Daniel P. Wright

I am writing after a rather long period of absence since, having moved house in April, I have not had the internet at home. I am only able to write this because I’m visiting my sister in Edinburgh and making use of her connection while I’m up here.

…But wait a minute! No internet? Moved house in April? That’s right, I have not had the internet since April 14th. This being the end of June, that means I have gone for two and a half months without the internet, which is the longest I’ve managed without the net since 1995. Wow. Just, wow.

As you can imagine, a fair amount has happened in that time. I gave a talk at the University of Teesside in May, about my experiences thus far in the games industry. It went quite well, though due to unfortunate timing (one week before final ICA handins!) attendance was rather poor. I was invited up again next year, though, and at a better time of year. I and Peter Lewis have some interesting plans in store for that — but more on them in a few months’ time.

Work has remained interesting. Through a feat of temporal engineering, we are approaching completion deadlines at roughly twice the rate at which time passes. I am itching to talk a little more about it a little more, but as is so common, must await the project’s announcement first. I suspect this will happen in the next few months.

My new apartment is located in Hove, right near the sea, and is amazing. Firstly, it’s the first place I’ve ever had to myself — no flatshare here, no sirree. The novelty of that freedom still hasn’t worn off. A couple of weeks ago I was sitting on my sofa, with a glass of red wine, Tord Gustavsen Trio’s “Being There” playing in the background, and Flake’s “The Computational Beauty of Nature” in my hands, and I thought to myself, “this is good”.

Even the lack in internet has been an enjoyable novelty. I have no internet, no phone line, and even my mobile phone reception is virtually nonexistent within the flat itself. When I go home, I am quite cut off from the world. And although this has its disadvantages, particularly in terms of productivity at home, it has its advantages too. I haven’t been doing a lot of programming at home, but I have been doing quite a lot of reading about programming, and consolidating knowledge I already have — and I feel that it does give me a chance to think without being distracted by MSN Messenger or Wikipedia. I suspect I will soon set up an internet connection, but in the meantime I am quite enjoying going without.

Not having the internet, and by extension not being permanently tied to my computer, has also allowed me to devote more time to some of my other interests, too — particularly reading, and music. I’ve set up my keyboard for the first time in three years and started once again trying to teach myself to play. I feel I am making more progress than I have on previous occasions. I have also been taking advantage of my new life by the sea by going sailing quite regularly. Sailing is a brilliant sport, thoroughly enjoyable, and also very interesting when one stops to think of the mathematics and the mechanics behind it. I may stop to make some diagrams describing some of the interesting maths behind it sometime, but for now suffice to say just that it’s cool.

Anyway, that is just a little update, and quite possibly my last for a while, depending on how soon I arrange for the internet in my flat.