Blog Archives
Everquest Nostalgia
I got an email today from Sony about a new expansion for Everquest, the first MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game, which goes to show that the video game industry seriously need to work on their acronyms. Can’t they come up with something cool, like VIPRE or STELTH or something?) I had ever heard of. Way back in (I think) 1999, I read a magazine article about this game that was coming out, that allowed you to make your own character, choosing their race and their class and customizing your appearance, just old-school tabletop gaming allowed, but now in a world populated with other players all over the world. My mind was blown. I had to get this game.
Five Mass Effect Things for Monday, March 8th
1. I, along with Lady Aravan, spent the weekend playing Mass Effect. When some people say that, they mean they spent several hours doing something. What I mean is, we got home from work on Friday night and started playing, played until 2 am, got up Saturday and played from noon until 6:30 am, got up Sunday and played from noon til 11:30. I finished my second full run-through, including at one point going back 6 hours to an old saved game since I screwed something trivial up. Lady Aravan finished the game for the first time, threw in Mass Effect 2, and started playing until she realized that there was a bonus for getting level 50 in ME1 in the second game. So she reloaded a saved game and spent a good number of hours finishing nearly every quest in the game (she missed 1 that I am aware of, and couldn’t get it without going even further back) as well as finding pretty much every debris field and resource on every landable planet. When she finished the game, she was 50 and I was in awe, since even though I went back 6 hours and did the same shit another time through, I don’t have the fortitude to do what she did. Although I have to admit it bothers me that I’m 48. Moral: we like games.
Three Things for Tuesday, March 2
1. Yesterday was too soul-crushing to write a new post. Nothing noteworthy happened, just the standard work-day stuff on a Monday when you’d give anything for one more day at home with your wife. It was enough to destroy any literary ambitions for the day, even ones as feeble as this.
Monday Morning
Yesterday, I was cruising the galaxy in the fastest, most advanced ship in the Alliance arsenal. Alien women were throwing themselves at my feet, I was being interviewed for the vids, I was interrupting every overheard conversation with an emphatic, “Is there something I can help you with?” I was charging around the corridors of powerful but corrupt corporations, colonies under attack, and research facilities filled with alien beings who wanted me dead, my rippling muscles surging under the heavy armor that shielded me from their attacks while they died under withering fire from my Spectre class assault rifle. Today? Not so much.
Five Things for Friday, Feb 12th
1. I am in the mood for some good horror-based tabletop roleplaying. Lady Aravan’s VtDA game would be so much fun right now, with the dark nights and the cold wind blowing. I’d even run one, if I had the time or inclination to design one. I’ve been reading a Ravenloft source book, and even though I don’t really like D&D as a system and mood-setter, it does make me crave a good dark gaming session. Someday soon I’ll get started on my campaign, as soon as I finish editing the damn novel.
Five Things for Monday, September 28th
1. Being right doesn’t make it better. Losing to the goddamn Lions is a disgrace, even if it is inevitable. Jim Zorn might have been an OK offensive coordinator, maybe, but he’s a bad head coach. I don’t fault him for going for it on 4th down at the one, but taking a penalty on what would have been 4th down is stupid in every way. People are saying their season is over, but it ended last week against the Rams. They alienated the fanbase, put doubts in their heads, and the head coach is losing the team. Mike Shanahan or Jon Gruden? Bill Cowher? Who will be the ‘Skins coach in 2010? I predict Mike Shanahan.
Five Things for Tuesday, September 22nd
1. First day of fall. Hint of crispness in the air. I like these things. However, the absolute dark of 6 a.m. is a downer. Very hard to get psyched and motivated for exercise when the sun isn’t even remotely up. Did it anyway, which I am happy for and proud of, but it’s still a struggle.
Accountants, Gamers, and Nerds
Accountants seem to be one of those professions that are universally classified as pure geek in popular culture. Watch any episode of Law & Order where the investigation leads to a trail of money, and at some point a bow-tie wearing, nervous, shifty weakling will be accosted, and the initials CPA will be associated with him. Computer techs used to get the identical treatment, until the emergence of shows like Chuck and the insufferable douchebag that hocks Macs. Douchey is better equated with lacrosse players and popped collars on golf shirts, which is decidedly no longer geeky. So why is the accountant the Lone Staple Nerd archetype among actual well-paying jobs?
Winter in Derenemyn 