South Carolina and Homeward

After an unsuccessful try in Colorado, we finally found some Phish tickets for North Charleston in South Carolina! They weren’t cheap, but getting them at face value was definitely better than double or even as high as *quintuple* price.

 

This venue was pretty insane... I was front and center!

 

We decided to skip Utica due to my friend’s finances, but that’s fine. This trip has been an adventure indeed.

Even if we hadn’t found tickets, this whole trip has been a huge learning experience. I finally camped in some beautiful mountain ranges, supported myself for relatively little money, and found new friends and confidence.

I even met a new friend named Don who needed help with his clothing business. One minute, I was a programmer, and the next minute I was selling dresses from Thailand to beautiful ladies! I never imagined that it would be as much fun as it really was! When the weekend was over, he offered me beautiful clothes to bring home to my family; I don’t think I’ll ever forget him.

 

The lightshow cannot be done justice in photos.

 

The show was fantastic — worth the entire trip — and I’m going to save the free recording of the show for everybody to hear! If you want a copy, feel free to ask me whenever you’d like.

Now, of course, it’s time to get back to work. I planned and programmed for ARC throughout the trip, but full-time is calling and I can’t ignore it! I will still have something to look back on when I need a little push at work. That’s why I went on this trip in the first place.

My notes from the trip should help fantastically on my side projects, too. My inverter didn’t work on the trip, but now I’m excited to get to work!

University of Colorado

Wow, this campus is nice. Aside from all the alleged bureaucracy issues around  here, I’m actually kind of jealous. It sort of reminds me of Stockton College back in New Jersey, but UC has a lot more applied science and chemistry wings. Most of the people we’ve met so far have been very friendly! They were surprised by the fact that Christian and I travelled so far to get here, and still have so far to go. I hope we can find some people to go to the concert with us.

Programming will be a problem: right after we left Lake Michigan, the power inverter for the car gave up the ghost. That means no more work unless I can find an electrical outlet… and on this trip, doing as much as possible while driving was supposed to be key.

Thankfully, we have some downtime tonight so that I can get as much work done as I can. Notebook paper can only go so far with code!

For now, it’s time, once again, to try and find a shower, and hopefully a place to stay…

Lake Michigan

After eleven hours of driving through pitch darkness, from Allentown to Lake Michigan, I’ve learned that trying to do programming work is very difficult. It’s less that the keyboard is frittering around and making it hard to type; I just couldn’t concentrate well enough to think about what I wanted to do in such a cramped space.

Moving some other items out of the truck cab might help. Trying to do it at 12 am wasn’t a great idea either!

I’m going to go enjoy Lake Michigan’s sights today, though, so I’ll be putting the computer back down until later. Sadly, with so much plan-changing so far, I haven’t gotten a lot done yet. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some real sit-down time in once we hit Colorado.

Cheers!

Adventure

I’m headed to Colorado (followed by S. Carolina) next month to follow a friend! He wants to see the Phish tour, camp in the wilderness, play disc golf and meet a bunch of new people… and it sounded like it was up my alley.

I’ll be programming my new Flash title on the way, and I plan to finish it by the time the trip is over. I’ll also be working for ARC Interactive in the interim remotely, but that doesn’t mean I won’t consider other opportunities while I’m gone. I’ll be sure to post details when I can actually get wi-fi access, and I’m sure I’ll make more posts as the departure date draws closer. Right now we’re slated to leave on October 4th or 5th.

If you would like to reach me while I’m away, please feel free to email me at stevekondrk@gmail.com. I’ll be checking the account every chance I get. If you’d like to talk by phone, I’m sure we could arrange some time on my friend’s cell (seeing as I don’t own one — a luxury one can do without when one cannot afford it).

Hiatus

Due to the cultural and government issues as of late (especially the BP oil spill), I am afraid that I may be moving out of my home town and beginning a simpler life. I am unsure of how long this will last, but I hope to gain knowledge of the earth while still keeping up my programming skills.

I have considered designing a game about the earth and how it grows into an ecosystem. However, finding a place to live and deciding a new lifestyle comes first. Therefore, my time on the internet will likely be shorter and less frequent. This does not mean I won’t be trying my best to grow in ways that I know how, whether that’s in the field of programming or land maintenance.

Thank you, everyone, for your support and well-wishing. I will try to keep in contact with those I can, and if you want to reach me, you can always try my email: stevekondrk@gmail.com. If you have interest in this project and what it may entail, feel free to drop a line. I can’t promise I’ll answer it immediately, but if I can, I will.

Again, that’s stevekondrk@gmail.com, or you can try skondrk@fullsail.edu or S Kondrk on Skype. Thank you again, and be sure to look here for updates.

Be well, everyone, and take care of yourselves.

-Stephen

Quintessence in Full Sail University Gallery!

I feel honored to hear that we are part of Full Sail’s history of Game Development. Seeing this reminds me of how hard we all tried to make something great… I think we all pulled through of a lot of tough nights to get this to what it is today.

Thanks a lot everyone. Even if we’re apart, you all mean a lot to me.

Full Sail Gallery: Quintessence

Thank You Everyone

One thousand views! Thank you everyone for all of your interest, support, and love.