At the beginning with you

My New Year's resolution for this year, sadly enough, is to start a blog and see how long I can go updating it every day. I'm going to start today by laying out my rationale and ground rules I'm setting for myself. Who knows how it may evolve though.

First, a bit about me. My name is Nick Page, I'm 25 years old, I live in Waterloo, Ontario, and I am a semi-recent graduate of the University of Waterloo (B. Math, honours Computer Science, minor in Combinatorics and Optimization). I'm working a tech supportish job currently and am half-heartedly looking for a programming type job. You can pretty much sum up my life with three statements... Play games - Eat meat - Sleep.

My main goal is to write about the games that I play. I intend to write freeform, not going back over each line to correct spelling or grammar or to make sure it comes out just perfect. The reason for this is that I often spend hours and hours trying to think of the perfect way to phrase an email or a message board post or whatnot. I am going to allow myself to correct typoes in the last word/punctuation though, so while it may be a little incoherent at times it shouldn't be illegible as well.

The primary reason for doing this is so that I can reread my thoughts on things (especially games) years down the road, but there are lots of secondary reasons as well.

- I have an interest in doing serious testing, and it was recommended that working on your communication skills, for example by writing a blog, would be a big asset. I'd like all the assets I can get.

- To learn a bit about website, or at least blog, design.

- I used to be roommates with a couple people who wrote Magic:The Gathering articles for http://www.starcitygames.com/ back when I was a student. I always got a thrill out of reading about the exploits of people I knew in person, especially if I was somehow involved. I expect I will often know the people I write about, and I will likely find myself involved a fair bit. And hey, maybe someone I know will stumble across this at some point and get a kick out of reading about themselves.

- I am starting to give serious consideration to trying to make money (or at least break even and have fun) playing online poker. I've seen it recommended to keep track of each session so you can more objectively approach your game. Makes sense to me, and what better way to track progress than by writing about it every day. I also figure I can do the same sort of thing with Magic Online tournaments. Up to now I've just had a vague sense that I'm winning more often than losing but I have no real concrete proof. This will at least give me some stats to (poorly) analyze.

- To attract all the cute gamer girls out there. Ok... Not all. One would be quite sufficient. The cute part is just an added frill. The girl part, on the other hand, is non-negotiable.

- Who knows, maybe some random people out there will read a post and be entertained, or learn something about something random. That would be great!


At any rate, questions and comments, now or in the future, are always welcomed. I especially welcome criticism, constructive prefered but I can learn from even the meanest of complaints.