Mining libations

     My work, in the real world, is physically demanding and can be fairly mentally taxing with the concentration required.  As a result, for relaxation (online), I enjoy doing things that require little or no mental effort.  I relax, and wind down.  Mining, requires minimal concentration and mental effort, is quite relaxing for me, and yet provides the requisite income to pay for itself in plexes so I can further my plans for Eve-verse domination.  At times, after a particularly hard day, it can be too relaxing, and I can doze off.  One particular incident, the last time I ever dozed off, resulted in an alarm clock going off (that wasn't an alarm clock at all, I realized, but the structure warning alarm) that cost me about 2 billion isk to turn back on.  Such as Eve.  To prevent further such expensive and alarming events, I went looking for other things to keep me awake, yet relaxed.

     I listened to MP3s for a while, and while my tastes are fairly eclectic, I also sometimes listen to them at work too, and I don't have a massive library of music yet, so it doesn't take long to wear out the enjoyment of a few hundred songs, and I didn't want that to happen.  Let's try books.

     Books are not the best "next" option for a couple reasons.  First, I can't read a book and keep track of a couple mining toons at the same time.  On top of that, an old back injury wakes me up a couple times an hour every night, so I am in constant sleep debt, and when I try to read a real book, I fall asleep before I get 2 pages read.  That would take me back to the top and the expensive alarm clocks.  Not good.  Audio books, however, are a perfect fit.  I downloaded and listened to dozens of audio books.  Sci-fi, as many of the Sharpe's books as I could lay my electronic hands on, mysteries, horrors, and anything that piqued my interest from the reader comments.  Lots of libraries carry audio books now so it's easy to find non-pirated versions online.  The last ones I listened to were the Dark Tower series by Steven King.  The last book was a total let down and it really seemed like he just got tired of the series, ran out of material, and needed to end the series.  I was disappointed with the series' end, so decided I'd try some pod casts for a while.

     Skipped around with a bunch of random gaming pod casts, then landed on Idle Thumbs.  I liked their style, liked and could relate to a lot of the content, so I went back to their first and listed to about the first 50 or so.  Their dates and episodes started getting fucked up, so I went looking for some Eve podcasts.

     First one I found was Eve Commune, but I'm not doing them the service of linking it as I think it is so fucking brutal.  I listened to 3 or 4 of them but couldn't take it any more.  Their content was very weak, they were pretty brutal at it and . . . "uncomfortable" sounding.  Self-conscious or something maybe.  Anyway, every show was announced to be "amazing" but generally had fuck-all in it.  The host - don't remember his name - would run out of shit to say, of couldn't think of anything to say, so he'd fill the space with a completely "plastic" fake laugh.  Man, terrible.  I might go back and see if there's something more current and they're not so bad, but only if I absolutely run out of anything else to listen to.  From there I found Kirith Kodachi and liked his style, or at least found it bearable to listen to, so I went back to his first and started towards the present from there.  I listened to quite a few of them, and will definitely go back to listen to the rest, but somewhere in one of his casts, I think, I heard about Voices from the Void and purportedly the sexiest voice in Eve.

     Went over there, and went back to the first cast, and started listening.  I have to say, I always go back to the beginning of the casts because I like to start from the beginning, listen to some Eve history, listen to some predictions from the casters, and see how they worked out.  At any rate, Arydanika definitely has a silky voice, and while she is a null-seccer and a bunch of the news is pretty good, she definitely leans on her voice more than she leans on information.  This is particularly evident in one recent guest appearance on the Crossing Zebras (a more recent listening choice) where she was talking about "barricade runners", about how there were some "new" mining and transport missions, and how she couldn't see any reason or need to fly a logi in high sec.  Maybe she's never heard of these "new" Eve updates called "incursions" or "war declarations".  At any rate, I enjoyed her and her over-the-top pod cast partner for a while, but the way she "plays" her voice, especially the forced "tee hee hees" and squeaks.  If you want to be serious, then be fucking serious and use your voice to speak with, not as some "thing" with wavering content behind it as a side note.  It really started to grate on me, and as I listen to the casts for enjoyment, not aggravation, I passed on it but will check back when my nerves and ears recover.  I guess she's part of the goon derp pets now, so, well, . . . we'll see if/when I decide to go back, at least maybe for the older stuff.  ASS part of the goon pets, maybe she'll parlay her voice for some interviews with the goon brass.  That might be interesting to listen to.

     As mentioned, Crossing Zebras is the latest "fix".  They are definitely comfortable behind the mic, and pretty polished compared to the others I've listened to.  They are certainly often "gay" conscious and I might have heard them mentioned because of their frequent homophobic comments, but aside from ignoring that, I went back to the beginning again, and enjoy listening to their observations, opinions and predictions.  I've nearly listened to them all, only a dozen or so, so when I'm done with the last couple, I'm going to try Lost in Eve.  I heard Rundle and a Honey Badger pilot named Zakn on one of the zebra casts, and they both sounded informed and relaxed.  Xander seems more prone to the asshole mentality in Eve, while Jeg seems much closer to my point of view.  Right or wrong, the zebras or their guests, it's enjoyable for the most part to listen to their podcasts.

     At some point I heard or saw something about Jester being on a podcast, so I went over to Declarations of War to check it out.  Definitely a lot of Eve horsepower on that one cast with 3 CSM members and Jester, and the conversation was good, and intelligent, so I listened to a few others.  Aleksyev, the host, can seem or sound fairly arrogant and full of himself.  Not sure if this is a front, or really him, or it goes with the territory, so to speak, but it's an interesting commentary on null mercenaries and they have a lot of interesting guests.  I want to go back and listen to more of those too.

     On the one zebra cast, I enjoyed listening to Rundle talk.  The zebras are always talking trash at/with him, apparently good naturedly(sp?), and on that one cast, with an opposing player in the form of Zakn, Rundle sounded comfortable and informed. Right or wrong, I know not, but he has a great "radio voice" and it's something I would be comfortable listening to as I have a beer or three and crush some rock.  So, I think I'll do the last couple zebras, then drill down through Rundles stuff and see what he says about things.

     So, for the pvp-think bunch that think it's great fun to station or gate camp, or ship spin waiting to get blue balled on a pvp op, or blob some neutral or single ship in low or null (yeah, I've done all that "wonderful" pvp too) or listen to some braggard or crass fuckstick in TS/Vent, it is infinitely more enjoyable, and for now, profitable to relax with a beer, listen to some casts and crush some rock.