Notebook: Her Laugh is Like the Bells

I don't often write poetry, but I don't avoid it. Sometimes the pen moves with a will of its own, a need to put something down on paper, short and soulful. I like to think of poems as the equivalent of doodles for writers. So, here's something right out of my pocketbook. Enjoy!

 

Her laugh is like the bells

Her eyes like twinkling stars

To be beside her is to be breathless

To kiss her is to be deathless

My heart jumps

My stomach falls

And my head is like a mirage

Hazy and obscure

To see her smile gives me shivers

To see her sleep makes me quiver

Her hair like a soft pillow

Her neck a heavenly arch

B.G. Tan

'Game of Thrones' Premieres Tonight

HBO's new series, based on the books by George R. R. Martin, is showing tonight at 9 EST. Sean Bean takes the role of Eddard Stark, the Lord of Winterfell and patriarch of House Stark, as he and his family is pulled into the deadly cloak-and-dagger politics of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.

See past the cut to see the trailers. And join me on Twitter @therealblaketan as I livetweet (#letthegamesbegin) the show.

14 Days of EVE Online: Days 1-4

The universe of New Eden beckoned to me from the EVE Online's login screen. It looked glorious. Little ships, like stars in their own right, glittering against the blackness of space, dwarfed by celestial bodies more than ten times their size. It was breath-taking.

Unfortunately, the first message I was greeted with was a window telling me that I couldn't connect to the server because "The socket was closed." Multiple attempts were fruitless, so I ventured onto Google to try to find a solution. Apparently, because EVE is a single-shard game (that is, it has one server), any sort of latency can disrupt your connection to the server. Or, at least, that's what I gathered from the forums.

And since my university's wonderful Internet infrastructure is so advanced, I had the great luck of having 100% packet loss when I plotted my ping. So, quite disappointed, I turned EVE off and resigned myself to a couple hours of Guild Wars.

14 Days of EVE Online: Prologue

I have always had a deep, abiding love for science-fiction. I grew up watching Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate, and a myriad of space operas. I've almost finished my marathon run of Battlestar Galactica. That's why EVE Online has always called to me.

For the longest time, I was always deterred by the thought that EVE was too hard. I believe I tried it once before, a long time ago, and an hour in my mining ship was ganked by pirates and my capsuleer spaced. But still, the game calls to me. I love reading about the exploits of the cutthroat corporations, the dirty (but perfectly legal) scamming of players, and other adventures that set EVE apart.