Oh for fuck's sake . . .

Friday was pleasant.

Saturday was more so.

Sunday was less so (but dinner with Grandpa was fun).

Sunday night was thoroughly rotten. I was the mortal enemy of "restful sleep". If it wasn't the (unknown) cat outside yowling pitifully, it was my getting up constantly. I went to bed at 10:30pm. I woke up at 12:45, 1:40, 2:35, 3:50, 4:30, and then for good at 5:00.

And today I go back to classes. While so tired I'm braindead. Yay.

Ah well. At least I get to look at Orlando Bloom as Legolas all day (via my desk calendar).

Mechjock gushing

Mike reminded me not to buy anything for the next month when I commented that I was going to pick up Babylon 5 Season 2 next Tuesday. Bastard. A whole month to wait, Matt. Can you deal? ;)

Though I did manage to convince him it's ok for me to pick up Children of Dune the day it comes out so I can watch it on the day off I have before my birthday (assuming no one else among the locals is dying to see it with me).

Warning: About to discuss Steel Batallion. Terri, Elli, others not "cool" enough to be into it: move along.

So now that I've been playing Steel Battalion on and off for a few months, what are my thoughts?

Well, first, I think that if no other game comes out in the series, this is one hell of an expensive controller. And it's still worth every penny.

No game has ever made me feel more like I was in a 'mech cockpit than this game -- and I'm including the surround-the-player sims of the old Virtual World/VGL franchises (but not the Tesla pods, which I haven't yet played in, there being a distinct lack of them in my area). Within a few missions, you're juking and maneuvering like a pro -- that is, if you have the instinct and the ability to multitask: your left hand steering as your left thumb turns your torso, your right hand aiming and firing, and both hands leaving the sticks from time to time to change weapons, put out fires, or wash the filth of your enemies off your screens. With the tweaking they do to the graphics, it really looks like you're encased in metal and viewing the action through cameras mounted on your chassis, too.

The one frustrating part comes when you take too much damage and don't eject. You lose your entire game in such cases, as you're considered KIA, and must start over. This will scrag your mind. Especially when, like I did this weekend, you get killed just as you reach for the EJECT button.

On the other hand, I breezed through those missions when I began again, and finally dealt with that nasty Jaralaccs that had been giving me so much grief for so long.

I love this game.

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( A belated Friday Five - Celebrity Madness )

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Well, yesterday I pissed off my sister. I mean the adult mother of my niece, not the cousins-masquerading-as-sisters.

I gave her a call and, during the conversation, said I think she ought to rethink a lot of her life, and maybe clean it up -- get rid of the dealer boyfriend and become a better mom (of course, I phrased it MUCH better), which led to:

Kenya: "Who died and made you boss?"
Me: "Our mother."

She hung up on me.