Normal service has been resumed.

Spent a very pleasant week away from work for a change. Went North on Corellia, to the mountains and swamps. Strange looking places. Crystalline pools, giant fungi, and huge arches. Also visited a cave used as a base by the indigenous population.

I was thrilled to see, when I came back, that my mineral and chemical extractors had pulled out loads of ore from the ground. So I've just been sitting in the Civic Hall of Ravendale on Naboo, crafting Droid parts for my next level of qualification. By my calculation, I should now be on my way to the one above that. Just got to break at some point and visit Theed so I can pass the test.

Had to swap locations of some of the extractors as well as they had exhausted the local supply. My surveying tool told me that the best place for Steel at the moment was in the middle of a camp of huge hermit spiders. Not the biggest aradchnoid fan at the best of times, I crept up, masked my scent, and placed 5 pieces of equipment, configured them all, and was on my way before any could spot me (and before I ran away). Think my fear stems from that time I hid from my school class in the dark cave, and ended up with an infestation of crabs on my arm. The school nurse threatened to shave my arm bare if I didn't pick them all out. Haven't liked them since.

In the Beginning... (Part 1)

I guess I might as well jot down some bits about my past, just so people know where I'm coming from.

As I've said before, I was born on Kashyyyk to a tree surgeon and a chef. Had a great childhood - lived in the southern provinces for almost my entire life. Just preferred it there. Had plenty of opportunities to move - when I came of age, when I had to decide where to work, when I got that promotion to Section Leader. Something about the people and the way the trees down here all seem to stand a bit prouder.

Took me a while to work out what I wanted to do. Certainly didn't want to follow in my parent's footsteps. And much as I love nature and the trees we have made our homes, I was fascinated by the homes that the Trandoshan lived in, and the things they used. Maybe my parents brought me up in ignorance of technology more than other Wookies, I don't know - but something intrigued me. I wanted to know what they did, and how they worked.

So started my love affair with unnatural objects. When it came to my future career, I knew I wanted to be an Engineer. That was enough at the time - didn't even consider that I might have to specialise. Who knew that there was so much difference between Shipwrights, Armoursmiths, Weaponsmiths, Architects and Droid Engineers?

Shifting Sands of Time

And minerals, ores, chemical deposits. I managed to set up 3 Flora Farms yesterday to grow some fungus for the Benefactor. I selected the location because the newswires had been buzzing with the information that this was the place to get the best stuff in this sector, as identified one day previosuly. Normally conditions ripe for growing flora last for about a fortnight. What did I find when I went back today? They'd all dried up. Just under 6000 units was all I could extract. And compare that to the 42k of Aluminium I'm managed to mine from somewhere north of Coronet. I had to go round and check all the rest of my mining equipment again then, and it's all useless right now. So I made myself feel better by crafting my first Speederbike. Not as good as the one I've got (apparently I picked the wrong Aluminium to use - brought the quality way down), but it feels good to have crafted it myself. And it sounds cool as well. Not the heavy hum from a Swoop, but more a gentle buzz.

And silly fool that I was, I managed to land at the wrong Spaceport on Rori. Had to travel 11km cross country to get to the Flora Farms. Was lazy and got a shuttle back though. :-p

Tomorrow, I need to seek out a new supply of Wind Energy and get some generators up. And maybe make some more droid parts. But now - time to set up camp in the wilds of Corellia and sleep for a bit.

Night all.

At last

Phew. Well that was hard work, but I finally managed to get it all done. I have now qualified as a Master Artisan. Which means I've got a license to make my own Speederbikes! Maybe I'll present one to my Benefactor as a gift. It's a start.

While I was finishing off my practical work in the camp last night, I witnessed the inspiring sight of a Jedi fighting a number of explorers and such. It wasn't quite awe-inspiring though - the Jedi seemed to spend most of the time running away. Having said that, they were still alive after 5 minutes, and that's not bad with 4 people firing blasters at you.

So - next job is to see if I can find any more high quality Flora Food for the boss, and mine enough metal to make him a Speederbike. Should only take a few days. :-s

Home, home on the range.

One thing they don't tell you about when it comes to exploring the Galaxy, is how much it's going to cost. Don't get me wrong - I'm not daft enough to think it would be free. I may be hairy, but I'm not an Ewok. But everything just costs so much! Let me run down my regular outgoings at the moment so you can understand.

First, there's my Speederbike. As benign as Corellia is, it still takes damage every now and then, so I need to get it repaired - 4000 credits or so a time.

Then there's my training. Whilst I was a pretty decent engineer at home, they require a much higher standard of training in the rest of the Galaxy. I'm having to train up in my Master Artisan skills at the moment, and that costs at least 2000 credits per exam (4 more to go and I'll be fully certified!)

And in order to prove myself worthy of the grades, I have to produce loads of different samples of my work as a kind of practical exam. Loads. And for that, I need resources, which I can either buy or mine. So, being the traditional bottom-up guy that I am, I've decided to mine them. Which means I need to pay a maintenance fee to the bank for each installation. With 5 mining installations on Corellia at the moment, that's about 30000 credits every week.

But I can't for the life of me find any Steel to mine here at the moment, so I have to pay 1500 for a round trip to Naboo where I have another installation (6000 credits a week) mining the silver stuff.

All I can say, is thank the Trees for my mysterious benfactor who has seen fit to provide me with a millions credits so far to help me on my way. I've had to earn some of it by collecting wild berries, and I'm sure more will be required of me later, but at the moment I have to have the money!

So I' m sitting on a lawn chair at the moment, just south of Coronet. Howling Plumed Rasps are flying above. A strange creature seems to be constantly howling somewhere fairly close. The fire is crackling. And I'm crafting Natural Gas Processors as fast as my hairy hands will let me.

The sooner I can get back to droids, the better. Then I'll be back in the money.

A Long Time Ago...

Yeah - go on - laugh if you dare. A Wookie who's expressive enough to write a journal.

Laugh away. Don't forget to carry on once I've torn your arms off though.

We're given a bad press in terms of our communications skills - just because our vocal chords can't manage to make sounds that others can. But hey, we've got hands, so I'm going to resort to the old way of doing things, and write things down.

(Not in my native language of Shyriiwook though. We never really standardised a way of recording things in written form. And you lot wouldn't be able to read it even if we had.)

So - my journal. I figured, I wanted to get off the home world and experience new things, so why not record them as I go along? Hopefully I'll learn something along the way. And maybe anyone who's reading will learn something as well.

Most of my entries will be about what I've been up to since the last time I wrote. Others will recount my life before I left home, as well as what I'd done after first arriving on Corellia (but before I started this journal) and thoughts on what's happening in the Galaxy now.

I hope it's entertaining!