Oh don't mind me...

... just pushing my bed around.

Yeah, pushing a bed and various other pieces of furniture around, emptying and refilling shelves and as well as a few stray drawers (though not that many all in all) and finally getting all my stuff out of my bags and back into the built-in closet of my apartment. Together with cleaning up everything, that was quite a day till now.

Redecorating is kind of fun admittedly, though the whole 'pushing the bed around'-part not so much. (and it was a bit too heavy to lift it alone.. while Beni wouldn't help at all... just as usual; always only concerned about honey)
And it's increadible how different things can look after just a few changes.

So yeah - except for that I was able to "retrieve" my mail from the last month today and I can finally feel at home again.

But enough of me babbling about such things... on the trip back to Bremen I had a lot of time to flesh out the notes I made for 'Loner's Peak' some more.
Also - I still intend to post the timeline I came up as a background for the story... just not today... I'd still like to get a bit more of the actual story done, before posting about the background of it all.

Yet what I probably could offer... is a bit more insight into the 'Jameston Company' or JVC - the 'Jameston Ventilation Corp' as it is called at the current time of the story. (40 A.A. / 2003 A.D.)

*~*

JVC is a top-notch company for ventilation systems in the US and the leading power in modern LA, securing survival for the west coast (for everybody who can afford their next to flawless vent-systems) as well as secretly pushing even further into different areas of science with their technology.

The Jameston Company was originally founded 1921 by Benjamin Jameston as a military company by the name of 'Jameston Military' (JM), originally only producing weapons and ammunition for the US troupes. Shortly after the creation of JM, Benjamin Jameston decided to devote some of the corp's resources to science itself and formed an extra department by the name of the 'Jameston Science Department' (JSD) in 1924. (This would become the rise and the downfall of Benjamin's only son Henry, who joined the family business as soon as he was old enough in the eyes of his father - around 1947/48).

The JSD soon developed own departments - e.g. Jameston Bionics (JB) in 1949 with the goal to create mechanized body parts to improve living beings. This was solely due to the obsession of Henry Jameston and his craze to be able to create flawless human beings. Yet the first major breakthrough was not until 1985 in a coop with Jameston Genetics (JG - founded 1955 with similar goals to JB), when these two departments created the first living being out of nothing which was also able to survive in the sulphuric atmosphere that had taken hold of the earth since the 1960's.
Additionally this was somewhat ground-breaking as most parts of the Earths biota were supposed to be extinct at that time.
(Henry Jameston died 1966 as he conducted an experiment on himself - he longed to become the first "enhanced" human being - unfortunately the mechanical heart he wanted to have implanted did not live up to his expectations. Henry died 1 1/2 years after his son Richard had been born.)

Due to the events during the Cold War and the sudden rise of corrosive chemicals in the atmosphere the Jameston Company decided to devote parts of its military technology (various types of air filters for defensive means) to the public and create the Jameston Ventilation Corp. (JVC) in 1963.
JVC grew quickly as their ventilation systems soon became mandatory for survival. As the vent corps became more and more important and the more useless weapons became (they simply eroded away) JM decided to redirect most of its technology - therefore Jameston Ventilation Corp Security  (JVCS) was created in 1965.

Currently the Jameston Company, mainly JVC is lead by Henry's only son Richard Jameston, who acquired the nickname "Lion of LA" early on in his career. He took the seat of his father in 1989 after being thoroughly educated.

*~*

There you go... I admit it might be quite a lot and sound a tad confusing at first but'll clear up. (at least I'd expect something on the lines of that - it's not that easy to turn my notes into a small text like that... at least not for me... Then again those up there are only scrapes of the things that I have here next to me. I'm just bad at making it short...)

I might go a bit into detail on the actual Jameston family later this week.

And it's all just the tip of the iceberg.

Thanks as always for reading, I hope you enjoyed the short peek at the Jameston Company.
Marc, Bringer of Sulphuric Fury.

P.S.: New Kitteh coming up... this time an actual cat
P.P.S.: I just love this song text... 

"You got to be mad...
Stone-cold crazy...
Out of your mind...
If you want to play with me!"

Fuzzing about

When life gives you lemons.... ya know... you can do a whole lot of things with them, dammit!

Yeah... Often it's difficult to realize when something isn't going the way how it should be and to identify the changes that have to be made in order to continue onwards on your chosen path. Sadly enough, whilst writing these few lines and trying to convey these feelings and thoughts of mine to you, my dearest reader, as well as to myself as strange es it may sound, I come to think of a video game.

Yes, a video game.

Now just before you close this site infuriated from this insolence of mine, I'd like to point out the nature of said game. It is considered an indie-game of some sort and by all means... it is... well... different.
The 'strangest' and most likely the really rare part about this game, which makes it so 'special' is that it gets the player to think, not about any puzzles or something similar like in the vastly popular Portal franchise, but mainly about him- or herself. And the deeper you get into it, the deeper ones thoughts grow. I own it myself and it's a shame I don't get to play it more often (plus its frikken hard - if I may add on a less serious note).

Enough with beating around the bush, the game I'm talking about is called 'The Void', also known as 'Tension' in some parts of eastern Europe, created by the masterminds of Ice-pick Lodge. (Trailer - erm, warning? digital nudity for art purpose?)

The game itself could probably be considered as a hybrid between mainly Survival-Horror and Strategy game with influences from Action- & Adventure titles. As you can tell, it proves hard to put it into a distinct category.
It is also one of the games that throws you into a strange surreal world without giving you a clear idea of what brought you there, or where you are at all during the first minutes. You do get a few hints, or rather opinions presented by the first sister you meet in the game, but all of them are rather vague (at least in my opinion and you are supposed to make up your mind on your own after all).
In short; you play as a lost soul, which for whatever reason instead of dying completely, lingers on in a place called 'The Void', detached from life and death just alike. The first person you meet is a frail young woman referring to herself as a sister. She is the one who grants you your first heart as well as gives you basic ideas of how to survive in this void and withstand the peril of the malicious brothers.
Yet in the end it is almost completely up to the player with whom he sides; either the beautiful and alluring sisters, the grotesquely deformed monstrosities called the brothers or whether you only side with yourself.
Game play is governed by one sole resource... color.
It serves as the means to fight, to give life to this strange world around you and as your very own lifeblood. If it runs out, so does the life of the soul. Therefore it is incredibly easy to die in this game if you don't watch your reserves. To obtain said lifeblood, you can simply collect color which sprouts from the areas of the void, as it comes pouring into the chambers of this world sometimes, or you can 'grow your own' by giving color to the trees and by that bringing them back to life.
Color basically influences everything in this game, depending on which colour you use to draw your glyphes you alternate the void itself irreversibly, causing several different effects and events to be set into motion.

The areas you are able to explore in this game are usually surreal, yet of remarkable beauty (especially a fully grown garden, which can be seen in the trailer at several points).

Sadly, as every game it has it's flaws. The drawing of the glyphs sometimes gets awkward and the game tends to act a bit strange with recognizing them. Despite this and it's rather high level of difficulty it is a truly unique experience.
I personally would recommend checking it out and if you get hooked on the idea I might as well add that it is available on Steam for 8,99€ which is about 12,00 - 13,00$

I admit I got carried away a bit. ^^" But well... happens. To get back to my starting point, after finishing this truly remarkable game I came up with several thoughts concerning my stories (don't be alarmed, merely new ideas) as well as the rest of my life... How I'd like to change several things.

And as per usual... it's not about the things you think to be impossible, it's just about doing them.

Stay tuned for more!
As always, thanks for reading.
Marc, the Strange and Thoughtful.

P.S.: New Kitteh probably pouncing on to the site sooner or later.