Where does one start? So many words to say and this isnāt a medium Iām used to. Let me do my best, but bear with me as I figure this out.
Hi, Hilmi here. Iāve been writing code for several years now, and for the first time ever, I feel like Iāve found something I wonāt stop enjoying (famous last words).
Growing up, I often found myself bouncing from hobby to hobby, never really sticking with any long enough to get good. During the pandemic (yay COVID), I started playing Dungeons & Dragons after my girlfriend found herself roped into a campaign with some friends. It was wild because I wanted to play so badly, and out of nowhere sheās playing without me! Anyway, shortly after her, I found myself playing with her friends, and I developed a burning desire to start building a world of my own.
It took some years before I had the confidence to build an entire world. By that time, I had run four successful campaigns, and the friends I was playing with seemed to be yearning for more than another module. Enter the āAetherfallā ā a campaign set in the Aurorium Isle, an island of black and whites, technology and nature, where two clashing nations found themselves without the very magic that powered them.
It has been a really challenging and rewarding campaign to run; 5th edition D&D isnāt balanced around a lack of magic, and keeping a consistent voice (and story) requires careful thinking. Partway into this campaign, maybe Spring of last year, I decided that I wanted to start writing more substantially, but I told myself that before I did that, I wanted to write a campaign management application. Well, a year later thatās still in progress, and itās been a lot more effort than I initially thought (lol). I figured a blog shouldnāt be that much effort, and a break from the D&D app might be good for me. So here we are ā it just so happens that Iām also about to start a new job (which Iāll talk about in depth in my next post).
That was a bit of a word dump, so let me try to take us back to some more info about me. When Iām not being a nerd, you can find me on the figurative (or literal) mountain skiing or rock climbing. If that isnāt the quintessential software-engineer stereotype, I donāt know what is. I donāt take myself too seriously though, and Iām really fortunate to be able to do both of these so easily out here in Vancouver.
The skiing out here (looking at you, Whistler) is, Iām told, world-class, and part of me wishes I was writing after my first time there. I remember my friends dragging me to some run between trees, the snow falling but visibility still decent, and looking up to find myself surrounded by trees and mountains. It was surreal, like a magical winter wonderland ā the stuff of movies. That was three years ago, and that magic hasnāt faded. The lift lines and poor visibility definitely ruin the occasional day-trip, but I canāt really complain.
In the summer, an hour away is Squamish, where incredible sport routes (and trad, if youāre into that) litter the roadsides. I think painting a word picture will be a little harder here, so hereās an actual picture:
Iām not sure where Iām going to take this blog, but I really do want to write. I want to talk about my D&D world, my work experiencesāwhatās made my time at work something really specialāand maybe eventually some coffee-related chats. Letās see where this goes.