Xmas and after
Dec. 31st, 2002 09:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jazzfishTuesday I went shopping. Bad idea. Never making that mistake again, at least not until next year. Certainly not in a big, unfamiliar car, and certainly not when it's going to start snowing while I'm out on 28, easily a half hour from my parents' place.
Spent a pleasant evening with Jonathan and Moira, discussing all and sundry topics. Then went to candlelight service at church. It was fairly impressive. Makes me want to organise a solstice thing here, if I'm still stuck here next year. (Then I remember other attempts at a solstice thing here, and think again. Like so much about Bleaksburg, it requires the right people, and they're in short supply.)
And then it was Christmas Day in the morning. Got to shovel the driveway with my father, which was remarkably pleasant, both for getting to spend time with him away from sniping mother & sister, and for feeling useful. Didn't feel like I was as effective as I could have been, but I'm used to that. I think much of my life has been / will be spent trying to live up to my father's expectations of me from the mid-nineties. I can think of worse psych problems to have.
Xmas dinner was. Good ham, from my grandfather. My baby sister and her husband managed to mostly behave themselves.
Presents. Yay presents. A decent digital camera (Kodak DX3500, for those of you who care about such things), and some cash. And other small things. Everyone seemed happy with their books/calendars. My baby sister bitched about her presents from extended family. And life went on. Stockings after, for which my baby sister couldn'tbe bothered afford to throw in any money or stuff. Irritation.
Thursday was trip back. Not a bad drive. Listened to a CD from my aunt Susan describing itself as "blip-hop."
Emily: "It's like synthpop, all grown up."
Me: "It's like trance, with a sense of humor."
Went and bought a GameCube, because I had this Xmas money and so did Emily. Then rolled into work, at which we discover that the other calendar people are idiots and Bert thinks this is hilarious. Bert the manager is hard to deal with, as distinct from Bert the guy, who's pretty decent.
And then I came home and crashed because I'd been up since five or so because I couldn't sleep.
GameCube. Very, very cool. When I first heard about it I gave Nintendo a lot of grief about finally making a disc-based system and screwing it up with their tiny little discs. After seeing the size of the Cube, I take it all back. The thing has a footprint less than a quarter inch larger than a CD jewelcase. And a handle, and a slot for a battery pack. They were serious about making it portable. Plus it comes with four controller ports (take that, Sony!). And the thing that holds the discs-- you push down on it and it releases the discs so that you can just pick them up-- no popping them off. Way cool.
Super Monkey Ball is in fact a game that I will eventually throw the controller across the room at, but is still great. Pikmin is a cute little strategic game. And Eternal Darkess is just all that. It's more or less survival horror, but the horror isn't of the "Oh my God these controls suck!" variety, nor is it "Oh my God I can't see anything on my screen!" Rather, it's a creepy storyline and the madness effects (as you see Unspeakable Horrors, you go slightly mad, resulting in your character's perceptions getting wacky, and in one memorable instance *your* perceptions getting wacky). And it's gorgeous, and the voice-acting is Not Bad. Some of the script is kind of cheesy, but hey. Well worth it.
And tonight I party. Or something.
Spent a pleasant evening with Jonathan and Moira, discussing all and sundry topics. Then went to candlelight service at church. It was fairly impressive. Makes me want to organise a solstice thing here, if I'm still stuck here next year. (Then I remember other attempts at a solstice thing here, and think again. Like so much about Bleaksburg, it requires the right people, and they're in short supply.)
And then it was Christmas Day in the morning. Got to shovel the driveway with my father, which was remarkably pleasant, both for getting to spend time with him away from sniping mother & sister, and for feeling useful. Didn't feel like I was as effective as I could have been, but I'm used to that. I think much of my life has been / will be spent trying to live up to my father's expectations of me from the mid-nineties. I can think of worse psych problems to have.
Xmas dinner was. Good ham, from my grandfather. My baby sister and her husband managed to mostly behave themselves.
Presents. Yay presents. A decent digital camera (Kodak DX3500, for those of you who care about such things), and some cash. And other small things. Everyone seemed happy with their books/calendars. My baby sister bitched about her presents from extended family. And life went on. Stockings after, for which my baby sister couldn't
Thursday was trip back. Not a bad drive. Listened to a CD from my aunt Susan describing itself as "blip-hop."
Emily: "It's like synthpop, all grown up."
Me: "It's like trance, with a sense of humor."
Went and bought a GameCube, because I had this Xmas money and so did Emily. Then rolled into work, at which we discover that the other calendar people are idiots and Bert thinks this is hilarious. Bert the manager is hard to deal with, as distinct from Bert the guy, who's pretty decent.
And then I came home and crashed because I'd been up since five or so because I couldn't sleep.
GameCube. Very, very cool. When I first heard about it I gave Nintendo a lot of grief about finally making a disc-based system and screwing it up with their tiny little discs. After seeing the size of the Cube, I take it all back. The thing has a footprint less than a quarter inch larger than a CD jewelcase. And a handle, and a slot for a battery pack. They were serious about making it portable. Plus it comes with four controller ports (take that, Sony!). And the thing that holds the discs-- you push down on it and it releases the discs so that you can just pick them up-- no popping them off. Way cool.
Super Monkey Ball is in fact a game that I will eventually throw the controller across the room at, but is still great. Pikmin is a cute little strategic game. And Eternal Darkess is just all that. It's more or less survival horror, but the horror isn't of the "Oh my God these controls suck!" variety, nor is it "Oh my God I can't see anything on my screen!" Rather, it's a creepy storyline and the madness effects (as you see Unspeakable Horrors, you go slightly mad, resulting in your character's perceptions getting wacky, and in one memorable instance *your* perceptions getting wacky). And it's gorgeous, and the voice-acting is Not Bad. Some of the script is kind of cheesy, but hey. Well worth it.
And tonight I party. Or something.
no subject
Date: 2002-12-31 07:52 am (UTC)Eternal Darkness has odd combat controls, but you get used to it. Not bad, just odd. The hacking-off-of-arms is worth it though.
no subject
Date: 2003-01-01 06:45 am (UTC)I'm a big fan of ED's combat system. The targeting of enemies is occasionally funky, but as you say, the ability to lop off limbs (and heads!) more than makes up for it. I'm going to get pissed off next time I cast a healing spell and chop off the top half of my torso, though.
no subject
Date: 2002-12-31 10:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-01-01 06:47 am (UTC)And maybe, once I get around to acquiring blanks that will function with my writer. :)
no subject
Date: 2003-11-18 05:29 pm (UTC)(I can find absolutely no blip hop or Machines of Joy on Kazaa! Wanna hear!)