I’ve been meaning to write and post this status update for a few weeks now, but honestly haven’t had the time or energy for it until today. I’ll tell you the long-short of it up front: In the process of a move across country, I had a car accident that completely devastated my plans and wound up destroying my computer in the process, and so I’m not currently in a position where I can get any writing for the website done. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be out of commission for, but I promise I’ll get back to “work” on here as soon as I’m able. You can read on for the full details if you’re so inclined, but if not; at least know that I’m doing fine health-wise, and that I’m on track to recover financially – that I’ve weathered worse storms than this, and that I’m confident I’ll come out okay on the other end of it. It’s all a matter of time and patience, and eventually settling into a new routine where I can find the time to get back to writing again.
Without divulging every personal detail of my life (I gotta keep at least some of my mystique intact): In or around May, the company I worked for got swallowed up by a larger one, and stripped staff of just about every benefit and opportunity to make money outside of our direct client hours – hours which were also being drastically reduced. In a word, the situation became economically untenable for me; and knowing that other job opportunities in my field in the state would inevitably be consumed by that same conglomerate, I made the decision to move from the West Coast to Texas. I have friends in state who I had planned to collaborate with, a variety of job opportunities lined up, and – perhaps most importantly – my girlfriend waiting on me. My brilliant plan was to drive down there over the course of four or five days in a sedan packed with my every worldly possession, and the assumption that nothing would go wrong. This was a brilliant plan on my part, and definitely not a hasty decision made on a whim – spurred on by unwarranted overconfidence in myself and an overwhelming want to be with my girlfriend again.
Needless to say, the whole plan went sort of belly-up when my car blew out a tire after 400 miles on the first day, and sent me and all my stuff rolling down a hill at roughly 80 miles per hour. I spent the next several days getting bitten by bugs in an Idaho motel trying to sort through the dinged-up and damaged pieces of my life – figuring out what was salvageable and what wasn’t. At the same time, I began what would become a lengthy and tortured process dealing with my insurance company, where I had the bad luck to be assigned who had to be the single least competent adjuster in the entire country: A man who clearly did not understand the concepts of “states” or “traveling,” let alone how to assist me in booking the rental cars that would become a necessity for me in the days to follow. With my car completely totaled and me being left pretty much stranded in Idaho, I resolved to just fly the rest of the way to Texas, and to ship what I couldn’t take with me on the plane due to their exorbitant baggage fees. As a contingency, I let my [largely estranged] family on the East Coast know the situation I was in, and asked if I might be able to come back for a while in the unlikely event that I couldn’t make things work in Texas. But what were the chances of that happening, right?
… So, I couldn’t make things work in Texas. Apparently, there’s this goddamn chip shortage which means there were almost no cars available for rental or to buy in state; which left me with the sole option of a bulky moving van allotted to me by Enterprise Rent-A-Car, with a crack in the windshield (which they assured me was within safe parameters) that quickly grew to encompass my entire driver’s side vision thanks to 110°+ heat. Between frustrations dealing with incompetent insurance agents and clueless rental services, the inability to get hold of a reliable car (to rent or buy), burning up / getting bug-bitten in shitty motels, difficulty finding a suitable place to live, and quickly dwindling cash reserves; I made the incredibly tough decision to retreat from Texas for the time being, and stay with family on the East Coast until such a time as I can make a better-planned second attempt at moving South. So, I booked another flight, and here I am – back at the last place I want to be, if I’m being honest. I’m going by my deadname again for the first time in years, swallowing all my pride, and generally feeling pretty lousy about the whole state of affairs.
Just when I thought I had gotten through the worst of my bad luck, my computer finally made its way back to me at my temporary East Coast address, only now it had been completely destroyed in the shipping process. By all estimates, it’s a total loss, potentially barring maybe a couple hard drives that look to be in okay shape. Needless to say, this is a pretty devastating setback for several projects I had in the works related to the Bad Game Hall of Fame, not to mention the loss of my best tool for unwinding and stress relief. I do have a laptop with me that can at least get me online and keep me in touch with folk, but it turns into a space heater when I try to use it to launch a game. Needless to say, it’s a little far from “ideal,” and I can’t really use it to get back to work on anything site-related. As such, I’m looking into a replacement PC – another unforeseen and unwelcome expense tacked on to the bill I’ve been running since my car flipped over.
Here’s where things currently stand: I’m seeking employment in the East Coast to hopefully replenish my savings over the course of the next few months, while I wait on Texas to become a more tenable destination. I’m currently waiting to see how much I get back on my car through insurance, where I’ll likely spend the bulk of my settlement on paying off the remaining loan on my ex-car / paying down its replacement. I’m also dealing with an insurance claim through USPS on the computer and other damaged parcels, where I hope to at least recover a thousand bucks or so from what they destroyed. I’m confident in my ability to get back on my feet financially, but it’s gonna take a lot of time and work. I’ve weathered worse storms than this in my life, and I’m equipped to weather this one – as long and as painful as the wait may be. And eventually, I’ll get back to writing over-long articles about bad video games and whatnot. But it’s gonna take me a minute, and I appreciate your collective patience in the interim. I won’t beg y’all to stay subscribed to the BGHOF Patreon (on my end, I had to cancel all my own pledges to save on money), but I can’t deny that every little bit helps right now.
Well, that’s more or less a summary of my life for the past few weeks! I really do want to get back to writing, as I’ve got the itch for it pretty bad at the moment. (It’d certainly beat being on the phone all day and having to deal with slimy car salesmen.) But I’ll have to settle on a real job first, and figure out where this goofy side-gig slots into my eventual new schedule. All things in due time, I reckon. When I do get back to it, our next game review will be the sixty-ninth on the site, and so I’ll be celebrating it appropriately with a review of 2005’s Lula 3D. Not necessarily sure if that’s one to “look forward to,” but it’s what I’ve got in mind, and so y’all are just gonna have to accept it for what it is.
Lula 3D for PC (CDV Software, 2005)
I hope you’re recovering well and good luck dealing with insurance and car salespeople, those bastards can really grind you down.
Oh god glad your safe and I hope life stops shitting on you man.