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Sour cream and Fallout and Momo
Oct. 8th, 2009 09:41 pmThe mailbox has been full of some love recently - a postcard from Japan (from the ever-awesome Trish), a card from Stephanie, a card from Erin, and lots of circulars from the area businesses. I guess I got just as much of the circulars when in SoCal, but it feels more excessive here for some reason. I suppose it's the same wherever you go: there is always a 2-for-1 deal on ice cream somewhere...
Yesterday I decided I had to get out of the house. I haven't been driving around much because I still need to get some insurance forms in the mail so I can get my NC license and plates and registration and title worked out. I am still within the grace period alloted, but I really don't want to tempt fate. So, I've been slowly unpacking, and playing a good deal of Fallout 3 on the XBox 360. The game is quite immersive, and while I feel like it starts to veer too closely into The Momo Problem* for total comfort, it's still an incredible narrative with lots of pretty well-balanced gameplay.
So I got out of the house, into the crazy sunshine, where I went to the library to return 2 books and pick up one on hold, and then I thought that I might swing by the London Fish and Chips near my house to get a little sump'n for dinner, as it was one of my favorite places to go when I was here before.
I was sadly denied, when I saw the empty storefront with a FOR LEASE sign in the window. I swear to you, I am getting awfully sick of my favorite restaurants shutting down. Despondent, I came back to the apartment, with a stop-off to check my mail.
Oh, man: Lucy, thank you so much for the Hallowe'en treats - there is a blinky bead bracelet in 'weenie colors, and fake tattoos, and a small vintage booklet with recipes for cooking with sour cream. It made my day, it did. What also made my day was getting a copy of Beatles Rock Band from the most brilliant and kind Ariock, who tried to claim that it was mostly self-interest, as he wanted to be able to play the game online with me on Sundays, like we have been doing pretty consistently with Rock Band 2 over many many months. The disc's holder grips inside the case had partially snapped, leaving the disc to get scratched up in transit, but it seems to work fine.
It's a real pleasure to play a music game where I can sing and get really superior scores because I know the catalogue so well - it's been stressful and frustrating to be a vocalist with the other Rock Band games because there's just too much unmitigated shit in the setlists - stuff that any vocalist either finds boring, or Draconian in the skill level needed just to get through the song without failing. I've gritted my teeth and dealt with it, mostly because I knew Beatles Rock Band was coming someday.
So I am a bit headachey right now, and I could maybe use a hug or seven, but life is starting to even out a bit. There is more good stuff happening, and while I refuse to let go of my anxieties and un-hope about the future, I feel less inclined to think something terrible is going to happen when I wake up each morning. I spent a few hours hanging out with my boys at Epic today, after meeting up with someone to sign a contract and get my hourly rates ironed out.
I start Monday. And I am really looking forward to it.
*The Momo Problem: There is a book called Momo, by Michael Ende, where men in grey begin to invade a small sleepy town with their terrible Ponzi scheme of banking the inhabitants' hours of Time. The adults are simply swayed by rapid calculations done on chalkboards, numbers of hours wasted with relaxation and stupid pursuits like chatting with neighbors, reading, enjoying a long meal, etc. multiplying into a tantalizing 'retirement' for each and every person who signs up. Anyway, the men in grey can't really open up accounts for the kids, so they make sure the kids have crazy toys with endless extensions and add-ons - they try tempting Momo herself with a set of life-size dolls with customizable clothing and accessories, wheedling her to consider these dolls her friends, each with its own need for new clothes, new accessories, and the latest in doll 'stuff.' They are essentially plying her with a 'reality within a reality,' oddly prescient for a book published in the early 70's, I believe. Fallout 3 has me keeping up my own household, organizing and obsessing over my food/meds, my random items found on adventuring, the upkeep and maintenance of my armor/outfits and weapons. My avatar inside the game is an extension of myself, and I have several characters I visit on a regular basis, using the game's internal dialogue trees to cultivate and encourage specific relationships with all of them. If the narrative weren't so compelling and relevant, I would be telling myself to walk away. As it is, I've been trying 'rewarding' myself with game time when I've spent time each day doing something for the real me, my real life. It's interesting to note how much a story can captivate when you're actually inserted into it. And I guess people worried about bookworms becoming too engrossed in novels before video games came along, too. ;)
Yesterday I decided I had to get out of the house. I haven't been driving around much because I still need to get some insurance forms in the mail so I can get my NC license and plates and registration and title worked out. I am still within the grace period alloted, but I really don't want to tempt fate. So, I've been slowly unpacking, and playing a good deal of Fallout 3 on the XBox 360. The game is quite immersive, and while I feel like it starts to veer too closely into The Momo Problem* for total comfort, it's still an incredible narrative with lots of pretty well-balanced gameplay.
So I got out of the house, into the crazy sunshine, where I went to the library to return 2 books and pick up one on hold, and then I thought that I might swing by the London Fish and Chips near my house to get a little sump'n for dinner, as it was one of my favorite places to go when I was here before.
I was sadly denied, when I saw the empty storefront with a FOR LEASE sign in the window. I swear to you, I am getting awfully sick of my favorite restaurants shutting down. Despondent, I came back to the apartment, with a stop-off to check my mail.
Oh, man: Lucy, thank you so much for the Hallowe'en treats - there is a blinky bead bracelet in 'weenie colors, and fake tattoos, and a small vintage booklet with recipes for cooking with sour cream. It made my day, it did. What also made my day was getting a copy of Beatles Rock Band from the most brilliant and kind Ariock, who tried to claim that it was mostly self-interest, as he wanted to be able to play the game online with me on Sundays, like we have been doing pretty consistently with Rock Band 2 over many many months. The disc's holder grips inside the case had partially snapped, leaving the disc to get scratched up in transit, but it seems to work fine.
It's a real pleasure to play a music game where I can sing and get really superior scores because I know the catalogue so well - it's been stressful and frustrating to be a vocalist with the other Rock Band games because there's just too much unmitigated shit in the setlists - stuff that any vocalist either finds boring, or Draconian in the skill level needed just to get through the song without failing. I've gritted my teeth and dealt with it, mostly because I knew Beatles Rock Band was coming someday.
So I am a bit headachey right now, and I could maybe use a hug or seven, but life is starting to even out a bit. There is more good stuff happening, and while I refuse to let go of my anxieties and un-hope about the future, I feel less inclined to think something terrible is going to happen when I wake up each morning. I spent a few hours hanging out with my boys at Epic today, after meeting up with someone to sign a contract and get my hourly rates ironed out.
I start Monday. And I am really looking forward to it.
*The Momo Problem: There is a book called Momo, by Michael Ende, where men in grey begin to invade a small sleepy town with their terrible Ponzi scheme of banking the inhabitants' hours of Time. The adults are simply swayed by rapid calculations done on chalkboards, numbers of hours wasted with relaxation and stupid pursuits like chatting with neighbors, reading, enjoying a long meal, etc. multiplying into a tantalizing 'retirement' for each and every person who signs up. Anyway, the men in grey can't really open up accounts for the kids, so they make sure the kids have crazy toys with endless extensions and add-ons - they try tempting Momo herself with a set of life-size dolls with customizable clothing and accessories, wheedling her to consider these dolls her friends, each with its own need for new clothes, new accessories, and the latest in doll 'stuff.' They are essentially plying her with a 'reality within a reality,' oddly prescient for a book published in the early 70's, I believe. Fallout 3 has me keeping up my own household, organizing and obsessing over my food/meds, my random items found on adventuring, the upkeep and maintenance of my armor/outfits and weapons. My avatar inside the game is an extension of myself, and I have several characters I visit on a regular basis, using the game's internal dialogue trees to cultivate and encourage specific relationships with all of them. If the narrative weren't so compelling and relevant, I would be telling myself to walk away. As it is, I've been trying 'rewarding' myself with game time when I've spent time each day doing something for the real me, my real life. It's interesting to note how much a story can captivate when you're actually inserted into it. And I guess people worried about bookworms becoming too engrossed in novels before video games came along, too. ;)
