Back in 2017 at Fanfest the art department had a sketchbook available for visitors to sit down and draw something. It is possible I have the year wrong, but I believe it was 2017. Either way I sat there and filled up a few pages with some ideas, including a much needed re-design of the Tormentor. Which has sadly not been updated since then.

I came home and started work on the piece you see above and then abandoned it. This morning I was trouncing around the depths of my hard drive and stumbled across this piece. And I decided it was time to finish it and get it out into the world. Be the change you want to see. I spent about 3hrs cleaning up the work I had started all those years ago and adding some much needed details. But I certainly could have spent another 4hrs making it perfect. But it doesn't need to be perfect. Or maybe it already is perfect. What do I know?

Many smaller ships in Eve Online are long overdue for updating and the Tormentor is only one. We can argue about which is older and more in need of revisions, but certainly this poor Frigate is among them. We used to get a few of these updates every so often, but it seems lately that effort has been pushed aside. I'd like to see FC return to the slow, methodical practice of updating older hull designs and bringing them into the modern style so many of the better designed ships have brought to the table over the past few years. Some of these designs date back to the beginning and are getting a tad dusty.

Anyway, I'm just this guy, y'know?

I've been a creative person all my life. It wasn't a choice, or a decision, or some weird twist of fate, it was simply who I am. And it has been a never-ending struggle my entire life. Countless hours of hard work, often alone, frustrated, thousands of crumbled balls of failure after failure - and then something finally works. And then computers. Photoshop. Freehand. Director. Video editing. 3d software. Dreamweaver. HTML. Flash. A seemingly never-ending stream of changes, updates, revisions, and the rug dangerously close to being pulled out from under you at every turn. That's been my career. And all along that course I've stayed on top of it all as best I could. Some things I mastered, some things mastered me. But I never stopped trying to stay out in front of the wave. Less it consume me like it did so many others around me.

And then the monster that is AI came along. And at first we all had a good laugh at the sheer lunacy of the slop it generated. Well, some of you had a good laugh. I wasn't laughing. I've been through this too many times to laugh. It reminded me of the Blackberry people I knew laughing when the iPhone was announced. They didn't laugh for long. And your response to these statements might be different if you are in a different field. I'm sure those of you in HVAC repair, or medical, or many other fields are not as impacted, or even aware, of what is happening. But us creatives are aware. And, in many ways, we are the canary in the coal mine. For all of you.

Let's remember a man named Earl. Earl isn't a real person, but rather a convenient narrative construction that I've created to combine a half-dozen or so people that are real into one person for the sake of this story. Earl was about the age I am now back in the early nineties. Most of Earl's career in advertising and design was done on paper, film, and type-setting machines. And then along came computers and desktop publishing. It was the new fangled shiny thing and no one really understood it. Earl shrugged. It wouldn't impact him, he knew everything there was to know about the business. Earl would be fine. Earl was not fine. Earl didn't know it yet, but Earl's career was over. Probably a lot earlier than he had imagined. Not all of the Earl's took this news well.

I refuse to be Earl. So, once again, I dabble. I try to learn. I try to stay up-to-date. And I resist the forces that seemingly want me to incorporate more and more AI into my work. All the programs I use now have it integrated. My Wife's company has announced that it is now an AI focused company and that all employees must now get AI certifications. It is getting increasingly difficult to stay away from it, at least in my line of work. There are entire Eve Online related YouTube channels being generated by AI, and if you haven't seen those yet - oh boy. Content machines. Churning. Increasingly the rewards over on JUST are being slowly dominated by AI content, and while the platform continues to have rules against the use of AI - the edges are slowly melting around it.

None of this is an excuse. I continue to explore my creativity as best I can. I play around with AI here and there to see what it can do. Every so often it does something that is actually helpful to me. Like lay out a 3d space, or generate a reference I couldn't find somewhere else. Or provide some music behind some words I've written. And I have enjoyed creating some music over the past year. I never anticipated being able to bring that side of myself to life. But I'm not pretending to be a musician. I'm just doing that for fun. Even if I'm the only one who thinks it is fun.

I have no idea where this is all leading. You can find a lot of people out there saying a lot of things. Things are changing though. I can't do much of anything now that someone, somewhere, won't yell at me for doing it. 

I'm struggling to make sense of it all. Just like you are, or you will be soon.

Today I released my second album of original Eve Online songs (written by me, produced by Suno) to over 21 streaming platforms, including Apple Music and Spotify. The album should be available later today or over the weekend, it depends on the service at this point. Just search for Rixx Javix and enjoy the first album (JAMS) of Hip-Hop classics while you wait.

This album is all about Rock (get it?) and all 10 songs in various rock 'n roll styles are inspired by Eve Online. Some of them you may have heard earlier versions of at the end of The Safe Spot, but most are versions you've never heard before. The history of one song in particular goes all the way back into the history books. And I'll explain the inspiration and history of each song below. But first, a word from our sponsor.

Hello everyone. I'm Rixx's super-ego and I'd like to explain something to you all. These albums are an art project. Rixx has spent a tremendous amount of time writing, re-writing, and perfecting these songs. And he fully expects many of you to hate him for it. To dismiss the effort. To write him off as "using AI" and how dare he do so! Wanker! Many of you will listen and enjoy the songs for what they are. But ultimately I'm a creative person exploring a new tool that allows me to share a part of my creativity that until now would be extremely challenging to share. As stated many, many times - I am no fan of AI. And I'd like you to stop it, take down the Data Centers, fight the machine, and eliminate AI from our lives. Go ahead. Please do it. Yeah, thats what I thought. Lighten up a little. We're all stuck in the same pig pen.

Until utopia arrives, here is some background on each song:

1. Trust The Rust - One of the very first Eve Online songs I ever wrote, the original version of this song dates back to 2012. I wrote a short lyrical piece in my notebook after returning from a roam down in Minnie space and last year expanded it into a full piece. Since then it has undergone multiple attempts, re-writes, and versions to get it right. Enthusiasm and energy are tough to capture, but I'm finally happy with the end result and I hope you enjoy it. I think it's the perfect song to open the album with.

2. Let's Have A Fight - I used an earlier version of this song on a video short, but this was 100% inspired by the Dropkick Murphys and I wanted to capture that bar fight energy in a song about PvP fights. If you can listen to this and not get excited to undock, then I don't know what to tell you.

3. Stevie Was A Garmur Pilot - This is "Jerry Was A Race Car Driver" by Primus translated into the Eve universe. Every album seems to have one direct parody, last album it was "No Sleep Till HED-GP" and this album it is this song. I think it works really well, we've all known a pilot like Stevie I think. Gung-ho for no good reason. This one was my wife's idea.

4. Wild Banshees - This one is based on one of the most popular posts on this blog. I don't know why exactly but that post has some kind of magical search engine magic that draws large crowds to it. Inspiration comes from many places.

5. Dead All Over - For every song, to one degree or another, I'm trying to put myself into the shoes of the people inside of New Eden. Their experiences, how they view the universe, what would they write about? Certainly one topic that I think capsuleers would struggle with is death, corpses, and the meaning of it all. I know I've left corpses of myself all over the map. This song started life as a country and western outlaw song, but it just didn't work that way. But it still has a bit of that mid-western feel to it.

6. This Is Why I Play - This song comes directly from a poem I wrote 11 years ago:

This week I released my second video in the new series taking a deep dive into PvP ships in Eve Online - The Definitive Hookbill. The first one in the series was on the Comet. You can catch them both over on my YouTube channel, along with lots of other videos. And I plan on continuing these as long as people keep watching them. They aren't easy videos to produce and they take a lot of planning, prep, and work to get just right.

One of the hardest parts to decide on is what to leave in and what to leave out. Honestly I could talk about these ships for hours. There is so much information to share, tactics, fitting choices, manual piloting tips, it just never ends. Which is both a testament to Eve and a challenge to anyone trying to share information and advice. Ultimately I try to cover the main issues and provide some solid advice on the main flavors of fitting options for each ship, and focus on why those choices work and don't work. In the Hookbill's case I even added a section about ammo choices, mainly because I see so many wrecks with 4,000 rockets in them. Which is just a waste.

I was fortunate in my early Eve career to be surrounded by players willing to share, answer questions, and teach me the fundamentals when it came to PvP. And more often than not, they would explain these concepts by showing me those concepts in action. Inside the game. Later when I started taking FC classes with teachers in Null-Sec, the same concepts would be expanded upon and learned. Repetition. Experience. Practice. Inside of Eve I try to impart and share as much as I can given the circumstances and I'll often give mini-lectures during the fleets I'm FC'ing. But I'm not a teacher inside of Eve, that is not my primary reason for playing.

But YouTube is another story. So I'll keep trying to figure out ways to share this knowledge with the wider Eve community. And do so in entertaining and impactful ways. I've given a lot of thought to this and I'm trying to figure out the best way to communicate not only basic core principles, but also more esoteric concepts in that format. And, perhaps, even here in these pages.

Yesterday I slid in on a Slicer at zero in my Comet. After the fight was over the pilot asked me what he could have done better. And so I spent a good ten minutes explaining basic kiting concepts and that he shouldn't be fighting Comets at zero in his Slicer. He honestly seemed to appreciate the information and promised to try it next time. Again, basic concepts that more experienced players take for granted, might not be as universal as we think.

Another example. Recently in fleet a pilot shared their loss with us. Immediately I asked why he was using a MWD on his fit. What followed was a very basic learning session about how Scrams work and why using MWDs on brawling ships is often a truly bad idea. The difference between scrams and disruptors and what they do to your ship during combat is such a fundamental part of PvP that I never really considered the fact that maybe not everyone knows about it? Where do you learn these things? 

The best part is that knowing that opened up a new world for this pilot and he recently shared an encounter where his knowledge helped him defeat an enemy he normally would have lost to. So that is extremely encouraging.

So yeah, look for more tips and tricks, advice, knowledge, and tactical sharing here in these pages. I don't often appreciate the fact that I'm a walking mountain of knowledge, and maybe it is time I start thinking about myself that way.

What ship should I do a deep dive on next?

I've released my first album of original Eve Online themed music across 21 streaming platforms this week and it is now available on Spotify and Apple Music, it should also be rolling out to other platforms as well during the week.

The album is inspired by my life-long love for Hip Hop and all the various genres within the movement. And I freely admit, right up front here, that while I wrote all the words to these songs - I did use Suno to help me create the music. My tongue is firmly in my cheek here and I hope the sense of humor, love for Eve Online, and my passion for Low Security space and the pirate play-style are fully on display. I'm not pretending to be anything other than a person who is having a lot of fun making these. But I also believe that Low Security space is a rather lawless dark water neighborhood, and needs to be celebrated as such. Thematically these songs are each written by me in different "Hip-Hop" styles and each captures the attitude and personality of Low Sec pirate life.

The album contains nine original songs. I thought I'd share a little about each one and what inspired them.

1. Flying Dirty - I wrote a lot of these lyrics way back in February but didn't have a hook yet. I wanted something that captured the attitude of flying around space with bounties on your head, the cops chasing you, and everyone in local hating you for being a pirate. And then Weird Al's "White and Nerdy" played on my mix in the car and I was trying to remember what the original song was he was using. That song is called Ridin' by Chamillionaire, "Patrollin' and tryna catch me ridin' dirty". Boom, Flying Dirty was just what I was looking for.

2. One Fifty - Rapping about your guns is a long tradition and that is exactly what this song is about, except it is 150mm Rail Guns on my Comet. My favorite lyric:

"Somebody yellin', "Blob him!"

Tell 'em form a line.

I've been fightin' outnumbered

Since before downtime.

Five on one?

Sounds like Tuesday.

Wake up in a clone,

Do it all a new day."

3. No Sleep Til HED-GP - One of two Beastie Boy inspired songs on the album, this one was suggested by my good friend CrazyKinux. I have to say writing like this is not as easy as I thought it would be. But this song was a cake walk next to the work I had to do on the other one. (Number 6)

4. Good Fight - An earlier version of this song appears at the end of one of our Safe Spot podcasts. But that version was never really working for me. So I kept working on it, trying to figure out what it wanted to be.

5. Black Rise - Talk about the neighborhood. Rapping about the Hood you call home is one of the biggest traditions in all of Hip Hop - so I had to call out my homies. And while I technically live in Placid, that doesn't make for a very good song.

6. Stay Frosty Beat - This is the other Beastie Boys inspired song and every good Hip Hop album has to have at least one chest thumping propaganda song on it. 

7. No Fight - Like Good Fight, this is another song that I just couldn't stop working on until I got it nailed down. This one goes out to every pilot who runs away when I land on grid.

8. Overheated - I wanted one "Umbrella" style song and I imagined what a station would be like after the gang docked up after a long roam. Really proud of this one.

9. F**K CONCORD! - I'm a huge NWA fan and this one is in honor of the boys from Compton. If you don't get the reference, I can't help you. This one contains explicit lyrics and captures what I believe to be the true spirit of Low Security space.

JAMS. The Rook on the cover, the songs inside, makes me laugh. Lighten up, have a drink, get your homies together and jam it out. And, most importantly, enjoy!

I've got another album in the works. This one is called "ROCKS"

If you think you've been busy in Eve Online, then be sure to check out this post from my good friend CrazyKinux over on his blog - Millions Of Assets Later!

Be sure to check out this new browser Map App called EO Map! You can search for pilots, corps, alliances and then have their latest kills played back over a time-frame you choose. Pretty cool feature to go along with all the other awesome features already available, right in your browser.

As for me I took some time last week to visit family and deal with some real life stuff that had been pilling up around me. Nothing serious, but every so often the real world creeps into even the most dedicated of space pirate lives. It can't all be gaming, as much as we often wish otherwise.

I've also been prepping my new "Definitive Hookbill" video and that takes a lot of work. One major difference in this one, as compared to the Comet video (The Definitive Comet) is that I don't fly Hookbills as often as I do Comets. So getting some solid video clips and fights hasn't been as easy. I don't know why exactly, but people tend to run away from me in a Hookbill more often than they do from me in a Comet. So that one is taking more time to prepare. Hopefully, if everything goes well, I should have it wrapped up and ready to release later this week. Fingers crossed.

I've also been hard at work on a new project. As you may or may not be aware, each episode of The Safe Spot ends with a song. I write these songs based on blog posts, old ideas from a notebook, or based on my own experiences in Eve Online. And yes, I then use Suno to create the final versions. While I would never pretend to be a real musician, or a song-writer for that matter, I do have a lot of fun writing these. It has become an unexpected creative outlet for a life-long obsession. So I'm going to be releasing an actual album at some point here soon. The album contains a lot of new songs and finished versions of some older songs that share a similar theme. More news on this project later.

And finally a personal achievement I'll share with you. Late last week I scored my 100th kill in the month of September. That kill marks 48 months in a row that I've scored at least 100 kills. This dates all the way back to September 2022 (duh, 48 months is 4 years). Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but another personal milestone that speaks to consistency and determination I suppose.

More to come.

Rixx's Journal Entry | May 29, 2009

"Interesting morning.  As usual I jumped into my Crow and warped to the F9E gate in DG and as usual was the first one there.  A few more blues showed up and I scanned the intel channels.  A red Vaga jumped into sys and I warped to gate, locked him down and started scramming him.  We didn't have enough DPS on gate and he popped my Crow.  I went back to station and bought another Crow down in Meetpoint, the only one around, capsuled down there and re-fitted and returned to DG.  By this time a small gate camp gang was forming and I joined up, we warped to gate and started camping.  A few reds in sys, including Taanu the Vaga that popped me earlier.  I wanted revenge, but wouldn't get the chance.  A Dominix approached the gate and once again I locked him down, scrammed and started shooting.  Once again we didn't have the DPS to take him down quickly and once again I was popped.  Luckily we did kill him and I got some satisfaction from being on the km.  But now I am totally out of Crows and the nearest ones are 11 jumps away.

I bought 3 new Crows up in Pig Sty and took the Badger up to pick them up.  Made the run up and back without problems and got one re-fitted quickly. Good thing as the reds were still around. A cloaked Nemesis tried to gank me outside the station but he had no chance with me in my Battle Badger!  I actually hung around outside the station for awhile to let him try, just to see how well the thing was tanked.  Once the shields went down I docked and gave him some lip in local.  I don't normally EVER talk in local, but sometimes - especially after the morning I had - you can't help yourself.  Joined a CVA led gang (about 31 ships) into red space, excellent fleet with a good solid FC.  We chased and we were chased back and forth from HED/SV5/F9E for awhile and I got plenty of chances to get my revenge for this morning.  Got an Onyx, a Broadsword and a Zealot.  I think I was also on 2 other kills, but they haven't been posted yet and probably won't be.  Oh well, up to 61 now on the LFA killboard.

64 I mean.  Went on a quick roam with Angor as FC, we popped a Helios at the gate waiting for the gang to form up and I got a Manticore as well.  The rest of the kills were old ones that finally showed up, not all of them but it helps.  We almost got DD'd by a AAA Titan that cyno'd in on us in SV5, but we were at the gate and jumped just in time.  We lost one ship to bombers and one to friendly fire, which I think might be the first time I've seen that happen.  Noobs."

------------------------------

Before I started writing in these pages I would often write down what had happened each day inside the game in a text file I kept. Sadly most of those entries have been lost to time, except one month's worth. Of which the above is one day.

Not much has changed in my daily routine inside of Eve. I'm no longer in Providence obviously. And these days I can fly almost every ship in the game, or all the ones I want to fly. But I still log in, undock, and look for trouble. That is essentially what I do every single day. And what I have done now for 18 years. As of Monday September 21st, 2026.

Everything else has changed. And it would be impossible to try and re-count all the ways in which that statement is true. I never imagined it. But I was never against the idea either. I knew I was entering unknown territory. And I knew rather quickly that Eve was something I wanted to excel at. It was challenging in ways other games had never been. It wasn't about memorizing key combinations, or how quickly you could swing your remote, or discern enemies against an impossible perspective. It was much, much more than that. And I admittedly fell in love with it.

And I've made a lifetime of friendships because of it. I've watched young people I once flew next to in-game grow up, have children, get married, start careers, join Fenris, travel, explore, and live their lives. Some have stayed. Some moved on. And some we lost along the way. 

I've played the game inside of Eve and outside of Eve. I've had my account stolen. I've been bullied, called names, accused of terrible crimes, had my name dragged through the garbage, been slandered, libeled, and much, much worse. I've substituted for Chribba. I've been called the second most trusted player in Eve and a scammer, liar, and thief. I've freely given billions in ISK to other players and have been accused of stealing from other players. I've known heads of major Alliances and shared drinks with players from all over the world. I've apologized to many. I've blown up thousands. I've started Corps, lost Corps, and watched Alliances burn. I've flown in 27 Alliance Tournament matches. And I've travelled to other countries to share my passion for this game.

They say you cannot win Eve Online. I say that is a blatant lie. Because I've won Eve Online. Many times. And I will continue to win at this game for as long as I can. Each and every day.

I don't know when I will undock for the last time. But until then I will continue to try and excel at it. In small ways and in larger ways. I will continue to overcome all the challenges this universe keeps throwing at me. And laugh in the face of adversity. And keep winning. 

Who knows what might happen next. And, even as I write these words, I'm looking forward to undocking later today when I log in.

Here's to the next 18. Why the Hell not?

Introducing my latest art creation entitled, "1V1 Comet Versus Hookbill" which is now available over on my Etsy Store. This new poster is available on both paper and metal in various sizes - although the metal version is only available at the original size of 28"x40". Follow the link to explore this new piece and all the posters available at the store.

After working the past few years on War For New Eden and the upcoming (Q1 2017) Eve: Squadrons games with Titan Forge - I haven't had the inclination or time to put toward creating new original pieces for the art store. But I'm getting that itch again and I wanted to start things off with a bang. And create a very personal piece that somehow captured the energy, intensity, and drama of a real 1v1 combat moment inside of Eve Online. Something that I don't believe has been properly expressed in art before.

That was my personal challenge. I started working on this piece a little over a month ago and probably have a solid 60 hours under my belt working on it. Of course no AI was used in the creation of this piece, this is all me and my pen/mouse and a lot of texture brushes. 

When I founded Stay Frosty with my oldest Son back in 2013 the path forward was clear. And simple. To create the perfect independent Pirate Corporation with no blues, few rules, and an unwavering dedication to small gang and solo PvP excellence. Nothing else mattered. And hundreds of pilots answered that call. We grew fast and went through a lot of growing pains, made mistakes, learned a lot of lessons, and eventually did exactly what we set out to do. All built on the back of our famous Pirate Code.

Those were different days. No Faction Warfare. Low Sec was thriving, but in a completely different way than it is thriving today. No multi-boxers. Links were off-grid. Rooks & Kings were still around. Carriers ran missions in Low Sec space. I could go on and on. Thirteen years is a long time. And a lot has changed since then.

Choosing to be a Pirate in Eve was always the Hard Mode choice. There is literally ZERO mechanics in Eve that work to help our play-style. None. In fact, the game is engineered specifically to defeat us, squeeze us, and push us aside. You can shoot me freely anytime, anywhere. I can't do that to you. There are no safety nets for us, no LP Stores, no bounties, no way to make an income other than by our own hands. The game doesn't care about us. It never has. When people list off the ways to play Eve Online they rarely mention piracy - and if they do it is waaaaay down that list.

We can't compete that way. We lose members to Faction Warfare all the time. Now that there are so-called Pirate FW organizations, the situation has gotten even worse. We lose members to ISK per hour schemes. We lose members to any number of better alternatives. All we offer is a hard life of being yelled at by those we steal from, being called names, and the increasingly difficult job of finding good fights.

And the pride. Turns out, we don't need a lot of members. We just need damn good ones. Ones that care about pride and learning the martial art of Player Versus Player combat. The ones who revel in the game being designed against them, who thrive in HARD MODE. That is what Stay Frosty was built on. And it will be exactly what it will stand for until the heat death of the universe.

If you read all of that and thought I might be talking about you - then come join us. We have a lot of fun. We shoot everyone in the face. I run weekly fleets. We teach by doing. You'll need at least 10m skill points and at least 10 solo kills (2 of which will have to be above class) in order to join. And agree to live by the Stay Frosty Code.

Eve sucks for Pirates. It gets worse every day. It actively hates us. And yet we endure.

Stay Frosty Forever.

In addition to creating tons of new videos to share over on my YouTube channel, I've also been busy working on lots of creative projects. The image above is a recent illustration I finished for a fellow player who designed a very special space ship he wanted to see represented on a poster. I call it "The Ringu" and it combines elements from the Tengu Strategic Cruiser, the Stratios, the Enforcer, and also includes slightly enhanced engines and Vorton Projectors. I even created some line-art schematics for the poster, which I had printed and shipped for him. Hopefully he'll be sharing some photos of it up on his wall as soon as he gets it framed.

That was a fun project and I'm glad he asked me to work on it with him. In case you are wondering no AI was used on any element of this project. I never use AI on my own art. I have often asked it to assist me in creating references, or 3d guides, which I can use for reference. But no AI elements ever make it into the final piece. The piece you are looking at above is huge, 28x40 created at 300dpi. The Photoshop file is 2.7Gb. I'd like to see AI work at that level.

I also worked on some new Alliance logos.

Yesterday was boring so a few of us decided to spice things up and take a filament to Null Sec. Four of us. A Garmur, Hecate, Crow, and a Caracal Navy Issue. Of course, being Pirates, we had timers, flags, and whatnots that had to be allowed to count down to zero. So we waited. 

Finally the filament popped and we were whisked away to incredible adventures. Nope. We were immediately dropped into a system in Fountain with several hundred players from INIT. Naturally this was not good news for our little band and we immediately started moving. Hoping for someone to be doing something they shouldn't be doing. Instead, all the pilots there were doing exactly what they should be doing. And the heat was building. And then one of us had to go afk. So three of us remained.

We got split up due to some gate camping nonsense. And one of us decided to go home the hard way. He was in the Hecate and that is a sensible thing to do in that ship. The two of us remaining decided to filament out to Pochven. And then find a way home from there. Once there We scanned down two WHs. The first led to a region of space even further away from home. The second was another WH. While I was exploring that WH my friend in the Caracal was attacked by Trigs and lost his ship. Along with our probes. So he decided to self-destruct home. I considered clone jumping, but it turns out that is not possible in Pochven.

So I bought another filament and that is it running in the image above. It popped me out way on the other side of Minnie High-Sec and it was 32 jumps through mostly HS to get home. Luckily the Crow is fast and I said hello in every system I passed through. All while Concord yelled at me for being a criminal.

I made it home safely. And none the wiser. :)

Yesterday I was out and about in various ships, watching people run away, and generally having a pretty crap day. I was so certain that nothing of note would happen that I wasn't even running screen capture. Which, as it turns out, is a bummer. Since you'll only have my words about the fight.

I was in my Vigil Fleet Issue roaming around trying to find someone willing to stand and fight, when I noticed the other Vigil Fleet Issue on scan. This is the best thing. Finding the same ship alone in a plex and hopefully they will stay and engage me. Which they did. And we went at it. I admit up front that I was feeling a little rusty in the little ship, it had been a few weeks since I had fought in one. 

But it was a good fight. And things were getting very, very tight. You can just tell when things are not exactly going your way, but many frigate fights come down to the last second. So I wasn't worried. And then I exploded. Which is exactly how these things go, you are insanely focused right up until the last second. You have to be. Well, I thought, good fight. Except the other guy was also in his pod.

Turns out we solo'd each other.

This is his killmail.  And this is mine.

Both our final blows were in space at the same exact time.

This is rare. Extremely rare. But it does happen. Probably a total of ten times in all my years of playing Eve. And often those are in fleet fights, or small gang situations. It is even rarer for it to happen in a perfect 1v1. I can only think of one other time and I can't find that one on the killboard. 

Not much else to add to the story. We were both surprised and had a good laugh about it.

Eve never stops surprising you.

I sat down this morning in front of the computer and re-started it for a software update, drank my coffee, ate my banana, caught up on my phone, and watched my computer slowly come back to life. My morning routine typically runs in versions of this. Text my Dad. Check zKill to see if any Stay Frosty pilot exploded horribly while I was asleep. And then check messages across all the platforms. This morning I had some video comments over on YouTube and I try to answer as many of those as I can. And that's when I saw the update - overnight the channel passed 3k subs!!

First of all, THANK YOU!! I know this isn't changing world hunger, or solving the climate crisis, or stuff like that - but for me this is huge. Sincerely. I appreciate all of you and your support truly does mean the world to me. It is encouraging. And keeps my engine running, fueled up, and ready to tackle all the challenges that life keeps throwing at us all. It truly does. Thank you.

Your support really does mean something to me. And I make decisions based around that support, or the lack of it. Videos that do well encourage me to continue creating more videos like that, and videos that don't do as well encourage me to start thinking in different directions. I don't create anything for the purpose of being popular, that's not who I am. I create things I like and hopefully others will like them as well. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't. But your support does help inform those decisions.

So special thanks this morning. You made my day. And now I need to open Premier and edit a new short for tomorrow.  This one captures a Drake we caught yesterday in our Dessies. I think you'll like it.

Onward & Upward.