matt dash low dot com

Taking some time off. Don’t know when I’ll be back. Good luck, have fun, make pokemon.

I got offered a position as a freelance columnist on one of the top World of Warcraft news sites (WoW Insider). It’s a paid position which offers up to $200 a month. This requires four 500-1000 columns on a weekly basis about the "Priest" class in WoW. It’s a pretty cool gig and I’m still mulling it over. It doesn’t help that exams are coming up within 3 weeks and I have a paper due next week. I have no problems at all coming up with ideas or executing them. Throughout high school, I’ve always loved to write and I’d write about the strangest and weirdest crap at times. If I take this position, it means I lose a certain degree of creative flexibility. Heck, my blog alone has over 300 subscribers and it’s only going to go up higher. Obviously what I write for WoW Insider isn’t going to have much of an impact on my blog. I allot a certain amount of time during the week for school, WoW, writing, and sleep. It would only be a matter of restructuring my time management schedule.

Pros

I get paid to play and write about WoW legitimately. It does NOT get any better than this.
Exposure for my blog. It’s almost guaranteed that my visibility will go up more.
Looks good on the resume. Whoa, you wrote for a blog that gets 5 million views per month?
Women (Maybe).

Cons

Deadlines. I hate deadlines. But it shouldn’t be a problem. I usually build up a weekly buffer of posts on my blog anyway.
Potential backlash. Oh the flame wars will be numerous. I will constantly be attacked as a writer for my opinion.
Quality goes up. I set a very high standard of quality for myself. By going for this gig, I’m only going to scrutinize myself even more so.

When I first started blogging, I did it for fun and mostly to teach players to become better players. I always had ideas about writing for WoW Insider and for their head guy to come out and actually e-mail me is a tremendous surprise for me.

Maybe I should pursue this. It’s definitely safer then law enforcement. But ugh, freelance writing can be stressing too. For now, having a source of income is better then none at all.

I found this great education blog. I’ve already subscribed to it on my Google Reader. It’s got some great tips and advice. The guy’s latest piece is on how to master hard readings.

Face it. Without geeks, your life would be over. You would not be facebooking or Wiiing or doing any of that fun stuff that came from bored geeks. So why not show a little appreciation for that one geek in your life?

You know, the one who braves snowstorms, hurricanes, and stormtroopers to fix your internet connection so you can hand in your homework that’s due in 20 minutes?

Or the geek who is the only one online who can listen to your relationship problems on MSN because he happened to be awake at 1 AM trying to finish leveling his Paladin on World of Warcraft?

1) Backlit Keyboard: This can be any brand, really. But you can’t say it’s not useful. It’s difficult to find a good keyboard these days. What you see here is a common affliction that all serious gamers suffer from. The letters on the keys are running out!

2) Deskpad Calendar: A common misconception is that gamers have no lives. Totally not true. Our lives are just as normal as yours except we’re much more efficient at managing time. The secret? Calendars. I run iCal on my Macbook and use Google Calendar on my desktop. But sometimes it helps to have a pencil and a large calendar to write down important dates (like online gaming nights or tournaments).

3) Transformers DVD: Best movie I’ve seen since Gladiator. Now you being the smartass that you are would ask “Well what movies have you seen since Gladiator?” To which I would respond “None!” All the same, I don’t think there’s a person in the world that would not agree that this would be an awesome DVD to own.

4) World of Warcraft 60 day Game Card: You saw this one coming.

5) Mario Strikers (Wii): Have you heard of a concept of gifts that give back? I was introduced to that idea this year by a new friend I met at school (Hi Amanda!) This would be one of those gifts because you can always play with them. Actually, there’s a bunch of great Wii party games out there that’s a blast to play. Another title you can add is Mario Party (awesome game with a full house)!

6) Check Facebook: Still don’t have a clue what to get them? Most geeks will have developed their facebook or myspace profiles extensively.

If all else fails, buy a giftcard from BestBuy or at a store which has electronics. They will love either way, regardless. Geeks are simple, sensitive creatures. They will not think any less of you if you buy them coffee or a coffee machine.

Sad, but true. After visiting the Eyeologist, it has been determined that I will be forced to wear some form of eye correction.

The crime? Too many video games
The sentence? Part time eyewear

After much sitting there, many lasers, lights, needles, eyedrops, and other such tools of destructive nature he was able to come to a conclusion. My right eye is -1.50 and my left eye is -0.75. I don’t really know what that means.

In Matt’s terms, there is nothing wrong with my sight when I’m looking at objects that are close to me. I can read the characters clearly on my screen. I can enjoy my Macworld magazine. More importantly, I can write an exam without the use of eyewear.

However, when it comes to things like reading overheads during lectures, that is when serious effort is required. Anything beyond the 4th row in a lecture theatre? Nadda. However, there is an easier solution for those of us who have problems reading lecture slides.

To all professors and instructors

PLEASE USE A FONT THAT ISN’T LESS THAN 20!

Just because you have a big frickin’ $5000 projector doesn’t mean you can get away with using a 10 sized font.

Sigh.

At least wearing glasses is only part time. I only need it for distance viewing and if I’m driving (especially at night). After the eyedrops he gave me, walking home was scary. My vision was blurred. I had to walk fairly slow through Metrotown. Everything was so bright! I took extra care on the skytrain platform. I didn’t want to make a wrong step anywhere. By the time I got to the bus, thankfully it cleared up some.