I am not

I am not a Buddhist. I am not even religious. I'm not an English major, and I'm not a writer. I am not a sociology student, nor a theologian.

The thought occurred to me to continue listing things that I am not because it would be somewhat catchy as a disclaimer. Most people with a bit of logic would quickly interject how it would be much quicker to simply list the things that you are. Of course that totally fails as a disclaimer, and these same people would also fail to see the need for a disclaimer in the first place. The cup might be half full folks, but if you are able to quickly explain all the things that make you you, well then, you are a shallow cup indeed.

I've spent several days reading the first posts of all my favorite blogs, thinking I might gain some insight into how to get this thing started and why I even have the desire to do it in the first place. I think this is as good a start as any, and maybe I'll figure out the second part along the way.

Oh, also, I play EVE Online. This blog is intended to relate stories about my experiences in EVE Online, and as everything else it will become more defined with time. I'll simply start out with a bit of background information.

When my EVE Online character first came to be, I simply chose a picture that looked cool. My idea of cool wasn't the typical head tilted forward, mean-mugging grizzly looking dude, or the mysterious cloaked Emperor Palpatine throwback. Nor did I set out to fill the MMORPG (Many Men Online Role Playing Girls) mold. Instead I went for a picture of a pilot that looked happy. I had already created and shamefully deleted one pilot...another story perhaps for a later time. The point here is that I already had a cursory understanding of the truely brutal nature of EVE Online, and I wanted to begin my capsuleer career on the old addage of 'what goes around, comes around'. I set out with a portrait that would smile at every pilot I encountered, and an idea that I would reap what I sow. It is a beautiful coincidince that my chosen happy-panda portrait is one of a Vherokior, because their background and features are perfect for my ideals. Just to quickly recap, I chose a Matari pilot because the picture looked good. Not because I wanted to promote some anti-slavery, Amarrian hating ideals. Slavery gets shit done.

Anyway, don't misunderstand the ideals that my pilot was created on. I don't pretend to fly the stars bringing hope and justice and all the do-gooder stuff. The notion of reaping what one sows is quite a bit deeper than what you might know of it. Most of us remember the notion as a grammar school lesson--Don't pull the other childern's hair, because you wouldn't want your hair being pulled. To better explain...I am a noob. But, even though I am a noob, my pilot still has enough skills to fit a battlecruiser capable of tanking sentry guns and fast locking other noobs who stumble into lowsec in a destroyer. I could sit and camp gates and get at least a few kills. However, I don't engage in that activity. I know that if I were to put myself in that situation I would overlook some obscure game mechanic, or a bigger fish that better understand those mechanics would come along...and I would reap it (what I had sown). Again, don't misunderstand. This doesn't mean that I am opposed to kills. I have a few 'good kills' already, and my falling security status reflects that. I'm simply saying that I would not set out fill my killboard with crappy kills. This would be bad karma I think.

Everyone has their purpose. It might be that you are helping noobs learn the brutality of EVE. It might also be that your purpose is simply to serve as a warning to others. I trust that there are more than enough of both types in New Eden, and I will continue to seek The Middle Way.