Month: February 2012

We’re coming up to one of the nastier commercially driven celebrations of the year …

Yep. I mean Valentines’ Day. Kinda weird saying it’s a nasty celebration but that’s the way I feel about it after seeing what commercialism has done to it.

The idea – that one day in the year, couples do something special. It’s a nice idea but as with most Day’s, as soon as the market men get their fingers on it, it jumps out of control.

The problem – is that you’re made to feel obliged that you should be doing something on that particular day. If you’re not then you’re made to feel that there’s something wrong with you. Even worse if you’ve been single for what feels like forever, like me. You’d like to go out somewhere to let someone to feel special but there’s no willing, interested or interesting partners out there.

The reality – everyone else gets the need to head out somewhere on the Day, leading to the restuarants being totally crammed and tickets for things becoming difficult to come by. If you do get in a restuarant, you’re not in for a romantic intimate dinner, you’re heading for Sheep Dip dining where the restuarant want you out the door so they can get more people through.

It doesn’t lead to it being a good evening. Don’t get me wrong, some of the few memories* I retain of the time with Evil Ex are centred around evenings out. We make each other feel better by having a relaxed evening in each other’s company. But around Valentines Day, there’s too much pressure coming from the surroundings to really enjoy that time away.

*(time has eroded most of them but there’s also the lingering after effects of my brains being scrambled by a cricket ball)

Plan A for this year’s Valentines Day was to head over to CQ’s place for the evening to chill out with pizza and dvd’s. We’ll be doing that on Thursday instead when all the Crazies are available.

But I will mark it in my own way … Unless I get the shock of a better offer coming around I’ll be stopping in. But I’ll put up a music post with the soppiest songs in my library. Here’s a taster …

Phew ! Managed to go through the whole game satisfying the conditions for the achievements.

Won't do that again on purpose 🙂 (I like the Malik character too much)

Lately I’ve been enjoying yet another run through of Deus Ex Human Revolution. It’s rare that I’ll play through an entire game straight away after completing it the first time (variation is good) and it’s even rarer that I’ll play through one three times on the bounce.

Yet I’m currently going for the third run, albeit with different objectives. The aim this time around is to harvest as many of the remaining Steam achievements as possible and by the end of this run, I’ll hopefully only have just 3 to go.

Big targets this time :
Pacifist – Get through the entire game without killing anyone. This isn’t easy … I’ve had to do one set piece the bad way because there’s a massive chance that exploding a robot will also kill bad guys who you’ve already knocked out.
Foxiest of the Hounds – Get through the entire game without setting off the alarms.

(To do later : Beat the game on hardest difficulty, peek at all the items in Megan’s office at the start, see all the endings)

Going for those two achievements has added more interest to the usual play through and makes you appreciate the stealthy approach. The game rewards you for that, not in equipment (which is plentiful anyway) but in making your character advance quicker. Getting through a level without being seen gives more experience than knocking out all the bad guys. Knocking people out rather than going for the lethal approach gives quicker advancement too.

And by bypassing a lot of the bad guys, it’s also been less of a grind. The pacifist approach is a lot quieter than having a sniper rifle boom away across the level, making the bad guys come running.

It’s that Grindiness that’s key though.

I seem to be migrating to games that are built around dynamic stories. I like the progression as the game goes along. The story has to be fairly tight though, as really open ended ones like the X space games and Bethesda’s usual output tend to turn me off. I prefer grand strategy campaign games where the world is persistent, I didn’t enjoy real time strategy games where the strong base you built in Mission 1 would be irrelevant in successive missions. And some strategy games hugely resemble the grind through wearing down the game by attrition.

Bit like novels. I’ve given up on a few novels lately, because they resemble the grind that turns me off certain games. I’ve quit reading Star Wars books because the Yuuzhan Vong sequence got really unpleasant and definitely a depressing grind.

David Weber’s Honorverse books used to be a lot of fun, with fairly tight plotlines built around focused space battle action. They’ve gone very bloaty now though, with 1000 page books with nary a nuke to explode anywhere. The fun factor went out of them as the politics came in. I’ve been struggling with reading Game Of Thrones. Something needed to happen within the first 200 pages of sheer grind of character set up to keep me interested. (I’ll go back into Game of Thrones at some point). All I can say is that the script writing for the TV series must have been incredible to make it so popular.

Currently reading Stark’s War by Jack Campbell (aka John G. Hemry) which I’m enjoying. A trademark of Jack Campbell’s books is that they flow well and when the action starts, what you’re reading makes sense and keeps focus. A crucial key of science fiction is that it has to remain consistent with itself and the rules that it declares. Departures from that (David Weber is badly guilty here with magic new tech) make the reader doubt the credibility of the series.

Right :

Games – fun when they’re tightly focused around a well written storyline. Hopefully Mass Effect 3 will be a fitting conclusion to the series, avoiding some of the grind of the first 2 games.
Books – enjoying Jack Campbell (and sometime I must read one by Thumper), giving up on David Weber and Game of Thrones.
Games & Books – there’s more crossover now than people might think. Instead of reading what’s on the page, you’re writing your own variation of the story with how you approach the situations presented.

England’s in trouble in the rugby though, time to turn my attention back to that for the last 30 minutes.

A little bit of random telly I caught a while ago that now has me hooked is Leverage.

It’s not what I usually go for, there’s no lasers, jetpacks, teleporters or other bits of sciency-fiction technobabble in here. Just a lot of style and clever smarts in how it sets up the scenarios in each episode.

They also have a lot of fun with how the episodes play through to. The 5 main characters don’t necessarily totally like each other but there’s a lot of respect for each other’s abilities. It’s a series where the cast works really well together. But one catches the eye early :

That’s Beth Riesgraf who plays Parker. Very definitely a Bad Girl. She’s the thief of the bunch and certifiably crazy.

Maybe that’s why the twinkle catches the eye. She’s actually not that small but that’s the way it looks on screen. Perfection (even with the craziness) in a very tiny package (like a few others I could mention !)

Anyway – just really enjoyed watching the pilot episode again and I’m now looking forward to watching the rest of the series. Hell, I even bought season 2 unseen and I very rarely do that.

Here’s another character who joins in with making this a cool series to watch :

Very true. The Geek Shall Inherit The Earth.

PS Boy does surround sound make you jump out of your skin if gunfire goes off on the soundtrack taking you by surprise. Jeez !
PS2 Feeling a bit better today for some reason I can’t fathom. Must be the bacon sarnie in the morning and the prospect of the weekend to come.

I’m feeling like that somewhat at the moment. Depression is a curse suffered by many (CQ calls it the Ugly Monster) and I’m definitely no exception. In my case, it’s probably a case of manic-depression. I enjoy riding the wave of being hyperactive manic but I know there’s usually a downside to come later.

At the moment, my Ugly Monster is raising its head from :
The cold. It’s getting into my bones and muscles, feeling like someone’s poured concrete down my spine. It’s actually not that much worse than normal, except that I’m feeling it more due to not having that hyperactivity to let me blast through it.
Feeling lonely.

It’s that loneliness that is really biting at the moment. I have great friends, like the Snow Queen, Craziequeen, BK, half the people on my Facebook, CK, BD & RCA. Trouble is, when I’m needing to reach out to them, I’m usually picking the wrong time. It’s hard to have a heart to heart in work time. People are busy. (Including me !)

What I need is the chance to talk with someone until we’re literally falling asleep. Bit like the original intention for 03.45am No Sleep, talking with friends until it’s so late you can’t stop your eyes closing. There’s stuff I’d need to talk about that are too private to be put here. However, there’s also me finding it difficult to talk to people about what I feel. I’d need absolute trust and confidence in secrets to talk about some of it. I must look a rather different person outside the happy smiling armour I habitually keep up.

I’ve not let that armour down to allow those emotions to be released for a Very Long Time now (even in my last serious relationship I was walling off). I guess I’ve just been single too long now and in need of more hugs.

There’s also a touch of being frustrated in helping people. I know there’s a few of my friends who could do with similarly opening their armour and unburdening those pent up emotions or just being able to talk through their situation to someone who can offer a soft shoulder and a willing ear … but the frustration is in not being let in to offer the help. I’m wanting to help – I just don’t know how.

Going back to the cold, here’s another Calvin & Hobbes scene :

We’re threatened with snow tonight, which could make it interesting to get into work tomorrow. When it snowed a few years ago, I was one of the few who made it in. It was seriously tempting to do a snow scene like the one above, except instead of salutes there would have been branches like the rifles of a firing squad. On the other side, there would have been a single snowman with a blindfold.

Woulda been hilarious. Like the rest of the Calvin & Hobbes strips done by Bill Watterson who is an absolute genius. Sadly there’s no more Calvin & Hobbes being made.

Tired again. Not a great day for me this one – the cold temperatures are getting into my back and making it feel as if concrete has been poured down my spine. I have been able to ignore that (plus the bounciness keeps the stiffness away) but there is a limit.

It wasn’t all bad, I was able to make the Snow Queen and Mrs Sunshine smile at seeing one or two of the comments headed their way after the Cricket Charity related postings. Mrs Sunshine got that codename cos that smile brightens up the room and it always warms the heart to see the Snow Queen smile. Although I am seriously scared by a comment by Dawnie on Facebook :

Me : it seems to be my lot in life. To be a slavish minion to the whims of Queens
Dawnie : At least she doesn’t demand you being a Eunuch! :p

Yep. Scared.

I did manage to get some focus and energy going today though, thanks to the Power Of The Crunchie. (I didn’t wave the Crunchie above my head with a cutscene of an old magical castle while transforming into He-Sleepy … honest). Strange colourings can be good things … in moderation 🙂 (The moderation comes from skipping the morning teacake)

Crunchie Power has mostly worn off now though. I’m not giving up (chillout+book later) but I’ll go with the kitten’s answer 🙂

PS Almost forgot – attribution for the picture goes to : http://www.cathouseonthekings.com/ which I found via Facebook.

Ok, so Friday I mentioned a potential project for this summer …

The idea was born from a conversation with a very dear friend, with me remembering a colleague from a couple of years ago. Combine that with the controversy surrounding Karen Handel, formerly of the Susan G. Komen group and you get me thinking I could do a little more than just contributing to charities. I could be the focus for a bit of money raising.

There’s a bit more to it as well. I probably have just one or two seasons of cricket left in me. Actually, with the state of my shoulder and a couple of other long term injury issues, I probably should have called it quits on cricket already.

But … I like running around at daft speeds chasing and pouncing on balls. Maybe I’m part kitten ?

Hey ! I’m strange and am not afraid to admit it.

It’s a curious feeling, this project. On Friday, it was just an embryonic idea that had the barest possibility of happening (me playing cricket this summer depends on my legs supporting it). But … that seed of an idea has taken root and it’s growing into a case of :

“So it depends on my leg getting better and the rest of my injuries cooperating ? Sod that, I’ll play anyway.”. If I tear stuff up again, there’s plenty of time after the season for it to heal.

And it’s similar for those other long term injuries. With the weight loss, I’m getting back my agility from a number of years ago. I have the same power available in my legs, it just has less weight to shift. That’s awesome all round. As well as being more nimble, there’s less stress on my legs.

In 3 months I’ve lost enough off my middle to do the belt up 2 notches tighter. Although one of my Facebook updates today is : “And just because you can put the belt one notch tighter, doesn’t mean you should.” I.e. Sleepypete becomes SqueakyPete.

I have a feeling there’s a bit of Positive Mental Attitude coming in there though. Bit like having a cause to fight for. Or maybe a few causes as I’m looking out for a couple of people right now. Or maybe I’m just pleased at the prospect of having some of the old bounce back.

So – that potential embryo idea of “I could do this” is turning more into a “I want to do this”. There’s a few details to look into though :

Which charity – think I’ll ask for advice from the girls at work for this one and go with what they say
(always follow the advice of women – it’s much safer that way and it makes them happy)
Getting Pink Stuff
(no suitable pink hats in the Mall shops or online)
Getting ready for the season
(I really need to stop relying on natural fitness)
And sorting out the donation thing
(Probably via www.justgiving.com)

And there’s that aspect of time running out. If I do something like this, I need to do it either this year or next. I’m getting too old now for running around cricket fields at daft speeds. The old injuries are making their presence felt more and the new ones are taking longer to go away.

As to the why … I like helping people out. I live for it. And this attaches “helping people out” to me having fun. Plus there’s the biggest reason why I like helping people out : Because I can :-).

PS Actually, now I think more about it, I think I’d do it 50:50. 50 for breast cancer for the colleague from a few years ago and 50 for Help For Heroes.

Some of the convention cosplay armour is good … especially if it looks like it's been made with the intention of walking around the convention …

I have some nice girls in Armour pics that I'll post over at my place at some point. Some of the Armour even looks half reasonable – to someone who knows nothing about it…. [grin]

Spotted this one on Facebook over the weekend :

Lol’d … And thought of my neighbour, Cyberkitten. Who will love it.

Fantasy armour is always a good subject for getting the artists going. I think the artists and fans of artists are actually the ones who go for the more revealing drawings. The D&D gamers get trained out of putting their women into daft outfits by the GM :

Player : That’s right – chainmail bra and panties for my character
GM : Ok, you’re about to go through a thorn infested bramble patch …

Here’s another one from an older game and book I read many many years ago … Curse of the Azure Bonds had two main characters, Dragonbait and Alias. It’s a pretty decent book (I brought it with me to Bristol and will read it again sometime) and quite early it explains away the abomination of a breastplate the female lead wears. ‘Magical thing causing resistance against pointy-stabby’ (I paraphrased)

Yep – we got trained early by our GMs to think Full Plate = Good (even for female characters). Trouble is, evil GMs also have a tendency to make Full Plate wearing characters have to cross rivers. Usually under threat of imminent attack. There’s rules in there that say that Full Plate takes 15 minutes or so to put on and rushing that causes all sorts of “I can’t move!!” penalties.

Unless you use magic …

I can’t find it right now (it’s in Defenders of the Faith) but you could add a property to that shiny Full Plate armour where your character said a command word and within 1 action, that Full Plate would fly on to the character Iron Man style. So your girlie cleric (it opened up lots of banter with the rest of the party and I had a lot of fun with it) could go :

Keela : “If I were you, I’d remove that hand from where you just put it”
Octopus Guy : “Why would I want to do that ?”
Keela : “Armour up”
Octopus Guy : “OWW!”
(from the hand trapped in naughty place)

I was always more about having fun with the role playing type aspect (while being a strong Power Gamer too) and the Armour of Calling just opened up more possibilities.

And – how have I managed to turn a simple picture post into yet another Wall of Text ? Lol 🙂

PS CK – if you can find one, check out the level 50 ish green Jade Breastplate. Looks better on trolls than it would on a Worgen though …