Bemoaning your fate
When it’s a lovely day out
Means you need a walk.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Friday, October 5, 2012
What Dreams May Come
I think the dream started as something else, but when I became conscious of it there was a group of us planning to go to the cottage in Maine. My mother and sister were there along with about a half dozen friends. Some of us had already traveled some distance and were waiting for the rest of the folks back home to catch up.
Suddenly we are on a beach, which I assume is somewhere in Maine due to the rocky shore and cold water. Some of us are swimming in the water and then I notice there are pink jellyfish everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE. Fortunately they aren’t the stinging kind, and as soon as my focus changes they are gone again.
I turn to look out at the ocean but it appears we are actually on a lake, as I can see forested, hilly land not too far in the distance, with a small clump of trees much closer. And then I notice the tide receding. Quickly. And I started screaming at everyone, who had inexplicably started walking towards the far side of the now empty lake, that a tidal wave was coming. But as soon as I started yelling I could see the tidal wave coming in, and there was no chance anyone was going to make it to safety. Instead, I start yelling for them to run towards the small clump of trees, in the hopes that hiding behind the trunks (they were big trees) will at least protect them from the initial brunt of the wave.
Time kicks into slow motion as we make a desperate bee-line towards the trees. I see the trees crack violently and begin to fall towards me as they are hit by the tidal wave. But then the wave isn’t actually there yet and it’s some sort of shockwave that is leveling the trees and setting them aflame. With the slow motion still in effect, I’m sidestepping the falling trees as they hit the ground, and then the shockwave hits me.
I’m in a helicopter. I’m a grizzled veteran; what the demo-man from Team Fortress 2 would be if he were real. I knew the pilot from an earlier, possibly semi-connected dream. I know he’s a bad guy and responsible for all this somehow so I sabotage the helicopter to make it crash and grab a parachute to make my escape. But as I get ready to jump out of the helicopter I find that he is already landing in a gas station in the midst of a metropolis filled with skyscrapers.
Knowing an explosion is still imminent I sprint from the helicopter and down the rest of the block, turning the corner just as the helicopter explodes behind me. I’m suddenly in a warehouse district and someone else is now traveling with me. We go into the nearest warehouse where dozens of people are hard at work welding metal for some unknown purpose. We are looking for our secret contact here that was in the same earlier, possibly semi-connected dream, but he no longer works there. Our secret military team is no more.
Disavowed?
Suddenly we are on a beach, which I assume is somewhere in Maine due to the rocky shore and cold water. Some of us are swimming in the water and then I notice there are pink jellyfish everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE. Fortunately they aren’t the stinging kind, and as soon as my focus changes they are gone again.
I turn to look out at the ocean but it appears we are actually on a lake, as I can see forested, hilly land not too far in the distance, with a small clump of trees much closer. And then I notice the tide receding. Quickly. And I started screaming at everyone, who had inexplicably started walking towards the far side of the now empty lake, that a tidal wave was coming. But as soon as I started yelling I could see the tidal wave coming in, and there was no chance anyone was going to make it to safety. Instead, I start yelling for them to run towards the small clump of trees, in the hopes that hiding behind the trunks (they were big trees) will at least protect them from the initial brunt of the wave.
Time kicks into slow motion as we make a desperate bee-line towards the trees. I see the trees crack violently and begin to fall towards me as they are hit by the tidal wave. But then the wave isn’t actually there yet and it’s some sort of shockwave that is leveling the trees and setting them aflame. With the slow motion still in effect, I’m sidestepping the falling trees as they hit the ground, and then the shockwave hits me.
I’m in a helicopter. I’m a grizzled veteran; what the demo-man from Team Fortress 2 would be if he were real. I knew the pilot from an earlier, possibly semi-connected dream. I know he’s a bad guy and responsible for all this somehow so I sabotage the helicopter to make it crash and grab a parachute to make my escape. But as I get ready to jump out of the helicopter I find that he is already landing in a gas station in the midst of a metropolis filled with skyscrapers.Knowing an explosion is still imminent I sprint from the helicopter and down the rest of the block, turning the corner just as the helicopter explodes behind me. I’m suddenly in a warehouse district and someone else is now traveling with me. We go into the nearest warehouse where dozens of people are hard at work welding metal for some unknown purpose. We are looking for our secret contact here that was in the same earlier, possibly semi-connected dream, but he no longer works there. Our secret military team is no more.
Disavowed?
Daily Haiku - October 4, 2012
This lucid dreaming,
The reward for broken sleep,
Worth the cost to me.
The reward for broken sleep,
Worth the cost to me.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Daily Haiku - October 3, 2012
Two weeks and no sign
Now I have to pay for it
Why, Hangover 2?
(The annoying part is I watched all of 10 minutes of it before turning it off because it was so bad. If I'm going to pay for a lost rental I'd at least like it to be a good movie)
Now I have to pay for it
Why, Hangover 2?
(The annoying part is I watched all of 10 minutes of it before turning it off because it was so bad. If I'm going to pay for a lost rental I'd at least like it to be a good movie)
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Borderlands 2: A Brief Review
Having now spent a little under 33 hours playing Borderlands 2 since it came out two weeks ago I feel like I can comfortably throw my opinion into the ring.
Opinion: Great game, you should buy it, but getting friends together to play may be a hassle.
If you played the first Borderlands, everything you loved is still there with loads of new content fleshing out the lovely cell-shaded world. New areas, new creatures, new players, new (and old) NPCs—it’s all there. And as a bonus they’ve thrown in an engaging storyline, which I felt was rather lacking in the first iteration. I think the improved plot has added a lot to the game, but if you’re just looking to shoot things in the face, you won’t be disappointed. And while I haven’t engaged in co-op shenanigans yet, I’m told they’ve dumped Gamespy and its ridiculous issues and networking players together runs much more smoothly now.
And this brings me to my only real issue with the game, which was also present in the first one. While Borderlands 2 is ostentatious meant to be played with friends, it’s incredibly hard to actually make that happen. First, you need to find time that you and three of your friends are all free, and then you need to make sure you all have characters that are the same or very close in level. Obviously playing with just one or two friends can make scheduling easier to organize, but the bigger issue is the level problem.
Case in point: the last time I emailed my friends for co-op we had characters who were level 24, 23, 18 and 12. And since this is the first run-through of the game for all of us, people didn’t have much of a desire to stop playing their primary character until everyone was caught up. I suspect once everyone has finished a run-through of the game on their own, it’ll be much easier to get co-op up and running with new secondary characters.
Opinion: Great game, you should buy it, but getting friends together to play may be a hassle.
If you played the first Borderlands, everything you loved is still there with loads of new content fleshing out the lovely cell-shaded world. New areas, new creatures, new players, new (and old) NPCs—it’s all there. And as a bonus they’ve thrown in an engaging storyline, which I felt was rather lacking in the first iteration. I think the improved plot has added a lot to the game, but if you’re just looking to shoot things in the face, you won’t be disappointed. And while I haven’t engaged in co-op shenanigans yet, I’m told they’ve dumped Gamespy and its ridiculous issues and networking players together runs much more smoothly now.
And this brings me to my only real issue with the game, which was also present in the first one. While Borderlands 2 is ostentatious meant to be played with friends, it’s incredibly hard to actually make that happen. First, you need to find time that you and three of your friends are all free, and then you need to make sure you all have characters that are the same or very close in level. Obviously playing with just one or two friends can make scheduling easier to organize, but the bigger issue is the level problem.
Case in point: the last time I emailed my friends for co-op we had characters who were level 24, 23, 18 and 12. And since this is the first run-through of the game for all of us, people didn’t have much of a desire to stop playing their primary character until everyone was caught up. I suspect once everyone has finished a run-through of the game on their own, it’ll be much easier to get co-op up and running with new secondary characters.
Monday, October 1, 2012
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