Merry Christmas And A Happy New Year!

Well, Christmas has come and gone and it was a very merry one for the Ethridge clan (and our in-law kin). We didn't have a great deal of money for presents this year, but we were together as a family, which was something we didn't expect to be the case earlier this year. We do miss Dominica (especially on the cold rainy days), but it's nice to spend Christmas at home. That is one of the reasons we've decided to spend January through March in the Caribbean rather than December through February. I would rather have Caribbean weather during December, but not enough to miss Christmas with the family.

This post is going to have a number of pictures. Here are some of our Christmas celebration at the Yate's.


Rachel also wanted to show our Dominican friends some horses walking in front of the Dollar General as well as packs of Kool Aid for a $1.00.


The game continues to go very well and the producer is planing to meet with a prospective publisher in the next couple of weeks or so. We have very high hopes. If we can get a bit of an investment from them I should be able to get an advance. I know I've mentioned it in several posts, but it's on my mind a lot. I've made less this year than I have in the past decade (or more). It's been a long, long time since we were under this kind of financial strain. Still, it's not a big deal really. We have a large family that we all enjoy and have plenty of TV and video games to keep us busy. The Lord continues to provide for us and it's not like we really go without. It's just a matter of wanting a bit more breathing room in the budget.

Anyways, we went to Williston this Sunday. The sermon was good (as was class) and the kids had a good time. We probably increase their attendance by 25% when we show up, lol. It reminds me of our effect on the Scott's Head Church of Christ. I really wish we had a door we could walk through to get there instantly. Then we could hear Dilian preach at least one Sunday out of the month...

That brings to mind the fact that Dominica had a major flood recently. It knocked out Internet and power all over the island. In fact, I'm not sure if everything is back up and running as it should be yet. Either way, we need to be praying for them.

Here are some pictures from Church:


And here are some of us helping prepare the bonfire at the Miller's.


We plan to spend New Year's Eve at their house (as we have for the last few years). I'll try to take some pictures of that as well :)

Either way, that's enough for now. This post is almost a page long and I need to game with Joey a bit. So, for the moment at least, goodnight from South Carolina!

Holiday Mood

OK, OK, so after deciding to stick to a posting schedule of “Every Monday” I failed to post the very next Monday. It's due, at least in part, to the holidays. You see Joey is out of school this week (and for a few weeks to come), so we've been playing together as much as possible. Last Monday we got a late start and by the time I thought about the blog I was way too tired to do anything about it. I decided to fix that by doing this post early in the morning. In fact, it's not yet 8AM here. Which brings me to the subject of the pictures of this post.

Sadly, I've been forgetting the camera about as much as possible lately. As a result the only pictures I've taken for this post are of the neighborhood at around 7AM. I want my Dominican friends to see what it's like around here an hour after I get up, lol. I'm also going to include some of the “lost pictures” that Dilian e-mailed me. Some of them are a little blurry (they were taken in low light), but I'm going to include them just the same :)

Here are a few photos of our winter neighborhood:


So, it's amazing how often I dream of Dominica. The dreams didn't set in as soon as I got home. They seemed to wait until the winter was here, lol. Last night I was walking on the tropical beach in my sleep. Of course, that may not have had to do so much with “longing” as “confusion”. (It was 78 degrees in our bedroom last night when I went to bed and we had the windows open.) Either way, I am really looking forward to this time next year. Not only are Thanksgiving and Christmas my favorite holidays, but I'll be counting down the days until we head back to a tropical paradise.

Ben and I were talking about it yesterday and we are going to change one big thing the next time we go down there: the food. As many of you know I'm cheap. Really cheap. In truth I have to be. I have a wife, seven kids of my own and a basically adopted son. I have to watch my money. That having been said, the next time we're in Dominica I'm going to buy some beef every week. I love chicken and fish, but you just can't beat a bit of beef now and again. Lord willing I'm going to have enough money that we can afford it.

We could really use all your prayers. I've put a lot of work into Worlds of Magic and things seem to be going great. We hope to have the vertical slice (what we intend to show publishers) ready by mid-January. If that works out I should be able to get an advance (which would dramatically help my current financial situation). We're hoping to have the game up for sale by July (it could happen sooner if everything falls into place right) and if that happens I should get my first royalty check by October 2014. We've just got to hold out until then.

I've probably mentioned it before but part of my work now is all about playing games. I spend between six to ten hours a day playing video games. It was my hope that playing like I did when I was a teenager would fire up my imagination with the same degree of creativity. So far it seems to be working. For years I haven't been able to play for more than two or three hours a day. I've put effort into it though and am getting to where I can play other people “under the table”. A lot of people would think that it's not much of a job, but I would say this to them: Come play World of Tanks with me for ten hours straight before you decide. (I know Josian, I know. Dilian could do it, but not everybody can lol.)

If everything works out I'm planing to put together a “think tank” of some of the best and most dedicated gamers I know. Some people will think of this as absolutely ridiculous and not at all as “work” (like my father-in-law, lol). However, this is actually a common thing in a number of industries. No one would think much about it if we were working on books or music, it's just that video games are a yet-to-be-fully-appreciated art form. Still, that's changing day by day. As more and more people play video games they begin to appreciate them. There's even the same kind of range as you get with books. Some are mass-appeal paperbacks, others are real masterpieces. Either way, I'm straying off the point and this post is running long. The point is that my work is going very well.

Here are some of the “lost pictures”:


Now, I hope to remember to do a post next Monday and remember to take some more pictures between now and then. However, for the moment, I wish you all a goodnight (and good day) from South Carolina!

Getting Back To It

So, I've really got to pick a day of the week to blog and stick with it. Schedules make me work more efficiently and therefor happily. It's been just over a week since my last post. I am really going to work to get a post written up every Monday. I started to do one yesterday, but then realized that some of the pictures I wanted to post were on Rachel's phone. She was gone up town and I figured she wouldn't be back until late. So, I decided just to delay a day. I want to stop doing that though. Putting things off tends to pile them up and make them worse. I've pushed non-game related work back a few times already this month. The result is that I'm going to have a very busy day Thursday making phone calls and getting things done. I've got to get better about jumping on things as soon as they crop up. Of course, that could be said of most of us I guess, lol.

Here a few pictures of our Christmas decorations.


I've not gotten into much a Christmas spirit yet this year. There are a number of reasons why. I think the main thing is that we haven't pulled out any Christmas music or movies yet. We need to get around to that. It's really one of my favorite times of the year. Another weird thing this year has been the weather. It's been cold and rainy and warm and rainy, but neither of those are very Christmasy... Of course, in the South “cold and cloudy” is what Christmas is really like... Either way, some of the kids went to see the Christmas parade in Jackson. Here are some pictures of that:


In other news the game goes very well. We're getting closer and closer to having the “vertical slice” ready to show prospective publishers. I feel very confident that we'll have a publisher lined up before long. That should mean an influx of cash which would be very welcome. We're doing alright, but I would feel better if I had a little more in the bank. It's going to be months before Worlds of Magic is released. I'd like to have the money I need to live during that time in the bank.

Here are some more of the “Lost Pictures”:


It's funny how often I dream I'm back in Dominica. Lord willing this game is going to be a smash hit. Then we'll be able to make the trip down there every Winter. It will be really nice to spend the Winter months with our friends, sitting in the Caribbean sun...

Anyways, that's enough for now. I'll try to keep the camera more and my mind and be sure to take pictures of anything photo-worthy, lol. I'll try to do a post next Monday. Goodnight from South Carolina!