The power of a linchpin

I was hired by a company because I was the only person who knew how something worked. There was no one else so I could name my price.

I’m a linchpin.

I’ve never been one before.

It feels.. good.

The company needs me more than I need them. I can’t leave or part of the business will struggle. They are flexible with my availability. They bend the rules for me. They genuinely care if I am unwell. I am needed.

I’m also a risk.

Knowledge needs to be transferred.

Linchpins cannot remain as such forever.

Enjoy it while you can.

Just turning up as opposed to booking

I hate booking in advance.

The deals are sometimes better, but not always. Don’t get me started on hidden fees and on-line booking fees. Shouldn’t it be cheaper as I’m not dealing with people?

With advanced booking you can secure your place or item, but then you have to consider changes that can occur between now and then. The weather, illness, availability, etc etc.

Booking just stresses me out. Sometimes I’ve gotten lucky and got a deal. Other times I’ve been burned, badly.

To book or not to book.

It’s like phishing scams. They use the same techniques. Seriously. Book now while there’s still time, still availability. So you book only to find there was plenty of availability all along and now tickets are half price. Dammit!

So I prefer to just turn up. To chance it. To pay the gate price, the door price, on the day. I don’t get burned. And occasionally I get a deal. 

It’s only money, mostly

Everyone has money problems. More money, more problems, right?

I tell myself it’s just a game. Life is just a game.

It will throw crap at you left, right, and center. All day long, every fricking day.

The trick is to just play the game. Earn a living, pay the bills, enjoy life as best as you are able.

I used to think that you must be able to reach a point where you have enough money not to care. To be financially secure enough that if a problem occurs, whatever it may be, that you can just pay your way through it.

But no. There are always problems that can cause stress, anxiety, even depression, no matter how much money you have.

So I continue to play the game of life and try not to stress about stuff. It’s only money. Mostly.

Virtual currency

In a supermarket seeing that wall of cards. Virtual currency. E-bucks, V-bucks, whatever. Digital credits for virtual games.

What a con.

Not only do they get your money when you buy the game, they also make you pay to live in the game world. In the real world you are also paying for the machine to run the game, and the electricity to power it. I wonder if people have actually calculated how much it actually costs them to play a game.

Me. I didn’t like to spend money on something I can’t touch. I like to hold a game cartridge or disc. I like to get something you can hold for my coin. I’m old school I guess. Kids today think it’s nothing to spend their money on virtual currency then spend it all on new clothes and accessories for their avatar while they wear old clothes in the real world.

I watch an old lady point at the wall of cards asking her daughter which one to get for her grandson. He plays Fortnite mother, she replies. The lady looks back at the cards none the wiser.

The cyberpunk who hates the city

I grew up in a large town. There were a lot of people, buildings, vehicles, and light pollution. I worked in tech and worked at big corporations. I read Cyberpunk by Gibson, Sterling, Rucker et al. I used computers and gadgets daily.

Today I find myself in a city and I hate it.

I hate the noise, the people, the traffic, the hustle and bustle, and the light pollution.

It’s too much.

I miss the countryside. The quiet. The sound of the leaves on the breeze, the birds in the trees, the combine in the distance field. No light pollution, only stars as far as I can see.

I still love my tech. I have multiple gadgets on me at all times. I remain connected to the noise, but digitally, not in the analogue. It’s there when I need it. To identify a plant, plan a walk, or to sit down and type some thoughts.

I’m still a cyberpunk at heart, but one that hates the city.

Not off grid. On the edge. An edge runner.

Listening to the rain

I’m sitting here by an open sash window listening to the rain.

I booked a holiday let in a house built many centuries ago with the top two floors a luxury let above the high street of a historic market town. I have a glass of red wine in one hand and I’m listening to the pleasant sounds of the rain.

In my other hand I hold my mobile with the BBC weather app open. It proudly shows me that there is zero percent chance of rain at my current location. It’s wrong and I’m happy that it’s wrong.

This app is rarely right. I might as well consult the wise old elf from the Magic Kingdom for a weather forecast. He’ll be more right than this app. I don’t know why I haven’t uninstalled it. The amount of times it has predicted a good old storm with thunder and lightning, only for it to be clear skies with absolutely no activity. Oh the disappointment.

The cafe owner across the street starts to clear up as the last of her patrons head home. I hear a few merry people singing in the distance as I take another sip from my glass, the gentle cadence of the rain hitting the cobbles below is soothing. I put the phone away and toast the BBC weather app for being pleasantly wrong yet again as I listen to the rain that should not be.

The art of complaining

There was this guy once, Michael Winner, who was a master at the art of complaining. He would not bat an eyelid at complaining to a waiter if there was something wrong with his meal. Surprising really as it’s not the British way. We just accept the mediocre service and move on. Well, in-person anyway. Online is another thing. The beauty of anonymity and all that.

The reason I started thinking about this is because I’ve received some really bad service recently. Why is that? High prices but slow service and bad quality food or products. It’s as if some businesses don’t even care. Once they have your money you can get lost. Not happy? Hard luck!

Just show the British stiff upper lip and carry on.

Not me. I’ve started complaining. I’m fully embracing my grumpy old man stage of life. If I’m not happy they will hear about it.

Not that I’m getting refunds or apologies. Nope. I need to master my technique more. Or maybe shop where people actually give a damn.

Characters left hanging

I hate it when you have invested a lot of time in a TV show, following the complex plot and all the characters and then the show ends, leaving you hanging. Not knowing what happened next. How did the character’s lives pan out? There’s no more episodes, no more insight, just a hard, abrupt, end. As if you were a voyeur observing a life and then your window closed and there is no more for you. The character’s life continued without you knowing what happened next.

Some finish off their characters’ stories with leaked scripts post cancellation, or the stories continue in other media such as books or comics. Most end though, never to continue. Fan fiction satiates some, others, like me, are left with nothing. An investment with no end.

Generous car parking spaces

This annoys me so much: The size of your average car parking space in the UK.

They haven’t updated the dimensions in decades, yet cars have gotten bigger. You have to be an expert at parking to be able to fit your car in a space and be able to get out. My car is so long that the front and back overlap the white lines and the sides are in, but only just. If anyone parks next to me I can’t open the doors.

Parking spaces are worth a fortune in many towns. So owners of car parks are happy not to increase the size of the spaces, as more spaces means more money. God forbid anyone should create spaces big enough for the vehicle and so you can open all doors and the boot. The amount of times my boot opens into a hedge or I’m forced to choose which side the doors should open on.

I’ve seen SUVs park in two spaces so that the occupants can get out. People leave notes under their wipers to point out the terrible parking, but what choice do they have? Cars have gotten bigger and the places to put them have not. Move with the times you vehicle real estate moguls!

Let’s start a campaign for bigger parking spaces.

Kingpin

I have old game discs lying around. I even have a few floppies, albeit they are rarely used thanks to emulators, and my last floppy drive having developed the click of death. I keep only the games that I enjoy, and continue to do so. Ones with a journey, a campaign, a linear storyline with entertaining gameplay.

Games with titles such as Kingpin, Cadaver, Max Payne, Half Life, and the more recent The Last of Us, and Uncharted. All offering virtual escapism for hours on end. With well trodden familiar territory. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve completed Kingpin. Yet despite the aging graphics, it still entertains me. Occasionally It’ll replay Doom, Quake, Duke Nukem, and other 90s FPS titles, but Kingpin remains my favourite.

I’ve played mods and have my favourites, especially for Max Payne. New Dawn leads by far. I know the levels inside-out. Some games I’ve played so many times that I’ve gone way beyond a hundred percent completion, beyond easter eggs, and testing boundaries, to testing how the games handle the unexpected. Most stand the test of time. My hats off to their QAs.

I’ve dipped back into point and click revisiting Monkey Island, the Amazon Queen, Enchantia, and Kyrandia. Said hi to Simon, Larry, Sam and Max. Dropped in on top-down with the early GTA and very early Commando. And I’ve emulated the Valhalla Classics. Yet I keep coming back to my well-worn Kingpin disc. I’ve replayed this at least once every decade, if not more. Maybe every half-decade. I keep coming back to it. The forgotten classic.

What games have stood the test of time with you?