Yes indeed, it comes out this Monday for the Virtual Console. Never played and pretty tempted to.

Oh yeah, and that guy below this post; his name it Lycidas, score one for English poetry references. Milton wins! And there's a good chance he would play WoW also.

 

So I has come to this. Juss about a month left on my 60 Day that L got me a little while ago and I have just managed to get a level 13 Rogue going on. A good use of time, it's quite entertaining, but wow, level 13, that certainly isn't much is it? Should have done better than that, but what can you do. The downside I think to MMOs, by and large, is that there is actually less of the feeling of accomplishment than other game types. Kill a boss or defeat a dungeon only to know that minutes later everything will respawn and you have really done nothing except work toward the progress of your single and autonomous character that interacts as a separate entity within the game world.

There is a lack of events I think, or perhaps I am just coming off of the Zelda:TP high and everything else seems dull by comparison. The true enjoyment and reward comes form playing something with L that she enjoys and allows us to interact imaginatively and creatively. It's been quite a joy.

Weekend Cheers

It's the weekend; time for fun and frivolity. I say a grand hello and good times to everyone and may your weekend be blessed with excitement, friends, and, perhaps if we are lucky, some well needed repose in which to ponder and meditate.

All the Best,

Rick

Bi-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con

The title I took from a Simpsons episode and I think it works with the Albuquerque one I just went to. Although, come to think of it, it certainly isn't bi-monthly. It is annual, but An-Mon-Sci-Fi-Con just didn't seem to work. It was a superb trip, although the city of Albuquerque is in need of some serious downtown revitalization. Businesses there closed very early; the Schlotzcke's Deli was open from 12-4 and that was it. Even the Starbucks, which shared a door into the hotel lobby, was only open until 5, till 5! How can that be?

Luckily the PCA/ACA people are tremendous and the hotel was providing coffee, sodas, water on tables throughout the complex during peak presentation times. I was well taken care of.

My panel was very cool and went quite well. It was actually well attending seeing that it was at 8am, a hard time to make I know. My paper was well received, I enjoyed the other panelists very much, and a good discussion on a variety of our topics followed the papers until our entire alloted time was out. I was greatly flattered to have people take such an interest and was impressed by what the other two brought to the table.

The other panels I attended were quite well done as well. I should post, at a later date, some of the ones I attended and what their strengths were.

Enemy Within

I was thinking today that I often forget that there are more than polar opposites pulling for my soul. There is the enemy of my soul, of whom is a mystery and terribly fearful yet something we are protected from by God's grace, and there is His heavenly spirit that gives voice to God's will and direction, comfort, and consolation to our soul. There is also that which lies within. There is a part of me that is an enemy toward the best God would have for me; some part of me that is selfish, deceptive, and low. I think when we make all those internal feelings to be something that is purely from Hell and has nothing to do with us, an outside influence only, then we become more susceptible to our own cunning and decay.

I have to acknowledge that there is a part of me, "ME," that is unhealthy, worldly, and sinful. They are not just impulses fed to me by dark minions. There is something there, in my soul, that they can tug on, some ground they have access to. You see, in thinking of it that way it is easier to defend. By knowing that there is territory to which I am weak, a part of me that is faulted deeply, I can support it and defend it more accurately.

There seems to be this great urge to think otherwise. If that were the case, we could feel happier being the neutral party to this cosmic spiritual war. But that is not the case; we are very much involved. I am not just selfish because the enemy plants seeds of that nature and whispers thoughts into my head, empty as it were if that were the case. No. I, the internal me I call I, is selfish and decaying. I must call upon God to aid and support a broken vessel, not just mend what someone else broke. There is a greater calling there; a higher realization and hope. There is a fuller image of my humanity in that thought that gives me food to ponder: to ponder, to prepare for, and to plan.

Hotel Dusk: Room 215

Still very curious about this game. I have a compulsion to play it, and yet I hesitate. Two things seem very promising about it, perhaps three. It has a noir theme, of which I am a fan. It involves solving puzzles, of which I find at times infuriating yet satisfying (especially with my recent experiences with Zelda:TP). And its reviews seem centered on its writing as one of its best strengths. In fact some reviews I have read have been ready to forgive the game many of its faults on the strength of that writing alone.

You can see my dilemma, which is only that I have other games to play, and also must keep my studies sharp for the future; reading, editing, and reviewing notes is something I intend to keep as a focus.

The Oracle Lied

I think the Oracle from New Line Cinema's "The Matrix" lied when she said that cookies needed love. I just stuck my hand in a batch of sugar cookie dough on that premise and all I got was a hand full of dough that stuck two inches thick on every part of my hand. Wow. Hehe, but it all turned out okay, at least we shall see. I think my cooking skills are still a little behind and so I was going to go for the challenge of making some easy cookies, for starters.

I would like to thank Clabber Girl, the only choice in baking powder, for making much of this cooking experience possible. My next post will be sponsored by my flour provider.