to exude an air of superiority and effortless intensity. He was even more favored than Bingley, though for no other reason than his higher monetary advantage and title.

Certainly it was a good idea to keep his mother from knowing about his friends too well, Ben thought, there was no doubt Mrs. Bennet would have Bingley and Darcy married to his sisters within the hour. The thought made him smile.

"Forgive me gentlemen, I fear my diversion is nothing but a memory caught up."

"Ah, a good one I hope," Bingley said, "it does not do well to speak of things that only manage to stir bad memories."

"Be assured sir." A cluster of balls scattered as the white collided. "Just a reminder of my mother and the fit of nerves I will have to endure when I return home, nothing to fear." He straightened with a wider smile. The prompting look from Bingley allowed him to add mischievously, "Of course the source of it will likely be the exclamation that Cambridge did me well to find her daughters suitable husbands."

Both gentlemen chuckled with Darcy asking, "How many sisters do you have in the marriageable age then Bennet, surely your mother is not as bad as you insinuate?"

"I'm afraid she is; you must know how the society mamas can be with only one daughter; imagine that with five, and all unmarried."

This admission elicited a low whistle from Bingley.

"You must be jesting; truly she cannot be that bad."

Ben snickered. "No, no. I only exaggerate in the same amount as she does over my sisters' virtues. Rest assured my mother is like every other that feels marriage is the only way to happiness; a pity that my sisters do not feel as she does."

"How singular," Bingley noted aloud, "pray, how old are your sisters that they are not inclined to the matrimonial state? Are they not yet out?"

"My eldest sister Jane is just one and twenty; Elizabeth is twenty while Mary is only eighteen. My other two sisters are sixteen and fourteen respectively."

"Interesting, my own sister has been inclined to marriage since she started school. Ask Darcy."

"Ask me what? An affirmation of Miss Bingley's desire to enter the matrimonial state is none of my concerns," stated the gentleman gruffly.

The sudden sharpness to his speech would have been a cause for concern and might have given offense if Bingley had not known his humors, and Ben had not made use of two year's worth of character study on the older of his two friends.

Darcy's habit of becoming offensive when embarrassed was well known to them after all.

"Come now man, you are much too perceptive not to notice that Caroline has set her cap upon you."

"I would rather forget for the sake of not ruining our friendship," he admitted, only to have Bingley wave him off.

"Nothing you say about my sister will change my attitude towards you; she is her own master as I am mine. And if we take slight pleasure in her attempts to entrap you then our friendship shall not be terminated, is that not right Bennet?"

The man in question chuckled and clapped Darcy on the back in an attempt to ease him, which he succeeded in when Darcy claimed, "If she were to achieve compromising me, I beg you to shoot me. Hang any duel of honor."

"I would never do that Darcy. You may escape Caroline, but I will not!"

.

Darcy had been friends with Bingley since they began Cambridge and had become roommates in Bingley's first year. Darcy's withdrawn nature was tempered by Bingley's natural ease and modest air. Within a month, the two different gentlemen had somehow formed a friendship of sorts that grew as months turned into years.

Bingley's unconditional friendship and never wavering trust in him provided Darcy with the confidence he needed in the society he shied away from, and as the only son of an estate owner and well informed of the various businesses his family partook in, Darcy had much to offer Bingley in lieu of their completed educations in exchange.

However, it was Bingley that encouraged Darcy to make use of the ever growing market of trade, starting with a venture with a gentleman who resided in Cheapside.

Being raised as he was, Darcy would never have thought that he would one day willingly enter into the stench of trade but as a modern man he found that he had to keep up with the changing times, if only to maintain his family's economy.

Bingley much appreciated Darcy's steely resolve and purpose, cultivated by being left to an estate at a young age. From there the two set off fresh from Cambridge to begin their lives in their majority.

In Cheapside the gentlemen made the acquaintance of a Mr. Edward Gardiner, a man of good sense and intelligence who assisted them in expanding the venture which increased the fortunes of all involved.

While under the tutelage of Mr. Gardiner, the men also made the acquaintance of the man's nephew, Benjamin Bennet, a country gentleman with a small yet comfortable fortune, aged at the time at only sixteen. Equipped with a sharp wit, intelligence and good humor to keep up with the company he kept, the young man was an interesting addition to Darcy's social circle.

Two years later, Darcy had come to truly cherish the companionship the two other men offered.

Despite being different in temperament in both to him and to each other, he found that they were a much needed camaraderie outside of both his family and his sphere, both of which had done little for him in recent years.

His father's passing during his years in university, his undertaking of his younger sister's guardianship and the running of the Darcy estate left the gentleman exhausted and drained.

His already reserved mien was increasingly withdrawing into itself and he felt acutely the need for true companionship.

Thanks to his connection with Bingley and Bennet, he was less inclined to brood though still did on the occasion where his friends and his cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam, were not available to hear him. Such was the case at present: Bennet and Bingley were already fast asleep in their respective seats on the carriage, leaving him to his devices.

Darcy knew that he should rest as well.

Visiting Ramsgate to see his sister required the energy to entertain her and his companions for the remainder of the visit.

A sigh escaped him as he thanked his good fortune that Bingley had sought other business ventures in Ramsgate and that Bennet agreed to oversee a few matters of business his uncle had in the same area.

It was not that Darcy had grown dependent on the two gentlemen to keep him company, but he was rather nervous to see his sister again.

Georgiana had never known her mother and was wholly dependent on a father that was never there, until of course he died.

Finding the dead body of her father lying in bed as if he were asleep would be a trial for anyone, especially for a girl of such a sensitive disposition as hers.

Darcy had done what he could with her upbringing, but he could not help the feeling of inadequacy.

The fact that he too was deprived of the familial assurance of his father and mother, made him feel acutely his lack of finesse in things relating to tender sensibilities.

His sister had taught him some over the years though, little by little of how to feel assured of one's affections and give in return, and for that he doted on her and her on him. He supposed his love for his sister was very odd due to such a gap in age, but he would not have it any other way.

Their physical separation had been hard though.

Ever since his business took him from the haven of Pemberley he was loathed to leave her and eventually agreed to provide a companion for her, a Mrs. Younge.

Darcy had an inkling that Georgina felt his recruiting a companion was his way of abandoning her, her letters to him had taken a somber and melancholy tone and he hated the idea that he was the cause of it.

He was nervous of how his sister would receive him which was why he was arriving unannounced.

Perhaps the surprise would render her unable to hide whatever had caused her sadness?

.

Furious was an understatement to what he was.

He was shaking with rage, a white hot fury burning in him as he tried to think clearly, but all that repeated in his mind was the mantra of that vile man's name: Wickham. Wickham. Wickham.

But he tried.

He tried vehemently to focus on the task at hand: His sister.

She was practically sunk into the wingback chair, sobbing into her hands as she felt the humiliation and the shame of her actions. "I am so very sorry Fitzwilliam…brother, please, I am sorry, I am sorry, I did not mean to. I did not intend for this!"

So small and fragile his sister looked.

She really was just a girl; a very dear, sweet girl who had not known what she was about. He could not blame her, he never could, but his anger was threatening to tear him apart and the only reason he had not gone to dispose of the man for the cause was because Bennet was keeping him here.

The younger gentleman had locked the door on the both of them since the discovery of Georgiana and Wickham.

From behind the closed door, Bennet said through the wood, "Speak with her, we shall deal with him."

Darcy felt indignation at being ordered around by a man that was very nearly ten years his junior.

However, before he could demand to be freed, Bennet's words were spoken calmly, a stark contrast to his own state of mind, "He does not deserve your time or your anger; your sister needs you more than he does."

His fists ceased their shaking at his sides before Darcy attempted a calming breath. Walking towards his sister, trying to be careful that his sudden closeness would not frighten her, but he noticed her flinch and pull herself further against the chair as if afraid that he would strike her.

A wave of shame washed over him as he gently took her hands in his and saw the redness of her face and the puffiness of her cheeks. Her big blue eyes stared at him beseechingly, begging him to understand, to forgive her. "Fitzwilliam…?"

"Dearest, I am sorry that I shouted."

She sniffed weakly. "You were right to…I did not think…I thought…I thought he loved me…and then…" He let her talk; the rambling seemed to cease her tears as she gave him to understand the events that led to this.

"I remembered him from when we were little and he was so very nice to me after you left, Mrs. Younge did not seem to mind…she told me he was good company to keep and so I never suspected…" She gave another sniff before accepting his offered handkerchief. "He said he loved me and that he wanted to marry me…but because he did not have a stable income that you would not let him…He wanted to go to Scotland…"

"What did you tell him?"

"I said that I could not marry without you knowing. You and Richard are all I have and I did not-I did not want you not to be there…it is such an important day, I wanted you there so much…but he said no, that you would stop us and that if I loved him, he would be enough for me…"

"Did he try to convince you any further?"

Georgiana gave a quick shake of her head. "No, he gave in and said I could write to you to come to the wedding in Gretna Green, and that he would send it by express and hope it reached you in time…" She looked at him with those tear filled eyes and asked, "He was not going to was he?"

"I am afraid not…"

"I am sorry brother…"

"Did he take any liberties before today Georgina?"

"He had not tried to, at least…Brother I was so frightened, what-what was he going to do?"

So scared, so innocent; Darcy's heart tore as his insufficiency continued to stare him in the face; his dear sister almost ruined because he could not protect her as a guardian should. He left her with that abominable woman in the mercy of the most disguising cads.

How could he let this happen to her?

He enveloped her into his arms. "Dearest I am sorry, I am so sorry."

Beyond the locked door of Miss Darcy's sitting room, the constable led George Wickham and his accomplice Mrs. Younge away; elderly lady and young man shouting injustice and profanities enough to make a decorated soldier blush.

Bingley, who had remained only slightly agitated with their reactions thus far, clenched his fist until it turned white at the words that left Wickham's mouth, "You think you can do this to me Darcy, huh? What would your father think? No one will want her now, you should just hand her over to me! You know you only did this to yourself; you should have given me my money! I deserved to get my part in the fortune, I was his favorite! I deserved it!"

Almost as hard as the constable tugged on the raving man did Bingley move to inflict a hard punch to the cad's face.

Mrs. Younge's incoherent words that played in the background of her accomplice were suddenly silent.

"Now that you deserved," muttered Bingley, while Bennet restrained him.

Both men watched Wickham and Mrs. Younge get led away, ignorant to Wickham's howls and feeling the sorrow of the Darcy siblings acutely as it filled the hallway behind them.

.

- Inn, Ramsgate

Dear Uncle Edward,

I am sorry to grieve you thusly, but I write this short note to inform you that your suspicions about a man owing a large sum of money to one of your distributors in Ramsgate have been confirmed. I am thankful that you had the foresight to procure his paper trail and send it with me for it was of great use in apprehending him.

Kind regards,

Your nephew,

Ben

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Farewell friends.