The Hermit in Me

So today I joined some gaming journalist social networking site. Don't worry, I'm not about to start thinking I'm a gaming journalist. I'm well aware that I'm a hack and a hack shall I always be. Anyone who suggests that he should make a game about spraying poison on babies has no reason calling himself a journalist of any stripe.

As a rule, I hate social networking sites as it requires you to a) be social and b) network. I have explained on numerous occasions my disdain for other people, so signing up to be part of a site that requires me to speak to other people makes little, if any sense. The reason I signed up is basically because Bill told me to, and as I have no experience navigating these tricky, freelance waters, I do pretty much whatever he tells me to. That and I find the entire freelance thing very interesting. Not as a career option mind you, as my fragile mental state requires the stability that only a steady income can bring, but I have always wondered how people are able to cobble together a living from this whole writing thing. The only other insight into this world I've ever had is from reading Scalzi's Whatever all these years, and that dude has his shit wrapped up so tight, that I don't even know if it's the norm.

GameShark's new editorial policy has required me to, as Bill said, act like a real freelancer in that I have to think of the next assignment before I'm finished with the current one, and I gotta tell ya, it's a pain in the ass. I'm not the most motivated individual in the world, so the whole idea of me just getting stuff mailed to me with little more needed from me than an email to signify my assent takes some getting used to. That being said, I have managed to fill my plate until the beginning of March, so I think I'm getting used to it, but still, it's like hella work, yo.

I can't imagine having to be on top of what may be coming down the pike because my ability to pay the mortgage depends on it. I pretty much review games because I enjoy it and I need cash to pay for Transformers. Seriously, that's it. I like being able to play games I normally wouldn't, and there's nothing like a bad game to stoke my creative fires, but mostly it's for Transformers. Jesus, when I put it like that, I sound like such a loser. Eh. I'm alright with that.

If I do decide to try my hand at writing for other sites, hopefully all this networking crap will give me visibility into additional opportunities, I'm just not sure anyone would want to hire an anti-social slacker with a Transformer fetish. I know I wouldn't, unless he was in the Collector's Club and could score me Club exclusives. A man's gotta have priorities.

In other news, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games for the DS answers the age old question of what would happen if scribbling were an Olympic event. It's a veritable cornucopia of scribbling.