Yes, I know, it's been a while....sorry

 Hey All,

What can I say I really need to start doing this on a regular basis.

What's happened since June 2019:

1. Work Stuffs! I worked at Funko, it was glorious, but alas, short lived.... In their wisdom they decided to move their distribution operation to Coventry, which would separate me and my kids, so I had to wish them well. (In fairness the site at Maldon was a terrible fir for that many) I went to work for a rubbish insurance company in Ipswich. Not a good experience. Their hardware was like their attitude to IT (VERY badly out of date and they practically bullied the hardware too), I had to go to eBay to buy parts for some of the servers they were THAT old. I left there happy to start a new job in a well known publishing house characterised by a flightless bird. That was a nightmare of epic proportions. I am still suffering from that over a year later. I went to work for an actually decent MSP at a great place called Ransomes Jacobsen and was treated like a valued member of the team, but the price of Diesel soared in the UK so I had to look closer to home for work, when a dream job vacancy appeared - The University of Essex. Not far up the road, great money, nice team, nice location, short commute. I'm in month 3, so far so very good!

2. Personal Stuffs! I got married. After a couple of years alone, I met someone quite special. So much so I put a ring on it. We had a beautiful ceremony in the Norman castle in Colchester, there was a large sword and a tiny cake. Also some mild fisticuffs, but hey. My wife is an AFAB (Assigned female at birth - Born with girly parts) but is pangender and pansexual, this means we can both oggle nice looking ladies. They use they/them pronouns, but is proud to be referred to as my wife. We welcomed our first child, Lena, into the world September 2021. She is a small but feisty creature, 2nd percentile for height, but very dextrous and very capable. She is likely to be our only child, as although the birth was practically painless and very easy, Rose and I just plain doesn't want to go through it all again and we can focus on Lena's childhood. She is utterly adored by her older siblings who do a cracking job helping out when they're over.

3. Gaming - Fallout 4 is en vogue yet again. I need to get back to Elite Dangerous, but that requires getting my HOTAS/cockpit rig back up and running. Round Towits are always in such short supply.

As usual, it's been a while.

Stuffs! Yes, there's been lots of stuffs going on.

1. Worked at Funko for a year (And still working there)*
2. Got that Elite Dangerous Tattoo I was on about (See pic below)
2. Met a girlie! (At Colchester Invasion 2018)
3. Proposed to said girlie, and she said Yes?!?!
4. Marrying her in October!

*However - They've just announced that the distribution centre I work in is being moved to the Midlands. Most likely just further that I could commute. I do not think there would be a relocation package for mere minions like me, so suspect my time with the big bobble headed people will be coming to an end quite soon.

Hey everybody (Hey Dr. Nick!!!!) - Sorry, had to paraphrase the good(ish) Doctor

It's been a while, as it most often is, but that does mean I have news:

So, it's been nearly a year since I joined Funko. They seem to like me, so there's that :)

I've been seeing someone for about 6 months, and we're saving for a ring!

Promotion!

...to Rear Admiral in Elite: Dangerous - Not like I'll ever get a promotion in real life. My epic portfolio of face-don't-fit has guaranteed me a long career on the exact same rung of the ladder until I retire or die.

In other Elite: Dangerous news - I also made the combat rating of Elite, a milestone, as (Approximately) 34 years ago I started playing computer games on the Original Elite on the BBC B, so the Elite rank will be going on as a tattoo at some point. My gaming has come full circle.

On June the 12th I go for the last part of my Autism assessment. I'm slightly nervous, but hopeful.

Bob Ross Deadpool Funko Pop - cool AF, or what?

Speaking of Funko! I got a job there. Oh. Happy. Day.

I'll finally be out from under the boot of yet another uncaring MSP. (Managed Service Providers, the people keeping IT wages low, but director's salaries high) I swore I'd never work for another one after the catastrophe that was working for the first one.

Anyhoo, sunny Maldon here I come!

A decade of pretending to be an adult

I thought I'd posted this, sorry, scrambled egg for brains again....

The little man turns 10 on Monday (The 20th of November), the boy that made me a father, and since have had to constantly (Well, almost constantly) pretend to be a normal human being. Funny that his diagnosis of autism made me realise I am too. Oh yes, normal' has left the building.

I mentioned 'High Functioning' last time. This is a phrase frowned on by the autistic community, and as I'm learning more about my neuroatypicality (Is that a word? I hope so) I'm learning more about how one deals with, and helps others deal with, it. So yeah, my bad. However it is a term that neurotypicals understand (kinda)

Dealing with autism when dealing with typicals can be extremely tiring. I of course have to take that to the next level: I work as an IT engineer for a company that farms me out, mainly to hedge funds in West London. This means my appearance and mannerisms are something they can criticise my company on, they're paying for a perfect human being, obviously, not a skilled techie. This criticism is often passed back to me, and I'm told I'm 'Not a good fit for that site' - I worry that I'm not a good fit for this planet.

I was onsite yesterday and was told that 'This site is a tattoo-free zone' I advised the person saying that that they don't peel off. Mixed feelings as site has lots of good tech, and will have more, but detest the location/extra travel, and that comment set off alarm bells when followed by 'They're expecting a certain level of person in the office.' So I'm below that level for marking my own skin? My skills, my high IQ, my determination are not up to scratch because the book cover comes illustrated?

I worry these are obstacles my beautiful, loving and autistic son will have to overcome. I worry his life will lack the depth and colour and happiness he deserves. I worry he will become me.

Some sites I work at know me and know about me, and are super cool about it, they make working there a pleasure. Some are super-arsey. Frankly, the type of person they are expecting (Thanks to Account Managers) is well above my paygrade on one hand, so I'm looking to go inhouse at a firm more local to Colchester, or at the very least on the right side of London, in both senses of the word right, and avoid the borderline-sociopathic ways of SW3/W1 hedge funds. Because of their unrealistic expectation of their hired help, I have to be ABSURDLY normal at some places. I come home torn between wanting to talk the hind legs off a donkey as some places I should be 'Seen and not heard' or just fire up the kettle, make a noodle and play Fallout 4 for a couple of hours without uttering one syllable to a soul, not that there are any other souls in my flat.

Here I go again on my owwwwnnnn!

So hey, long time no speak.

It's been an eventful year (and nearly a half.)

August 2016 I found myself no longer on the inside of a relationship. Certain realities got faced up to and my then fiancee and I went our separate ways. The kids have been beyond cool about it, largely because my ex and I have been cool about it. We're good friends, probably all we ever should have been. We were so wrapped up in being parents and working that we had little time for each other. A massive support network of family doing pretty much zero babysitting ever meant there was no such thing as date night. Anyway, she's closer to work in a nice place, got a bloke who is, according to my kids, alright, so that's good.

I am living in a proper town at last - Colchester. I get to see my boys every other weekend, they're awesome little men and are happy in their new school. My eldest was diagnosed with Autism at the end of last year, with a shopping list of pointers that pretty much make him Me. So yes, QED, I am Autistic too. We're both 'High Functioning' and what used to be known as Asperger's. So we're socially clumsy, intelligent and mildly odd. Not exactly awful, but a little isolating at times.

I had one abortive relationship with a woman so desperate to not be messed around she messed me around before I would have had a chance (Not that I would have, but there you go, crazy is as crazy does). My work life currently blows, as the commute from Colchester to West London is punishing. There are some upsides - Got a nice little circle of friends in Colchester, and still got my besties in Nottingham, Poole and Hove. I venture out on Thursday evening for a date, so wish me luck :)

As for Gaming - It's been Fallout 4 and Elite Dangerous pretty much for the last year. The previous post about Elite Dangerous 2.1 made me laugh reading it back, as they've nerfed the AI for the NPC's again, then boosted it, then nerfed it, we had 2.2 and 2.3, which were OK, but still looking for a bunch of variety in the ships and not finding it. 2.4 launched, and we had the Frontier Expo (Didn't get tickets dangit!) so looking forward to more. Watch this space(ship)

New AI in Elite Dangerous 2.1 - Stick your head between your legs and kiss your ar*e goodbye

Greetings, Commanders,

So 2.1 landed, and we tippy-toed out of our space stations to be royally rogered by the new AI. No flowers, no chocolates, and no dinner, just straight up g*ngbanged.

I haven't openly sworn at my computer for a while, having small children means, thankfully, that the headset goes on after they've got their heads down for the night. The other night I downloaded the new update, keen to work on my ship, upgrading merrily as I went. I realised I would be needing some bits and pieces from (a) the surface of the planets and (b) mining. To this end I bought an Eagle (Best thing in the shipyard) and gave it an SRV hangar, and an Asp Explorer for mining.

I loved my Asp Explorer, nice, capable ship, not TOO big, quite tough, and not such a huge outlay if I dented it a bit. How wrong I was.... but more about that in a moment. I bought collector limpets (Which are just brilliant, BTW) to get oore fragments AND they pick up scrap from ships, I later learned, a memont of sheer joy, those little guys make me happy. I headed out to a lowRES to test mining, tried it once last year and it did NOT float my boat. HOWEVER, once I'd mined enough ore to have a ton of anything, the NPC's got nasty, and this was in a LowRES! Suddenly, there's teams of 3 well kitted Vipers and Asps drilling your hull. It goes south SO quickly.

I actually combat-logged. Twice! It was just to keep my hard earned mining payload. Not proud of it, but I'm a relatively experienced combat pilot, and I got bullied like a posh kid in Lewisham.

Anyway, looking forward to a minor nerf, because if that's a LowRES, then HighRES will be like going to warp in Event Horizon.

Fly safe, commanders.