Nobody keeps count of this shit. The only one who does is the only one who cares, and as such, it falls down to me to put the celebratory touches on my very own, 100th goddamned motherfuckin' Facebook Note. One hundred ain't no joke. Such a number is powerful in all walks and avenues of life. One hundred dollars? That's some serious coin. One hundred tacos? That's some serious taco. One hundred is a landmark number no matter how you slice it, most of us could only hope to reach one hundred in one way or another, whether it be our savings account, how many years you want to live, the number of hugs you get, or the number of people you kill. There's just something special about the juxtaposition of one next to two extra zeroes.
So I shall spend my 100th note explaining the whole reason for my Note enterprise--doubtless, a thankless and glossed over enterprise that necessarily takes a backseat to all the schooling and working that keeps you guys busy for the bulk of your days. To toil away, mostly for my own amusement, on the keyboard, pumping out Notes day in and day out only to have no one read it kind of pisses me off. My talents are wasted on you swine. I started this whole "Note" thing to get myself better acquainted with writing. As an aspiring writer, it comes as no small surprise that I would practice the damn thing, and what other reason is there to write then for other people to read? So I've gotten part one down, as evidenced by the fact that I got 100 notes underneath my belt, but the lack of feedback from anyone is a serious detriment to part two. It hampers any chance of development on my end in my pursuit towards greater and higher levels of writing.
I understand though. I probably jumped in at just the wrong place at the wrong time. We are all university students (or something like it) and its not like we can afford to waste time chatting on FaceBook, going out with friends, watching movies, making wall posts, playing Farmville or Texas Hold'Em, considering that we have to go to school and work--oh wait...that's right you thankless fucks, you have more than enough time to take ten measly minutes and entertain that dude named "Thanh" on your friends list and give his quest for writerly stardom some credibility, otherwise, delete my fucking ass already. I'm just walking up the escalator at this point. I may be calling you guys out, but it's not like you're reading this anyways. You be damned if you do, and you be damned if you don't. It's called the catch-22. No matter who wins, we all lose. That's life in a nutshell. A series of losses and punches to the face that come no matter what you do. The only thing we can do, is try to take it the best we can.
I want to become a journalist. Not just any journalist mind you, but a legitimate video game journalist. The state of gaming journalism right now is more or less, consumer-orientated advertising. All the power lies with the gaming companies, they decide what gets shown and what doesn't, and the enthusiast press have to battle each other for the scraps. People have often remarked that the gaming press is really a bunch of fanboys dressed up as writers, and that the volume of the content produced lacks the kind of austerity and objectivity of legit everyday journalism. Basically, none of it is particularly good writing, and most, if not all, is simply mindless fanboy drivel. While I'm not pretending to become the first legit gaming journalist, I would like to expose some of the lesser known parts of the gaming world. There are so many stories out there that have been touched upon, but not really focused. There's already a few topics I could think of, the life of a Chinese gold farmer, love over the MMORPG, an inside look into the vintage gaming collector, development hells, and all sorts of things--typically the kinds of things that take a backseat to reviews and previews of the latest and greatest.
Print's death isn't a question of if, but simply when. There's so many tech-savvy gaming enthusiasts out there, one writer into the pool isn't going to make much of a difference. I honestly don't know if my aspiration will get me paid, but all I know is that I will be doing what I love. But like all dreams, it's just a speck in the distance. I'm taking steps to get there but I don't know how far I'm going or how far I've gone. 100 Notes? That's a pretty good distance, but it feels like I'm just getting started.
