Merry Christmas - 2007

Well well well, it has been a long time since I've made a blog post! And with it being Christmas Eve I finally have a chance to take a breath and write a little.

It has been an incredibly year! If 2006 was my worst yea, this has been my best even if it has been an incredible amount of hard work with a great deal of good and bad surprises.

First of all... Work: Over the past year I have worked with a number of fantastic companies developing applications and websites like www.sellstudenbooks.com and www.pennyashton.com and business is good. We're very busy at FreshDevs, taking new people on every day and working on all manner of new media, marketing and technology projects. It has been very exciting! Unfortunately, as is often the case these days, I can't really divulge much information on the specifics of the projects we have been working on... but hopefully by the time find myself with a few free moments for blogging I'll be able to tell you all about it!

Jenny and I moved in together and we are enjoying our first Christmas as just the two of us in our new home in the city center. The tree is up, the presents litter the floor beneath it and a 2kg+ turkey awaits cooking in the fridge. This will be the first turkey I have ever cooked so wish me luck! 

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas (or a happy Eid!) and hope everyone is making the most of the holiday season.

Surgery

Site Redesign

So, I've finally decided to take a couple of hours and redesign my site to something more simplistic. I'll be doing this on the live pages here, so please forgive any errors, broken links, and bizarre colors etc. that appear over the next few hours.

It's going to be simple, and it's going to be red :).

Salzburg here I come!

So, I have offically been accepted to go to Salzurg for a May Term class at my University. I'll be there for the whole month of may studying post WWI expresionist silent films.  The only hard part is saving up the money...which won't be hard at all. I already have a job through my school's newpaper and the odds that I will get a 2nd job elsewhere are really good. I have an interview with the Redlands Symphony department tomorrow :)

The only bad news that I have to report is that my good friends is leaving on friday. His parents pulled him out of school and he's going to a drug rehab near his hometown. I am really sad to see him go, but it's for the best. I will miss him so...

The day after

(Read my other blog post before reading this one) 

After having had a good night of sleep, I woke up and still didn't feel good. The worst part is over, but now there is an emptyness filling up.

I just don't know what to do. Normally when I'm behind my computer, I check some websites, talk a bit on msn or xfire and then mostly start up a game. Then after having played that game for a couple of hours I either have to do something else, eat or go to football or anything, but I almost never get bored of the game. Now I can't seem to play any game longer then 15 minutes, after that I just don't feel like playing anymore. I need some interaction with other ppl, and I mostly play singleplayer games, and the other online games I have, I don't have friends in. And I don't feel like making friends now, (no, you can't call the chat in Call of Duty 'human interaction').

So now I'm sitting here, not knowing what to do. I was supposed to have a football match right know, but for some reason unknown to me the match has been moved to some other day. Right now I would love to play a football match, and kick the shit out of one of my opponents.

anyway, I'm going to call a friend of mine right now and ask if I can come over to his place, don't feel like sitting behind my computer much longer.

Worst Day/Night of my life

(If you don't want to read about the love problems of a teenagers, don't read, it allready feels good to just write it down) 

Seriously, I've never so bad. I didn't even knew I could feel so bad.

what happened?
I'll try to explain... 

I have a girlfriend, and probably not for long anymore.

The week before this week, she was having an exchange program with school (I did the same 2 years ago), so she went to Slovakia for a week. well nothing wrong so far.
This week we both have holiday, and because of both of us not having time on some days, we were only be able to see each other yesterday.
A friend of me gave a party, and we both went there. Well still nothing wrong so far, except that she didn't seem excited about seeing me again (she isn't the person to show things like that easily so nothing really wrong yet).

After the party we went into the city with everyone. So there on the dancefloor she did the worst thing I think she could probably do to me, she fucking totaly ignored me...
normally when going out, we dance together, kiss etc. you know what. Well this night everytime I was within a meter of her, she moved away and made sure that someone else was between us.
Once this night I 'tried' a little to kiss her, well I just came close but she made sure she was totaly looking the other way. I then asked her if everything was all right, and the she looked at me with a 'what are you talking about'-look.

Not knowing what to do I just danced a little and sat down somewhere. Not much later she and some friends went home, she didn't even come to me to SAY she was going away. Propably if I hadn't gone after her (and the rest of my friends) she would have just left without even looking at me. Outside everybody went to get their bikes, and then they left, without her saying something to me...

That night I was sleeping at someone else his place, and with that friend I went back. In front of the door he asked me if I want to stay any longer, and I said I was feeling terrible (He knew why) so we went home (pretty early for us, that's what real friends are for :) )

On the way back he told me that he had allready spoken with my gf and that she had said that she wanted to break up. That night around 3am she sent me an sms asking if I wanted to come over to her place the next day. I replied I would because I wanted to talk with her, and saying that I had the most terrible night ever.
I didn't sleep te rest of the night.

Next day when I went to her place, with the thought of going there for probably my last time and totaly expecting to talk with her and break up, but she acted like nothing happened. Eventhough I said I wanted to talk to her, she had invited some other friends of her (and mine). So I couldn't speak privatly with her...When everybody left, I left and she just said goodbye to everyone and nothing more...

Now I'm sitting here at home writign this blog, I just explained all this to the best friend of my girlfriend (and a good friend of mine). she wasn't on the party and neither in the city, but she was one of the friends my gf invited to her place.
She didn't know of anything (mostly when you want to break up you talk about it with your best friends) and she did help me feeling a bit better.

I'm going to call my gf tonight and talk it all through so either tonight I know the reason and I'm maybe a bit happier again, or tonight I'm a free man again... 

Now, I didn't write this to get replies like 'Fuck her, she's not worth your love when she acts like this'. I still love her, so mind your words.
I don't give a fuck if none replies it just feels good writing this all down. 

Fuck this I really feel terrible... 

Celebrity Lookalikes

Fortune Cookie (14/10/2006)

This Relationship Thing

This Relationship Thing

Years of games, lessons, trials and tests and I have never really put much thought into relationships as a whole. I guess I’ve always had so much success finding women I could be with (and sometimes have) but not wanted to, I just went about my daily business without ever giving the subject much thought. And as only recently have I questioned my desires with women, I have been inspired and found myself doing much more analytical thinking on the subject. Hell courses on relationships should be mandatory at college, it might change the way people interact with each other later in life for the better. But then again perhaps the subject is so practical you can never really understand until you’ve been there, done it, and handled the emotions and cost. Have you ever had one of those conversations with friends where you discuss the futility of relationships? It’s a topic that seems to come up quite often with new friends. Some people believe you just settle down, some believe in love at first sight, some think you’ll always get bored or fear things becoming to mechanical and convincing such people that settling or meeting someone is just too far ‘out there’. Do you believe in true love? I know I do, and my personal opinion as antagonistic as it may seem, is that anyone who doesn’t just hasn’t been there yet.

There are so many posts and blogs on the internet about love. Some people are being philosophical or reflecting on their recent thoughts and experiences, and some are moaning about their current relationships or tom & jerry escapade. I feel it’s about time I added to the fold of crap on the internet with some of my thoughts, and see if anyone could ever understand my frame of mind.

Yes, I am going to be sexist throughout my rant. Our experiences and thoughts about relationships are very one sided. We have only ever experienced anything as our own sex and Men and Women ARE different. It is only natural to classify my thoughts as those of a ‘Man’ in the relationship and not just ‘the other partner’.

Firstly, something that really bugs me that men do. And I’m sure women do this too, hell I know they do, but it’s the men I know best and resulting issues that aggravate me. Stop seeing women as the same species, or expecting to find a woman ‘just like you’. Firstly, perfect partners are not necessarily those who are exactly alike. She needs to be the ying to your yang! No, your woman won’t always understand you, she won’t always say or do exactly what you think she should, it won’t always work and you will fight! Just accept the inevitable and try and accept them for who they are and not what you want them to be.

Competition is inherently inefficient. Both sides would sooner give the other guy FALSE information, than tell them the truth. So what happens? Each side wastes time reinventing the wheel, instead of inventing something to put on top of the wheel.

Why do co-workers refuse to help each other? Idiot competition for raises and promotions. Not only do they hold their co-workers back, they also hold their entire company back. Civilization was NOT founded on competition. It was founded on COOPERATION. Racists, autocrats, and capitalists have all been fooled by the lamest misinterpretation of Darwinism.

Relationships are difficult and can become infinitely complex. Hell sometimes paradoxes seem to form between you and your partner. With that in mind I suggest there is no master, and I’m not going to pretend I know anything you don’t or haven’t already thought about at one point or another. It’s not like throwing a house-party or knowing how to market your business. And so I stop there. However, sexual relations and ‘meeting women’ is a different game altogether. And I would like to rant a bit about some of my recent thoughts and experiences, and what I’ve been reading on many of your blogs! Some you’ll agree with, some you won’t. That’s the nature of individuality! For those of you who are bored already… here’s something to entertain you.

%YOUTUBE[ibEdNCLyirE;0;0]%

I’m going to start with a tip: Don’t listen to a woman when she tells you what she wants from a man. As a man, the most fatal flaws you can make in the game (besides forgetting to take your socks off in the sack) is actually believing women want what they say they want. And yes, it is a game.

Women say that they want a guy who’s funny. And of course that’s true but does it really help you? Either your funny or you’re not. Sure a woman wants someone who’s funny - everybody gets fat, bald and wrinkly eventually so you might as well be with a man who’s going to give you a naked picture of himself for your birthday every year you’re together, even long after it stops being funny, but because he continues to do it year after year after year it gets funny again.

We have to divide women’s wants into two categories to get anywhere close to understanding why we succeed/fail in given situations: elementary and ephemeral.

The desire for a mate with a sense of humour is an elementary want. As the name implies, it is basic, inherent, and practically indisputable. Other elementary wants is a man who is capable of providing stability, a comfortable life, and non-retarded children. Of course being physically attractive, respectful and caring would also fall into this category.

But when you meet a woman, elementary wants are difficult to manipulate to your advantage because it can be hard to appeal to those elementary wants in such a short time. Often you only have seconds, or a few minutes with a person before you’ll decide whether or not you’re going to keep talking to each other. And if you’re anything like I am, there’s a good chance you’ll be quite drunk at the time! So while it can be done, there has to be an easier way right?

If we focus on a woman’s ephemeral wants we are being much more logical. We’re looking at what she wants from her night (and what we want, so we’re already having more fun!). Is it a girl’s night out? Does she just want to get drunk? Is she looking to get laid? By assessing where she’s coming from, it might make approaching her easier, and you can approach people who are already more attractive to you and looking for the same thing.

That said however there is a desire which fits both categories: the want to be wanted. And that’s what it’s all about! From the moment we arrive on earth, we are looking for love, searching for something to project our feelings onto but at the same time gives us that warm and fuzzy feeling inside. Whether it’s as a baby or as a 20-something downing Mojitos in Fantasy Bar - we just want to be loved.

Q: Now, armed with the knowledge that all anyone - man or woman - wants is to be wanted, what should you do?
A: Completely fucking ignore that desire

With this in mind, instead of being the "trying to hard funny guy who desperately trying to work into the conversation his stupid fucking website" we’re already thinking with a little more style.

[going up to bar to order drink next to Girl]
Me: [abrupt] "What’s up?"
Girl: "Hi."
Me: [rolling eyes] "Whatever." [walks to other side of bar to order drink]

I dare you to try it, and if you can pull it off I reckon you’ll be making out with her before the call for last orders.

In an environment in which people are drinking, being agreeable elicits no reaction. Being a dick elicits an often visceral reaction… so we’re already on the right track. Isn’t any sort of gut reaction better than indifference? In the industry we’d clock this as similar to “no press is bad press”.

Forget all the mumbo jumbo when you’re at a bar. Everyone wants to be wanted. By showing disinterest you only pique interest which can then be used to your advantage. I’m not claiming this is groundbreaking here - it’s pretty much textbook manipulation. Oh, and if this actually works for anyone… please let me know. :D. Stories are welcome in my e-mail anytime, hell I’ll buy you a drink just for trying it!

Of course, remember to appeal to the other wants later, or you’ll find yourself in trouble further down the line!

New Job

What a week! Having not clocked more than a dozen hours sleep since last Saturday and constantly working, I’m pretty shattered and thankful the weekend is here. I started my new job at Zero5Media on Monday, and have been pretty bogged down working on www.sellstudentbooks.co.uk with them. It’s definitely a place to look into if you’ve got second hand books to sell in the UK. The SMS services are particularly interesting.

I’ve also been very bogged down with other projects in the evening, trying to catch up. Most notably www.DocSecure.co.uk which, despite not being a challenging project at the moment I just haven’t had the necessary time to get things done and the owners are trying to work a very tight schedule.

I’m glad the week is over! Don’t get me wrong, I thrive off tough challenges and am never happy if I’m not incredibly busy, it’s just the way I like it! But the only challenge this week was time and getting things done. As a developer it’s always frustrating when you work your butt off each day but aren’t at all happy with the end result. I didn’t get to paint any masterpieces this week, nor really achieve anything more than taking projects back in time and then returning them to square one. My work this week could have been done by a first year computer scientist with a ‘Beginners Guide To PHP’ on his desk.

But don’t get me wrong… it was a worthwhile endeavour. I’ve settled more into the new routine at home and at work and I know that this was very much a one-off week with more exciting things to come.

While I enjoy the chance to catch up with people this weekend and spend a few hours relaxing (my social life went out the window this week, I hardly even saw my flatmate), I’m also excited to get to work on Monday morning and hopefully having the chance to use both sides of my brain again. Time-frames shouldn’t be as hectic too, as my primary focus will be on what I’m working on in the office as just about everything else now I’ve managed to outsource to other contractors or the projects are coming to an end. I might actually end up living a normal life! With normal working-days! Giving me plenty of time to socialise and work on my own things in my spare time.

ZzZz

So much to blog,
And so little time
But tonight I am shattered
So instead here's a rhyme

Finding The Balance

I’ve come to some realisations recently as to why I fell into the pit I did, and just how I pulled myself out of it and I thought I’d share some of my thoughts with you all. Granted I perceive things differently in hindsight, but the last few months are still very fresh in my memory. If you can relate to the feeling of low energy and high stress like you feel like yourself rearing toward some form of Defcon 5 emotive, then perhaps you’ve been going through something similar! Small businesses or not easy to run, and neither is being self-employed! It takes a particular kind of person to do well. It’s a lot like running a marathon where the finishing line often seems very distant. You’re constantly pushing yourself and perhaps those around you and you rarely have time to catch you breath.

Regardless of what I say to other people I have never been very good at following my own advice and taking the time to care for myself. I often focus on what the people around me deserve, and always have some excuse as to why I can skip it. Of course that unbalance is inevitable as part of what you need is to take care of your business, and what’s best for the business is good for you. My work is my livelihood, and balancing it with a full social life leaves little time for self-maintenance when things get crazy.

I guess the most important thing I’ve learned is not to panic. You always know things will get better eventually; life is a never-ending journey until your dead and it’s impossible to predict what will be thrown at you from one day till the next. You’ve just got to take it in your stride. It’s easy to say “just run with it”, but when the world is getting tighter around just stop for five minutes. You have full control over your own feelings which in turn affect your behaviour and the outcome of every situation.

If you try and tackle hard problems when you’re desperately stressed your decision-making ability is certainly compromised. Turn your phone off and relax for a bit, it will help you recharge! Sometimes you forget the bigger picture, it’s easy to become tangled in the craziness of every day hurdles and mini adventures. I find writing helps, it quiets the mind and lets you get your thoughts out. Of course it only helps if you write in an uncensored way – can’t be worrying about grammar or impressing a reader. You have to explore that person inside and get what they want to say out onto the page.

When it’s really piling up: Keep your friends close, and kick your enemies out the door! Even if it’s just for five minutes I find calling a an objective friend always gives me a fresh perspective. It’s much harder when you feel stressed AND alone. Running your own business can be very solitary. I find when I call someone most of the time we end up talking about something completely off topic from what’s on my mind. But a little laughter is all I need to rejuvenate. You do have to be sure seek out someone you feel secure sharing with though. I’ve learned the hard way just how much worse things can get if you keep your stresses to yourself, our minds are to lucid to be contained!

Most importantly of course, have fun! As well as relaxing and everything else I’ve rambled on it’s amazing what a weekend away, or just a trip to a new restaurant you’ve always wanted to go to can do for your spirits. Being somewhere where work and finances can’t bother you is key. It’s especially satisfying if you do it on your own because of the contrast to your usual solitary stresses. This week I took my camera out and photographed parts of Manchester I have always wanted to get some pictures of. Of course that doesn’t mean you should neglect your relationships with other people, at the end of the day it’s your friends and family who are always there regardless of the sunshine or hail pouring down.But it’s important to take some time outside the office to be independent and take care of number one without the influence of others. Oh yes, if you’re a tv-watcher I highly I recommend Studio 60! A couple of episodes have aired so far and the cast/comedy is brilliant. Amanda Peet (Syriana) plays the Jack Bauer of the media world, and Mather Perry (Chandler – Friends) and Bardley Whitford work incredibly well together. It has a similar sort of feel to it as The West Wing (unsurprising, as it too is created by Aaron Sorkin) and is definitely worth looking into!

Freshers Week

Finally! Back on TIGS, feels like so long ago lol 

Been here at Greenwich Uni for a week now and enjoying every minute of it :D ... Starting my lectures from Monday and every day is a 9am start X_X Not sure if i'll survive getting up so early all the time
Internet was down for most of the week and now I've found out i can't use IRC, Xfire or half my games through my connection (strangely enough Steam still works :s .... Any help with tunneling programs will be appreciated)
Already started a very awkward relationships (love triangle) and have no idea how those will turn out
My flatmates are organising a flat-warming party tonight apparently, so no sleep for another night lol (but since when do students sleep anyway?)

Time to go and get snacks for the party X_X Have fun all
Tir

Dreaded Days

I seem to have rather chaotic events planned for every day this week, not to mention a few interviews and other things along those lines. My driving test expired, so I have to retake it on Tuesday, for instance. Of course my lack of funds at present doesn’t make any of the above easy! Busy and broke rarely go well together, and I will have to find some way to pass the time in the evenings cheaply without losing my sanity. Looks like I might get few a few films! The students are back in Manchester, Fresher’s week brought the streets and public transport to it’s knees, but the sights in the evenings weren’t a disappointment! It’s amazing how old you feel when all the kids come back though. This week will be just as busy, if not much much worse (can you believe it?) The labour party conference is in Manchester and they’ve already blocked off a bunch of roads and there are police absolutely everywhere. This could in fact turn into the week from hell! If only I was going away… Bollocks!

Facebook.com Imports Notes!

I was thrilled to find out that the popular networking site Facebook.com actually supports the importing of rss/atom feeds into the 'notes' category of your profile! Which means my so-called facebook blog now 'automagically' pulls my news off my site! How cool is that?

I've constantly been impressed with the overall quality of Facebook, most notably the level of privacy they offer so that you're only keeping in contact with real friends! The pages and design is very professional, and the scripting behind image uploading and the many other cool features seems written with much love and creativity.

It's amazing cool (if a little weird), to be able to look up people you haven't seen for years, find out what they've been up to, add them to your list and build a sort of 'social timeline' of everyone you went to school/college/university with.

Big props to the facebook.com developers... all I ever seem to do is badmouth massive community sites, but facebook gets a huge thumbs up from me! They’re not all evil and sad! You get left behind if you don’t have accounts on these places these days and I've discovered it can actually be fun.

If you don't have a facebook.com account you should definitely try and get one (it can be tedious if you have trouble with your university email etc.!

As part of this whole new craze of everyone joining MySpace and Facebook etc. and always wanting to network with people they know I have added a couple of links to my site so you can find me quickly. With so much social interaction between friends going online, it's a wonder any of us find any time to get any work done. Balancing a real social life with Facebook etc. (which you generally surf at work right?) is a tough job! I wonder how many employees will get sacked for it this year.

Jeddah Arrangments

So I've finally nailed down my trip out to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. I'm heading down to London on Monday morning, will pick up my visa etc. and stay the night and catch a flight first thing Tuesday morning.

Looks like I'll be over there a minimum of 10-14 working days while they change my visit visa back to an iquama so I can legally be in and out of the country on the work visa, which will make life a lot easier!

So I'm here for a few more days after all! 

Thursday Morning

I know I haven't been posting much that's of interest to anyone, life has been so inredibly busy I've been living off a couple of hours sleep a night at most. However, I woke up this morning and stood on my balcony sipping my tea and the warm breeze told me it was going to be a good day. If nothing else it should at least be fairly interesting. I got a call one afternoon last week about a possible position opening up at Pravda Advertising <---- (them). I've pretty much decided not to take this job out in Dubai - it would interfere to much with some of my other ambitions at the moment. Yes yes, I've been told I'm nuts! But the middle-east is nothing new to me having grown up there!

Of all the full-time jobs I've been looking at recently I think the prospect of working with the guys at PA appeals to me the most for various reasons. And it's not to be taken for granted that thier offices are about a minute away from my apartment in the city.

The environment could be quite challenging, and give me the chance to really be creative on worthwhile projects. I'm getting quite bored of much of my work recently, not that I don't enjoy the work. I just don't like working on things I know few people will ever actually see or appreciate, especially from a development point of view. The sorts of clients I could be working for with the team could mean some real coverage.

Anyway, I won't bore you with any more about that. Today is Thursday, and Thursday's are always good. The weekend is beginning in the muslim world, and I get less calls and have more time to focus on my more local projects. I intend to spend the day working on the final tweaks for GCZ and CP. The bug reports and tweak requests keep coming in and I'm enjoying plowing through them all. It's nice when people appreciate the changes as they come... and as tough a crowd as we're going to have to deal with when we actually launch these projects, the people who are helping us out right now have been ace. If you're reading this, props to you! Keep up the good work.

MySpace

So, there's been a recent surge of posts on MySpace on our forums... I finally caved in and created an account a few days ago.

I'll add a link to the left of my page shortly. But for now anyone who uses MySpace and wants to look me up you can find me at http://www.myspace.com/H1net.

I do understand the appeal, leaving each other constant notes, bulletins to keep each other informed about events, and generally networking to keep in touch with people it would otherwise be hard to do so. But I can't help but feel this is just another one of those things that I'm drawn to use because you just can't be left out of the loop. Much like MSN. Remember back before MSN was really that popular? When AIM was new and ICQ was the coolest thing around? Now nobody uses ICQ anymore, heck there are very few people I still chat to consistently on IRC. But everyone uses msn messenger, and I still think it's a load of pants!

Soon everyone will have MySpace... but I still think it's just another one of those things that sucks more minutes out of our lives each day than it's worth. 

Crazy New Shirts

I can't decide

So I'm sitting here, outside my class on a bench... waiting for the teacher that never showed up. So I figured, okay, this is a screenplay class. Let's start working on the screenplay.

Now I've been working on some of these stories, tossing ideas around in my head for awhile. I finally narrowed it down to between the two stories that I think could have some legs on them. One is a swashbuckling 16th century naval style warfare set in the 21st century around conflict in our solar system (I'll need to explain that, hold on.)

The other is story about the aftermath of the war on terror, and how the war will (in my story) profoundly change the freedoms that we enjoy today. That in the end, after the war, our governments end up almost no better than the enemies that they defeated. Lead by the UN, which now has taken center stage over all world governments (even the US) and makes policy for the world.

This UN which now runs the schools, the internet, the media, and rations food, gasoline, and all other commodities that countries need. People are not allowed to doubt the UN, or else they dissapear or are punished. The internet has developed over the years during the war (this is set atleast twenty years from now) to the point where virtual reality type systems are in place, this allows people to interact around the world in call kinds of new ways (yes even in kinky ways you dirty bastard). This system will not be invasive, although I have yet to determine how it would operate. The UN has taken complete control over all internet systems, including those that were developed by China. Now a world wide internet is under complete control of the UN. Under their policies, the internet no longer has the freedoms we currently hold. Bloggers are forced to use the state systems, and get a government press pass (sharing your opinion must be state sponsored). Your actions are watched through the government chips that were installed on all motherboards, sending periodic updates of your comings and goings. If you did anything, or went anywhere deemed against their rules you will receive a "visit".

The story revolves a group of freedom fighters, who have built their own version of the internet that connects to the main networks. This allows them to go across the internet without being watched, or have their words censored. They are of course fugities, and must fight to survive.

The other story, which I touched briefly on is about future colonization of space and the problems associated with trying to colonize a place where there are no boundaries, rules, or borders. My goal is to try and get a real 16-17th century naval feel to the vessels, the crews, and the conditions that people must face to colonize the "new frontier". Because back then, the Americas was the only place left uncovered, and now that same spirit of discovery lies in us to expand in space. Expect privateers, pirates, US, Chinese, EU, all fighting for control of resources, trade lanes, and dodging the inneffective UN as they try to stop the skirmishing from turning into total war on Earth. This is all sparked by the discovery of a new type of resource on the moon, which had not been discovered previously. This resource, could power reactors with such effectiveness and longevity that it would be possible to travel throughout our current solar system.

Long story short, I have The Matrix with a twist, and Master and Commander in space.... man now I feel like these scripts will suck. Anyway, pick away at them, tell me what you think of their general premises. Comments?