Not much to write today, but got a few more pics – most importantly a few of the “Horn Please” trucks. There were more on the way home, but couldn’t get a good pic of those from the car, as we were actually moving most of the time today- Left the office right before rush hour! Also, these aren’t some of the more elaborately painted trucks either; I promise to be on the lookout for more!
… oh, and I forgot to say that I finished the half marathon over the bridge to Sweden in a time of 2h27m33s! Trip was beautiful, and I managed to both get under 2h30m and beat at least one coworker it seems, so that was great. My right foot is however still sore, so despite most of the rest of my body having recovered, I will take it easy for a few days more before (ab)using the hotel gym! 
So, I’m back in Gurgaon, India, which is a satellite city to Delhi. It’s been 3 years since I was here last time, and I realised how much I had actually forgotten about being here. So here’s a handy guide for myself for next time I go, as well as other Westeners thinking of going:
Anyway, I took a few pics on the way home from work today as we got stuck in rush hour traffic, which to me seems slower, but only marginally more chaotic than usual traffic. Unfortunately we didn’t get anywhere near one of the overly painted trucks with “Blow horn” or “Horn please” and “Use dipper at night” painted on them; which in itself is odd, as they’re very common here. I did however get a few pics of the contrasts of the country, but I left the camera in the room, and right now I am in the hotel bar, so you’re just going to have to wait until I have had dinner and can be bothered to upload them
Edit: Adding pics now!
Well, I hope I’m back, but real life is kicking my arse right now! I have my maths exams coming up, there’s plenty to do at work, and while none of the other stuff I do take up much time in themselves, it all adds up!
I’m slightly panicky about the fact that my oral Maths exam is on May 27th, written on June 1st, and I’m lacking notes for everything, eek! I hope the weather will be awesome Monday till Wednesday next week so I can go sit in the park and study – Monday is a holiday, and I’ve taken Tuesday and Wednesday off to study, and as I found out this weekend, doing it at home is not really an option, as there’s too many things that can distract me (Kittties! Xbox! Cleaning! Even dishwashing!) . I’m a procrastination master!
I finally found a group to roleplay with again – we’re playing Vampire: the Masquerade! I have once again “ressurected” my lovely Nosferatu hacker character (or rather, I was asked if I would be interested in doing so, and since I love playing the character, I was happy to!), and we’re now off to save the world It’s great roleplaying again, even if I still consider myself an RP noob after 8 years (but to be honest, I have had superlong breaks in between), but it’s a really nice way to spend an evening with other people! It also suits me well that we’re arranging dates from time to time, as I am notoriously bad at sticking to set play-schedules such as “we play every second Thursday”. I just hope that we’ll manage to get past the 10 session mark; that rarely happens in our circle of friends it seems.
On Saturday I took a chance and called an old friend I hadn’t seen for years, and he came by yesterday where we ate loads of icecream and watched standup. It was pure awesomeness. I should really do that with more people I haven’t seen for aeons, as I have realized that even if I have a lot of people I consider my friends, I don’t actually have that many people in Copenhagen that I hang out with. So if you’re reading this, I know you and you want to hang out, let me know!
This weekend I’m off to Antwerp for an EVE geek meetup arranged by an old corpmate of mine; and I’m looking forward to meeting eviwyn, one of my felllow girly pirates! I’m sure it will be loads of fun, even if I don’t drink currently – I’m still keeping my promise to myself and haven’t had any alcohol since new year’s eve. I’ve decided that I’ll start drinking again on June 12th though, which is the day I run my half marathon, but I definitely won’t be getting drunk that day, as I’ll be off to India for a week, leaving on the 13th! I’m so happy my friend Sean has no life (hehehe) and wants to stay with the kitties while I’m gone – and I’m sure he’ll love having my flat all to himself
Straight after coming home from India I have 2 weeks of holiday! It’s going to be great just relaxing – and I’m not even leaving the country for my holiday, which is entirely new for me (though to be fair, I’ll be coming home from abroad right before, so it doesn’t feel too bad). I just hope the weather in Denmark will be nice and summerlike, not grey and rainy!
As for running, I’ve been having an issue with sore calves the last few days; on Friday I had to cut my run short thanks to pain. I’m going to try again on Wednesday and hoping that things go ok, but whatever happens I will run the half marathon!
As the attentive reader might have noticed, there has been no mention of my Canadian boyfriend for the last months – that’s because we’re no longer together. I don’t feel the need to go into details, but I can feel that it was the right decision for me, even if it sucked having to hurt his feelings. But such is life, and it was the right thing to do.
So all in all, I’m happy despite my life being busy. Now I just need the sun to shine some more! It’s May, and it feels silly waiting for the train and wishing I wore gloves! :p
Disclaimer: Unless you play EVE, this post probably won’t make much sense or be interesting in any way; but it’s about attracting more women to play EVE – the official numbers say only 4-5% of the playerbase are female. Also, I have had to moderate certain phrases, as CK doesn’t allow offensive language 
So, I have never actually participated in one of CrazyKinux‘ Blog Banter thingamajiks (I mean, I play the game, but this isn’t an EVE blog per se), but he made a special edition this time concerning the small number of females playing EVE compared to the number of guys, and I kind of think my participation this time could add a bit of perspective, considering it’s basically been mostly guys writing so far. So, the question posed is:
What could CCP Games do to attract and maintain a higher percentage of women to the game. Will Incarna do the trick? Can anything else be done in the mean time? Can we the players do our part to share the game we love with our counterparts, with our sisters or daughters, with the Ladies in our lives? What could be added to the game to make it more attractive to them? Should anything be changed? Is the game at fault, or its player base to blame?
My first thought was why you would even want to attract and maintain a higher percentage of women to play EVE. It might seem a bit anti-feminist, but really, it’s not. Let me first explain a bit about my background.
It’s no secret that I’m a bit of a tomboy (in the geeky sense) and have a way easier time getting along with guys both irl and in-game, but at the same time, I’m part of an all-girl pirate corp (much love to my fellow Hellcats!). I was interested in – but a bit apprehensive about – joining an all-girl corp, but after reading about Hellcats and Mynxee assuring me that corp chat wasn’t just about diapers and diets (which Women Gamers of EVE tended to be at one time; and I have no interest in either), I went for it – and I haven’t regretted it one second. It’s fun that you can be geeky with other girls; it’s actually something I have found out that I have missed.
Before joining Hellcats, I was the CEO of a mid-sized corp called LFC for something like 5 years. We went through several alliances in our time (founding 3rd Front Alliance, then moving to Lotka Volterra, FATAL, Insurgency, EXE and a few others). I’ve been the “boss-lady” (always hated that word) for girls; some good, some bad. I’ve been in diplomatic talks with girls, and I’ve hung out in the Women Gamers of EVE channel and on their forums. All this has led me to think that there are two kinds of girls playing EVE:
It’s harsh, but that’s basically my experience. Luckily most of the girls that play EVE and stick with it beyond the initial “oooh, shiny new thing!” phase fall under category 1, but there are more 2s out there than you might think. Sure, in love and war all is fair, but there’s a difference between girls dumbing themselves down and virtually battering their eyelashes to get an advantage/ presents/ whatever and then getting assistance because of your other merits. (I have been known to joke about “I have tits, I win”, but in no way am I serious). And basically, I’m afraid that if you choose to change the game to cater to more women, you’ll get way more of the second kind than the first. The girls that want to play on a level playing field are the ones you want; and then it’s not a question of changing the game, but rather just letting them know that it’s there.
That being said, it’s not always the fault of the girl if they get treated differently. I have experienced a lot of odd things in my time playing EVE due to my gender; let me give you a few examples:
There are also examples of people looking up to a female pilot in a leadership position, until somehow a picture of said person gets shared, and they instead become a laughing stock (and it’s not just Goons that have done this). If a guy is ugly, but in a leadership position, noone really minds, but if a girl isn’t “traditionally beautiful”, she becomes a laughing stock and/or people lose respect for her? Why?
Some years ago, we were in an alliance blue to another alliance, who had a female as one of their main diplomats. We had a lot of ops together, and said girl spoke quite a lot on Teamspeak, and every time she spoke, you could almost hear the collective sound of trousers rising. Everyone was always speaking about how she “sounded so sexy”, “was probably hot” etc, instead of talking about her skills as a pilot or diplomat (of which she had both). Of course the day came when the alliance of alliances fell apart, and suddenly people spoke of her as “the bitch”, “the whore”, “the tramp” etc. instead. And people wonder why some girls playing the game choose to not make their gender known?
I have nothing against people knowing I’m a girl. I am used to jokes (and find them quite funny) about “a girl being on top” when I was CEO and stuff like that – hell, I’ll even make them myself. But that doesn’t mean I want to be treated any differently than the next guy in any significant way; at least not based on my gender.
I know there’s no real morale to this, but I wanted to chime in, if nothing else than to explain a bit about what it’s like being a girl in EVE. In general I like it a lot, because it’s geeky enough for my preferences; but that also means I would hate it if things were changed just to cater to more average members of “my” gender.
Other blogs in the banter:
- I am Keith Neilson – it was his tweet/ blog post that made me aware of the topic this time
- Ombeve - Who seems to agree with me on a lot of points
- Life In Low Sec – Mynxee, my now former CEO, who gave me a chance to find my inner yarrness!
- Alva Dyson – Hellooo stereotypes!
- Where the Frack is my Ship
- Starfleet
More extensive lists can be found on other blogs…
*I have a funny story (sort of) regarding this. Once, during one of the alliance tournaments where I was on the team, the guys spent an hr discussing whether I was a lesbian or not while we were setting up. It was quite funny to be honest. Anyway, I decided to call my good friend – and team leader – a “c**t” on chat; we were so used to calling each other offensive names that we didn’t really think about it. Instantly, one of the other guys went “You can’t say the c-word! There are girls present!”… I was the only girl there. Anyway, 10 minutes later, one of them said “c**k” to which I of course went “You can’t say the c-word!”. He then told me that that wasn’t the same – to which I could only reply that considering they’d just spent an hr calling me a lesbian, I really couldn’t see the difference. Funnily enough he shut up after that.
Today I went for a run for the first time in over a week. I’ve had a sore achilles tendon for a while, and it’s just one of those things I didn’t dare risk aggravating, so I took a break from last Tuesday until today. It sucks having to take that break though, as the half marathon is only 8 weeks away! Shock, horror! Nah, I’ll make it through one way or another.
Other than that, nothing really major has happened. I just thought this place was due an update really. Work is eating away my EVE time again, and my Maths exams are getting closer, but I’m alive and it’s spring, so things could be much much worse
It’s finally weekend! These last few weeks at work have been quite hard, and today I didn’t leave the office until 6pm (usually we work 9-5), so I’m happy it’s weekend now, and also happy that next week is only a 3-day workweek, and then it’s 5 days off, thanks to easter, yay!
Other than that, there’s not a lot to tell. Or, there is, but nothing I feel a need to share with the world just yet (and no, I’m not pregnant or getting married)…
Oh, one great thing! I realized that my calves aren’t made of blubber anymore! I guess running has helped! I’m also starting my real training schedule next week, so I can get ready for the half marathon; so I’m crossing fingers and hope that I don’t get injured again.
Spring love from Lac!
Ps. I updated http://squareroots.dk as well
So, on Sunday I turned 9! No, seriously, I did! (Digit sums are great!)
I spent the day with my parents in Oslo, Norway – my parents met the first time while they both worked on the Oslo ferries; and while it wasn’t where they actually started going out, I kind of felt it was a bit silly that I had never been on one of the minicruises they offer; so I suggested a trip to the parental units, and they were up for it!
We left Copenhagen Saturday afternoon – the ferry leaves at 5pm. Evening was spent relaxing and eating in the buffet on board, and then shopping a bit – I got a dkny be delicious EdT as an “extra” bday present from my parents, even if they had said that the trip was going to be the only thing I would get. We then had drinks in one of the nightclubs on board; even if they couldn’t make a seabreeze without vodka (I mean, how hard is that?!), they had other nice mocktails (I’m still trying not to drink alcohol until this summer). The beds on board were comfy, and the earplugs I chose to bring came in handy at bedtime too, as my dad snores! Good thing these earplugs basically shut out ANY sound around me!
Sunday morning we had the breakfast buffet, and when we arrived in Oslo at 9.30am, we walked to central station, then took a train (and replacement bus) up to Frognerseteren, where we had something to drink and enjoyed the view before going down to Holmenkollen (the skijump, where the WC will be held in 2011). After I ran as far up Holmenkollen as allowed (those steps are ginormous!), we got the train back downtown, where we went to see Vigelandsparken, and then on the way back to the ship we stopped by the new Opera House, where I also ran up the roof, enjoyed the view and then ran down again.
When we got back on board the ship, my dad found out that my parents used to sail with the chief engineer and a few other people, so I managed to get a tour of the engine room; I actually stood right behind the propeller! It was quite cool! After a shower, the evening was spent eating an awesome dinner in the ferry’s á la carte restaurant (I had beef carpaccio as starter, a delicious plaice/salmon/shrimp dish as main course, and creme brulée as dessert), another drink in the nightclub, and then in bed – all that fresh Norwegian air somehow made me tired 
Monday morning when we got back to Copenhagen, I went home to drop off stuff and feed kittens, said goodbye to my parents and then went to work… and what a week it has been so far. Stressful and confusing, as I’m part of a new project with requirements that kept changing; but I’m reaching the last leg of the worst part, which means that from now on, it shouldn’t be as bad anymore – though I am still looking forward to a quiet weekend doing as little as possible!
Anyway, time to stop my yapping and go find people to shoot in EVE – something I haven’t had time for for almost a week! Shock! Horror!
<3 from Lacrimae, 9 years!
So far I’m having loads of fun being all yarr-like in EVE; it’s gives a sense of freedom not having to worry about alarmclock ops (not that I have bothered with them for years anyway) and other such things. I log on, go hunt, and if someone else is online, I might join up with them, and I might not. Depends on what I feel like that day. I like it that way!
I actually like it so much after a fortnight of yarring, that I am considering moving my main – Lacrimae – over and using her instead of my 65mil sp combat alt, who’s currently the char I have in Hellcats. I know some people say that Lac has been involved in anti-piracy for too long to go pirate; but imho that’d make it all the more fun – and it would feel sad retiring a 100+mil sp character “just” for her anti-piracy past.
So yesterday evening I resigned Lac as CEO of LFC. She’s on the 24hr role timer at the moment, and I am quite sure I will move her into Hellcats soon… But man, having 6½ years in the same corp listed next to my name would sting to leave behind. Oh well, guess I will just have to stay 6½ years in Hellcats then
Boyfriend visiting, social calls and Mass Effect 2 (which finally arrived last week) is taking time away from both EVE and blogging, but I’m still alive! This weekend will be full as well, as bf is leaving on Sunday, I have a maths paper on differentials to do that I haven’t started yet… and both ME2 and EVE needs playing. Oh woe is me and stuff.
But tonight is sushi with friendly faces. Mmm. Sushi!