My first sale...well, gift!

Another marathon day.

Started off thinking that I would wait until my existing Extractors had run out of power and maintenance funds before replacing them with the new ones, but then figured - why bother? Seize the day - make the change now and reap the benefit of more resources.

And as I am now certified to make basic furniture, I spend the rest of the morning filling my second room (which I have designated my Workshop) with chests and armoires, and spent the first half of the afternoon filling them with all my junk. All nice and organised now :-) And the first room (my Living Quarters) has a bookcase and sofa in there now, as well as chest with a model of an R2 unit on top of it.

I had a brief chat with some of the members of the TRF on the channel reserved for the organisation. Introduced myself to a few people, and then told them all that I'll make them all furniture for free until I'm fully qualified (well, I need the experience, and there's no harm in building up a rapport with free gifts!) And who was the first to take me up on my offer? A lovely Twi'lek lady by the name of Iceena'tak. She wanted me to make 10 torches to light up her house.

So I hit the road again - found the resources I needed and started gathering them. While I was doing that, I found a perfect gas! My scanners said the Overall Quality was 1000, but I didn't quitebelieve it. When it finally sank in, I set up 4 Extractors to grab as much a sI could before it ran out.

Then went back to crafting the torches. Thought I'd impress her by making a love seat and taking a potted plant as well - keep the place looking bright. She seemed very happy when I gave them to her. Never been thanked like that before! I thnk it'll be hard to get to sleep tonight!

Another day...another change

I can't believe how quickly things are moving now. Once again I am indebted to Kairfett and now also my new friend Kaizen.

When I woke up this morning, it was with a renewed sense of vigour. Once I'd claimed all the night's extracted resources, I went back to my new home (I can't believe I've got one!). On the way back, I bumped into Kaizen. We started discussing what I was doing, and it turns out that the Extractors I'm using are very underpowered. Not knowing any differently, I'd been making them using the tools I had, wherever I needed them at the time. Apparently, if you craft them next to a Crafting Station, you get better results, and can experiment on them to get much better quality products. I went back to give it a go, and smack me with a gubber if she wasn't right. With good quality resources, my best crafting tools and the very high quality Crafting Stations in the back room of the Tyrsis Mall, I managed to create a Mineral Extractor with four times the efficiency of the ones I'd been using.

Suddenly the world is open to a million possibilties! Well - four times those available to me before. I spent the rest of the day making enough of the highest quality Extractors I could. For minerals, for chemicals, for gas. And the same with Wind Generators so I can get more power. Also had a go with making better quality Crafting Tools. It's amazing what a bit of extra effort can produce.

And not only that, I've decided to shift my learning focus slightly. I'm still going to work towards mastering the Droid Engineer profession - that will always be my first love. I'm not entirely sure why I started looking at Camping though - it's of no real use to me, so I've decided to abandon that and work on becoming a bit of an architect instead. Making your own furniture certainly beats buying it! It will also give me the skills to build Harvesters (which pull even more mineral and ore from the ground) and factories, so that I can mass-produce quality merchandise to sell.

I should also get support from the TRF, as they don't have anyone else in their group who is a Droid Engineer or Architect.

Changes are afoot!

Wow - talk about a day of whirlwind excitement!

I started this morning as I usually do - checking my Extractors, using the resources I have gained to practice making Droid parts. And then, my Benefactor, whose name I now know to be Kairfett Aramou, replied to a message I sent him. I'm afraid I went on at some length about my situation, and how I was sick and tired of running about trying to find banks to store my collected resources in (each branch will only allow you to store 80 items, and I was filling couple up).

If it had been me, I'd have told me to shut up and go away, but he was great. Very understanding - helped me with a couple of suggestions. We evntually got round to how I was feeling at the moment, and he said he knew exactly what to do. He put me in touch with a group called the TRF.

They're a group of people based in the city of Tyrsis - loosely attached to the Rebellion I think. He arranged for me to be met by one of their number - Kaizen Wraith. She showed me around the city, and after a quick chat sponsored my membership. She then briefly talked me through some of the leading members, and provided me with a small house to live in!

So that's where I am at the moment - sitting on the floor as I have no furniture, looking at a building which is all mine! I finally have a home, and people who I hope I can call friends.

Things are looking up.

What have I done?

I think I've just come down with a serious case of home sickness. I didn't think I would. It's something that I associate more with kids. The first time they leave their home tree for schooling. The first time they leave their home forest for a camp. But an adult of considerable years?

I miss the greenery. I miss being off the ground. I miss having people I know around me. I miss the security of just knowing you were Home.

I've taken to spending more time on Naboo at the moment. The other planets I've been to so far are just brown, or drab, olive green. Not much vegetation other than vast fields with wild flowers, so I spend a lot of time by the side of rivers, in the shade of what they laughingly call trees here.

And with less strangers around, I am less reminded of my loneliness.

My daily routine doesn't help I guess. I'm still doing the same old thing day in-day out. What can I do to kickstart my life again? Perhaps I should look out for my Benefactor, so if he can suggest something. He's been very quiet recently.

Bored bored bored bored

Life seems pretty mundane at the moment. Nothing exciting happens. I wake up. I travel over hill and dale to my Chemical Extractors. Retrieve resources. Travel over hill and dale to Wind Generators. Retrieve resources. Travel back to Riverdale. Amalgamate resources. Go to sleep.

I think my life needs a new direction. Someone rescue me!

I left home because I was bored with life there - same old routine each day. Now I'm away from home and doing the same thing. Maybe it's something innate in my personality.

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.