Finding One's Self is a Beautiful Thing....

A lot has happened in the past month.  It's been so hectic I haven't had time to properly sit and reflect on everything.  It started with what I thought was going to be a nice little get away trip with Brink to Ammold then onto New Eden.  See new space and get away from Adirain for awhile.  Brink, however, had other plans.  When we got to Ammold, we got married.  We continued on to New Eden and I got to see this Eve Gate everyone has been talking about.  I was surprised that we were the only ones there. 

Since we got back, it's been nothing but moving and going through everything.  Moving into Brink's Captain's Quarters, is no small task.  It's getting a bit crowded with all the loot that has been collecting.  Not to mentioned the countless damaged and half borken packages that barely made it to Adirain, but Brink insists we keep them. "We might need it one day".   I earned my Black Jacket and became a member of R1FTA shortly after returning home to Adirain.  I was so excited, however, being the wife of a R1FTA director came with unexpected responsibilities and stress.  Lots of social networking events I had to attend, putting in local appearences, etc, etc.  Learning to manage this had become somewhat draining.

I needed to find my place in Eve.  I don't want to only be known as the wife of Brink Albosa but as Nora Albosa. I headed out in my Slasher to think.  I went out to find my calling.

I came across a Rifter in a Plex.  I loaded the autocannons and went for it.  I fought the Rifter and won, but I lost my Slasher to her three friends.  I was able to escape in my pod and was suffering from a severe case of the good fight shakes mixed with the ahhh I'm running for my life shakes - I was a little rusty. While looking for parts for my next Slasher I came across this:

  

There it was in front of me, my calling, I was destined to be a Frigate PvP pilot.  But why a Frigate PvP pilot?  I realized that I was beginning to fall in love how they are often under estimated, quick, and most of all fairly inexpensive.  I remembered Brink telling me about the different types of PvP corps and to this day, Screaming Hayabusa stood out in my mind.  I quizzed him the rest of the night about anything and everything about them.  

I came back home and told Brink I was seriously thinking of applying to Screaming Hayabusa but I was nervous because I had just gotten my Black Jacket.  He told me he wanted me to do whatever was going to make me the happiest and that I had to find my place in Eve.  I decided to think about it for a few days. Don't need to be making any big decisions without sleeping on it.

Seeing the same space, moons, planets and stations was starting to wear on me.  I started to go stir crazy. I threw a dart at the map and took off.  While loading up on more bullets I saw that photo again.  Do I have what it takes?  Screw it, there is only one way to know anf that is to try.  I inquired if they were recruiting.  After a brief interview, and putting in my app, I was accepted.  

Stunned, I flew home as fast as I could to tell Brink.  Brink was sitting at the bar drinking whiskey and smoking as usual.  I told him that I had joined Screaming Hayabusa.  His jaw dropped and cigarette fell onto the bar.  He then smiled and gave me a huge hug and kissed my forehead.  Grinning ear to ear he put  his cigarette back in his mouth and told me how proud and happy he was that I was going to do what I wanted to do with my life.

Thus begins a new chapter in my life.

~N. Albosa

Lesson Three...... Overheat

I recently took a little week break from Eve.  I was waiting to complete the longest skill I have trained..... Weapons Upgrades.  Brink had given me a few Rifter and Slasher fits to train up into. These were my "goal ships".  I had been struggling with Power Gird and CPU falling just shy to getting everything to turn on, thinking Advanced Weapons Upgrades was the answer, I plugged away at getting that trained up. 

Finally this past weekend the skill completed training.  I log on and jump into one of m"goal ships".  Still can't turn everything on. That's ok, I have a few other ships to try. I try the other ships. Still wasn't able to get everything to turn on in all these ships. 

Frustrated and some what annoyed I decided it was time to continue my pilot training in a ship that I can fly. 

My beloved Firetail. I love this ship.

I thought I'd start with getting used to the new D-scan setup. I also was able to try out using overheat, sweet. The best way for me to learn things and remember them is by making mistakes, or be in a stressful stressful situations, or both. So what is more stressful then have Brink critique your PvP roam? - That's what I call a recipe for successful night of learning! 

In my safe I learn how to turn and off my overheat, shift+click module. Ok, simple, I think I got this, I just have to remember to turn them off so it doesn't burn out or burn out anything else. I figure out I can maybe get two cycles out of my microwarpdrive on overheat, if I'm lucky. 

I start off on my route. Make it all the way to Eugales, nothing. One my way back home to Adirain, I pick up a Rifter on scan in a plex in Frarie. I'm going for it. I warp to the plex. I'm getting ready to take gate when all of a sudden a Condor warps in on the same plex. He starts to pull range and shoot. Frozen with overwhelming "Great! Now what do I do?!" feeling, Brink yells "What are you waiting for?! Shoot him!" 

I lock him and being to approach and shoot him. My hesitation costs me precious km, I am now to far to get my scrams on him. I hit my microwarpdrive and being to burn towards him. However, I am still not going fast enough to get him within range to really hit him or get a scram on him. I'm taking damage, and I can't get away. Great! I'm going to die.

"OVERHEAT! OVERHEAT! IT'S NOW OR NEVER" Brink is cheering -  The lightbulb in my head goes off - (shift+click MWD) - I say a quick prayer as I hit my microwarpdrive. Hoping it gets me close enough to him before burning out. I rocket towards him guns and missiles wide open. I get close enough to scram him, and close enough to really start hitting him hard. He doesn't last much longer. 

Condor defeated. 

Brink started running, around punching and kicking the air, enough for the both of us, while I sat there completely stunned and suffering from my first case of the good fight shakes.

I say "gf" in local but is not returned, how rude, not returning gf in local is becoming one of my biggest pet peeves. I check out my sweet Condor kill, oh, I see why he was mad - he is 2 years and was just stomped by someone who is barely 2 months old - winning.

I regain composure and begin to figure out what to do next. Great! An Eve-Uni blob showed up. That's just great! I hate blobs. I decide not to push my luck and just head home to end my night on a high note and enjoy what was left of my good fight shakes.

N. Albosa

Venture, Venture, Merlin, Venture...... Rifter!

    About a month ago, I set out on my first true solo roam. I ventured all the way to Ouelletta.  I decided I'd try my luck at a Merlin I saw on scan. I scanned him down in a plex and warped to him. I land, and of course I am a ways from him.  I start my micro warp drive and burn towards him. To my surprise, I caught and scrammed him. I orbited him tight.  Shields gone, armor gone, now into structure.  I hit D-scan once more to see if anyone was coming, dang it, frigates on scan. About fifteen Brave Newbies landed within 20km of us. I thought maybe I should hang on just a little bit longer and finish him. To be safe I started aligning to something to escape.  20km, 18km, 15km, I warp away, there is just too many. I being to make my way home, completely and utterly disgusted and disappointed.  

     I did learn a few things... 
        One - I knew to align to something and get out before I got caught. 
        Two - I strongly dislike blobs.  
        Three - Brave Newbies come in hoards of at least five 
        and Four - I dislike blobs.

     Totally bummed about my near first solo PvP kill I stroll back into Adirain.  I check local and see someone I did not recognize.  I go to my safe and hit scan.  Venture comes up on scan. - Yes, I will shoot something today!  I find him in at Planet Ten Belt One mining.  I threw up my "Illegal Mining Detected" gif in local mid warp and catch him.  He yells something at me in local in a language I don't understand, whatever don't care I just want to take out my frustration from the Merlin that stupidly got away from me.  Popped his ship and then sent him quickly back to where ever he came from....... sweet. 

    I docked up and unload my loot. Within five mins I see the pilot is back to attempt mining again, or so I thought. I thought to my self, really? After what just happened you're back for more? Are you back to collect your stuff? I undock and was about to warp back to where I first caught him. I hit D-scan and to my surprise he is in..... a Rifter? At first I thought, oh this could be bad, he probably brought friends (still paranoid from the blob experience from earlier) I check local, ah screw it, I'm going for it. He was right back where right where I first caught him.  I caught him again, and started shooting. I look down to see if I would have to warp off to not loose my Slasher or my pod. Shockingly, my Slasher was so fast - he couldn't hit me. I popped him again and sent him on another fast trip back to where he come from. 

     Stunned and amazed at what just happened the only thing I could do was smile.

~ N. Albosa

From High Sec Care Bear to Low Sec Villain

     My journey in EVE Online didn't start out as a ruthless Venture hunter, I was actually the one being hunted.  I originally started out as a high-sec care bear.  Fearless roaming about in 1.0 space, and tackling astroid belts one by one in Todeko. Then one day, that became rather boring.  A CEO of a dying corporation, it was hard to remain enthusiastic about the game, all of the members had left to venture into the world of PvP, at the time I was not the biggest fan of this idea.  So there I was left almost entirely along with the equipment to run a small mining / industrial corporation.  I tried mining by myself for awhile, but that gets boring..... fast.  So, I left the game.

    Living with a real life EVE-aholic (meant and said in the most loving way possible)  doesn't help in making it necessarily easy to stay away from the game entirely. The game itself is beautiful to watch and I enjoy watching the destruction and the rage of some players. The social side of the game is really interesting to me as well. I enjoy coming home  from work to hear the battle stories of the day, the tears that were shed or what was going on that day - it sure was more interesting then my work day...

    It wasn't until January 2014 I got tired of Brink Albosa asking me repetitively "So, you ever thought about coming back to EVE?" or "You coming back to EVE yet?"I told him I have thought about it, but with a busy work and school schedule it didn't seem possible. I thought about it a little while longer and I caved, I reactivated my old account with intent on becoming a pirate.  I was dead set on using my old character for my new life.  I logged on only to discover what a mess it was.  Assets everywhere across the EVE Universe, still determined to use this character, operation clean up began. After about an hour of trying to gather everything into one station I threw in the towel and gave up.  

   Nora was born.

    I spent my first few days doing tutorials and running missions to get use to the game mechanics and re-learn how to play the game. After I was some what comfortable with the game again, I packed up my rookie ship and headed to Adirain. I then set up a skill queue to last the weekend and I headed with Brink to Milwaukee for an EVE Online meet up. After meeting more people that played EVE I was totally ready and stoked to be playing again. 

  A few days later I was ready to try PvP for the first time. My prey - some retriever in Adirain who had claim to have purchased several mining permits from various players. I stated none were mine so he was fair game. I really was not interested in selling him a permit, I just wanted to kill him. I ended up ransoming him into giving me 87mil isk, and he had to put my name in his bio (it suggested to get more then just isk from him by Gaylourde Madullier).  Still blows me away to this day, but he did.  I let him go in return. 

   This was only the start to my night. I was also learning how to use D-scan.  The night continued and I was able to find and destroy (with the help of Gaylourde and Remi Nardieu) a Corax, Astero, Maller and 3 Ventures - and pod almost all of them too. 

   The low-sec life had me, hook line and sinker.

~N. Albosa