You know, I have noticed over the last few years that my reading habits have altered quite a bit. For one thing, I don't read nearly as much as I used to. I think this is largely because, with a few exceptions, I don't like reading during my daughter's awake time. This is partly because I want/need to keep an eye on her and interact with her, which is hard to do when my nose is in a book (I get really immersed when I read and tend to become completely oblivious to my surroundings). Also though, it isn't as enjoyable for me to read because I am so easily distracted, I have a hard time sinking into the story. Then, a lot of my child-free time is spent doing other things I can't do when she's up and about (and playing video games).
That isn't to say that a good enough book won't get me to find a way to read read read, however.
Case in point:
Even though I am about halfway through the final Eragon book, Inheritance, and knew that I would have at least some quality reading time when I went on my trip last week, I did not take the book with me to California. This is because the book is freaking huge and I really did not feel like trying to lug it around in my carry-on, weight-wise or space-wise. So instead I took a stack of comic books and my shiny new Kindle, which I hadn't really taken out for much of a spin yet (even though it is already crammed full of books for me to read).
I finished the comic books about halfway through the flight out and then fired up the Kindle and pulled up The Secret Garden. I started reading this to my daughter at bed time, a chapter or two a night, last November. But right around Christmas she decided she wanted to start interacting with story time and we've been reading her picture books together instead. I knew it was coming, but I wasn't really expecting it to happen in the middle of an awesome book. Silly me. Anyway, the book was available as a free download from Amazon (huzzah for public domain!) so it was one of the first to get loaded on my Kindle. I love love love that story, it is one of my all time favorites, so I really wanted to finish reading it. I finally got the chance this past week.
Not too long into the return flight, I finished that book. Then, I scrolled through my Kindle for a bit deciding what to start reading next, knowing that I probably wouldn't finish it before I got home and returned to Inheritance (not to mention A Clash of Kings, which I am reading along with Leigh over at Tor.com). After a little bit of waffling, I decided to give The Hunger Games a try. I have been wanting to read it for well over a year now, and with the movie so recently in theaters, it has been more on my mind than ever. Plus, it was right there at my fingertips. Easy decision, really.
But back to my point. I got about a quarter of the way through it on the flight, and even though I have had plenty of other stuff to do since I got home, I made the time to keep on reading this story. Because ohmygoodnessitissoamazing. I mean, I knew that it would be good. Several fellow readers close to me in whom I have complete trust have recommended it highly. Also, the internet discussion of it has suggested at its wonderfulness quite clearly. It's one of those rare series that I have recommended/gifted to people even without reading because I believed the people who told me it was so good. But wow, I was not prepared to not be able to put it down. It is rare that a book gets me like that these days. It is quite a wonderful treat, to be honest.
I finished it up on Tuesday and immediately dropped a few dollars at Amazon to pick up the other two books in the trilogy, but I am hoping I can make myself wait to read them. I still have some other books to finish. Which, now that I think about it, is another way my reading habits have really changed over the last few years. Outside of school, which I don't really think counts for leisure reading, I have never been one to read more than one book at once. This past week I had three going. That's more than a little bit insane to me. Still, a good story is a good story, right?
Do you have any weird reading habits? Have you noticed yours changing over the years as life presents you with new and differing circumstances? What books have you picked up and just not been able to put down?
I can't help but wonder how my habits will change further over the next few years. As my daughter gets older, will I be able to revert back to my old reading habits a little bit more? Will I start juggling even more books as I try to pre-read anything she wants to get her hands on to make sure it is appropriate? Hmm...I definitely look forward to seeing where this road I am on takes me to next, that's for sure!
In the meantime, well, today I get to take myself out for a lunchtime movie date. Guess what I am going to see?
Showing posts with label Amazon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amazon. Show all posts
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Another Post About SWTOR??
Why yes. Yes it is.
Well, it's officially launched. Whoo! I've been having fun exploring and leveling up and questing and such. Now I am about to be without access to the game until next week while I am out of town for the holiday. Should give all those latecomers a chance to catch up to (and probably surpass) me by the time I get back. Sigh.
Oh well. It's not like I am actually playing this as a competition anyway. I really really am digging the story and I want to play through and see how it pans out.
The social aspect is starting to grow on me. A little. I have already gotten in the habit of keeping my eye on the chat window while I play. I have learned how to sort out the general discussion from private chats with my friend or with my group. I actually have been seeking out groups, too. I am kind of proud of myself for that. When I did the first Heroic Area on my class homeworld (these are short quests where you are encouraged not to go alone--basically you have to fight your way through a slew of baddies to get to your objective), I actually hopped onto the general chat to see if anyone was interested in joining me. Ended up with two buddies and we sliced through it pretty quickly. It was surprisingly fun.
I really like how the loot and conversation options work with a group, too. With loot, if a fallen foe just has credits, then it's first come first serve, or sometimes the loot signal will only come up if you personally killed the guy. But if there's an item, everyone in the group gets a choice between "need" or "greed," and the game rolls for it for you, with the highest group member winning the item. If you select "need" then it is more likely to go to you (I guess it weights the "dice" or something), but if everyone chooses "greed" then it's a fair roll and everyone's got an equal chance. I was a little confused by this at first. I thought maybe those two would have been reversed (with "greed" meaning "I want it now" and "need" meaning "Give it to whichever member needs it more"). With conversations, when you get to a dialogue option, every group member makes a choice and again the game rolls for it, with the highest roll's choice getting played out. That means that in a conversation, usually each group member's avatar gets a chance to speak up, which is nice. If you want to make sure that there are no unpleasant surprises in how the conversation turns out, you can just hop on the group chat and make sure everyone is on the same page with which dialogue options to choose.
There are still a few drawbacks, of course. When I did my first attempt at the game's first Flashpoint, I found a pretty decent group fairly quickly. We got about two-thirds of the way through, however, and I managed to run my avatar off the edge of a random bottomless pit (in the middle of a spaceship! the Star Wars universe is randomly fond of bottomless shafts and pits in spaceships and stations). After a loading screen, I was at the start of the area again, but it took me a few minutes to figure that out. Then, my computer when kind of nuts and I couldn't get my character to move or get my chat to work. By the time I did, and was moving toward my group again and able to message them, they had already been waiting and the group leader had booted me from the group, thinking I had buggered off. I mean, I don't really blame them, but it was incredibly frustrating and annoying. I felt kind of like a loser. When next I logged in to try that Flashpoint again, there wasn't anyone around who was up for trying that particular mission. Which didn't help with the feeling like a loser bit. Still, the third time was the charm, and I was able to find another group the next day and get through it all. I have also now learned how dying works in Flashpoints, as well as what to do when my avatar freezes up like that. So, learning experience.
I actually ended up joining a guild that is focusing on leveling and Flashpoints. They are friendly to noobs, and hopefully that will make it easier to find buddies when I need help with a mission. Also, will hopefully give me less of a chance to make an utter fool of myself, because I can just ask. I was kind of amused when the guy who recruited me sent a welcome comment and then added to just let him or a few of the other guild leaders know if anyone in the game is bothering or bullying me. I mean, grown woman, mother and all over here. Still, it's nice to know someone has my back.
So, yeah, I am having a ton of fun so far, more than I was hoping for, I'll be honest. I am really looking forward to continuing the journey.
Now, just because, have a whole bunch of screen shots!
Even though the game didn't officially launch until Tuesday, Amazon went above and beyond making sure that everyone got their physical copies in time for the launch. Mine came last Friday, and it is pretty spectacular.
So yeah, that's what's been going on over here. Expect to hear more for a while folks. Anyone else out there playing? Or hoping Santa brings them a copy?
Well, it's officially launched. Whoo! I've been having fun exploring and leveling up and questing and such. Now I am about to be without access to the game until next week while I am out of town for the holiday. Should give all those latecomers a chance to catch up to (and probably surpass) me by the time I get back. Sigh.
Oh well. It's not like I am actually playing this as a competition anyway. I really really am digging the story and I want to play through and see how it pans out.
The social aspect is starting to grow on me. A little. I have already gotten in the habit of keeping my eye on the chat window while I play. I have learned how to sort out the general discussion from private chats with my friend or with my group. I actually have been seeking out groups, too. I am kind of proud of myself for that. When I did the first Heroic Area on my class homeworld (these are short quests where you are encouraged not to go alone--basically you have to fight your way through a slew of baddies to get to your objective), I actually hopped onto the general chat to see if anyone was interested in joining me. Ended up with two buddies and we sliced through it pretty quickly. It was surprisingly fun.
I really like how the loot and conversation options work with a group, too. With loot, if a fallen foe just has credits, then it's first come first serve, or sometimes the loot signal will only come up if you personally killed the guy. But if there's an item, everyone in the group gets a choice between "need" or "greed," and the game rolls for it for you, with the highest group member winning the item. If you select "need" then it is more likely to go to you (I guess it weights the "dice" or something), but if everyone chooses "greed" then it's a fair roll and everyone's got an equal chance. I was a little confused by this at first. I thought maybe those two would have been reversed (with "greed" meaning "I want it now" and "need" meaning "Give it to whichever member needs it more"). With conversations, when you get to a dialogue option, every group member makes a choice and again the game rolls for it, with the highest roll's choice getting played out. That means that in a conversation, usually each group member's avatar gets a chance to speak up, which is nice. If you want to make sure that there are no unpleasant surprises in how the conversation turns out, you can just hop on the group chat and make sure everyone is on the same page with which dialogue options to choose.
There are still a few drawbacks, of course. When I did my first attempt at the game's first Flashpoint, I found a pretty decent group fairly quickly. We got about two-thirds of the way through, however, and I managed to run my avatar off the edge of a random bottomless pit (in the middle of a spaceship! the Star Wars universe is randomly fond of bottomless shafts and pits in spaceships and stations). After a loading screen, I was at the start of the area again, but it took me a few minutes to figure that out. Then, my computer when kind of nuts and I couldn't get my character to move or get my chat to work. By the time I did, and was moving toward my group again and able to message them, they had already been waiting and the group leader had booted me from the group, thinking I had buggered off. I mean, I don't really blame them, but it was incredibly frustrating and annoying. I felt kind of like a loser. When next I logged in to try that Flashpoint again, there wasn't anyone around who was up for trying that particular mission. Which didn't help with the feeling like a loser bit. Still, the third time was the charm, and I was able to find another group the next day and get through it all. I have also now learned how dying works in Flashpoints, as well as what to do when my avatar freezes up like that. So, learning experience.
I actually ended up joining a guild that is focusing on leveling and Flashpoints. They are friendly to noobs, and hopefully that will make it easier to find buddies when I need help with a mission. Also, will hopefully give me less of a chance to make an utter fool of myself, because I can just ask. I was kind of amused when the guy who recruited me sent a welcome comment and then added to just let him or a few of the other guild leaders know if anyone in the game is bothering or bullying me. I mean, grown woman, mother and all over here. Still, it's nice to know someone has my back.
So, yeah, I am having a ton of fun so far, more than I was hoping for, I'll be honest. I am really looking forward to continuing the journey.
Now, just because, have a whole bunch of screen shots!
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| Is it just me or do the Flesh Raider Boneguards look a wee bit familiar? |
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| Crafting my lightsaber! |
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| Heck yes! |
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| I have the power! Wait...wrong franchise. |
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| Group combat. |
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| Two lightsabers, baby, heck yes! |
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| Tearing it up... |
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| Meeting up with a real-world friend in-game, yay! Aw, T-7 party! |
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| Just chillin' in my speeder. |
Even though the game didn't officially launch until Tuesday, Amazon went above and beyond making sure that everyone got their physical copies in time for the launch. Mine came last Friday, and it is pretty spectacular.
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| Next to Baby Girl so you get an idea of scale. |
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| The loot: A cool book, security key, the soundtrack, a map of the galaxy, and of course, the game itself. |
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| Also included a pretty awesome Darth Malgus statue. |
So yeah, that's what's been going on over here. Expect to hear more for a while folks. Anyone else out there playing? Or hoping Santa brings them a copy?
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Bonus Post! Star Wars: The Old Republic Early Access
As an incentive to pre-order the game, Bioware decided to offer early access to anyone who did. The early access start time was determined by when you registered your pre-order code on the SWTOR site. The first announcement about when early access would begin had it starting tomorrow, but someone at Bioware decided to push it up and it actually started yesterday. Given that I had Amazon set to alert me as soon as the game was available to order, and that I also have been paying close attention to the game's website and Facebook page, well, you know I ordered this game about the second it was available. Also, I registered my pre-order code as soon as I got my order confirmation email.
So it is no surprise that yesterday I was in one of the very first waves granted early game access. Even though I am in the middle of a playthrough of Dragon Age II, I scrapped all of my other gaming plans yesterday to fire up SWTOR as soon as I could. I might have even gone ahead and created my character (yeah, they didn't let us keep our beta characters, it's okay though, I had already decided to start over) and played through all of the opening cut scenes in the morning while my daughter watched Sesame Street.
I have a confession to make. After I wrote up my post about the beta weekend, I had a brief exchange with a friend that almost made me cancel my pre-order then and there. A lot of the factors related to this being an MMO are still making me hesitant about the game. I had a lot of soul-searching debates with myself, but in the end, I realized I am just too excited to try this thing out to give up before it even gets started. At the very least, I want to experience the story at least once. Also, it is good for me to try new things and to put myself a little bit outside of my comfort level, dagnabit.
So, I fired up the game yesterday and I have to say, I am feeling much much better about it already. Many of my complaints from the beta seem to be non-issues anymore. Part of this is that I was expecting them or have gotten used to them, part of this is stuff that was changed between then and now.
I have already made it to level seven and am doing much better financially in-game, and with keeping my equipment repaired and my character leveled, than I was the last time around. Knowing I can afford to level up and that my weapon and armor won't go kaput before a boss fight makes playing a lot more enjoyable. I do still find the battle engine pretty clumsy but that might just be my own personal preferences getting in the way there.
I still suspect I might only play through once--I have no real desire to play any of the other classes. I want to be a Jedi Knight Sentinel because I want to be a Jedi and I want to have two lightsabers. I think those things are pretty self-explanatory, really. Although, it did occur to me last night, that the game allows for your light side character to go dark. If it also allows for your dark side character to go light, that sure might be a fun way to play...
Also, I am not gonna cease to be amused by this particular side quest, ever:
Anyhoo, all of this is just to say that I am actually really having more fun with this game already than I had expected, which is a huge relief. I have also been leaving the general chat window open so that I can follow along with the player conversations and get a feel for the people on my server for when I do need to find a group and my buddy isn't available.
I did decide not to do the extra blog about the game though, but I will of course likely blog about it oodles over here.
There's still time to pre-order the game if you're interested, or it comes out next Tuesday if you feel like braving your local video game shop. I've got my server and character name up over there on the side of the page for anyone who is playing and wants to look me up!
So it is no surprise that yesterday I was in one of the very first waves granted early game access. Even though I am in the middle of a playthrough of Dragon Age II, I scrapped all of my other gaming plans yesterday to fire up SWTOR as soon as I could. I might have even gone ahead and created my character (yeah, they didn't let us keep our beta characters, it's okay though, I had already decided to start over) and played through all of the opening cut scenes in the morning while my daughter watched Sesame Street.
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| My new character, Skirata. |
I have a confession to make. After I wrote up my post about the beta weekend, I had a brief exchange with a friend that almost made me cancel my pre-order then and there. A lot of the factors related to this being an MMO are still making me hesitant about the game. I had a lot of soul-searching debates with myself, but in the end, I realized I am just too excited to try this thing out to give up before it even gets started. At the very least, I want to experience the story at least once. Also, it is good for me to try new things and to put myself a little bit outside of my comfort level, dagnabit.
So, I fired up the game yesterday and I have to say, I am feeling much much better about it already. Many of my complaints from the beta seem to be non-issues anymore. Part of this is that I was expecting them or have gotten used to them, part of this is stuff that was changed between then and now.
I have already made it to level seven and am doing much better financially in-game, and with keeping my equipment repaired and my character leveled, than I was the last time around. Knowing I can afford to level up and that my weapon and armor won't go kaput before a boss fight makes playing a lot more enjoyable. I do still find the battle engine pretty clumsy but that might just be my own personal preferences getting in the way there.
I still suspect I might only play through once--I have no real desire to play any of the other classes. I want to be a Jedi Knight Sentinel because I want to be a Jedi and I want to have two lightsabers. I think those things are pretty self-explanatory, really. Although, it did occur to me last night, that the game allows for your light side character to go dark. If it also allows for your dark side character to go light, that sure might be a fun way to play...
Also, I am not gonna cease to be amused by this particular side quest, ever:
 |
| Why yes, that quest title is "Flesh Eating Baby" and there is in fact a Flesh Raider Baby in my backpack. |
Anyhoo, all of this is just to say that I am actually really having more fun with this game already than I had expected, which is a huge relief. I have also been leaving the general chat window open so that I can follow along with the player conversations and get a feel for the people on my server for when I do need to find a group and my buddy isn't available.
I did decide not to do the extra blog about the game though, but I will of course likely blog about it oodles over here.
There's still time to pre-order the game if you're interested, or it comes out next Tuesday if you feel like braving your local video game shop. I've got my server and character name up over there on the side of the page for anyone who is playing and wants to look me up!
Friday, July 22, 2011
Bonus Post: Star Wars The Old Republic!!!!!!!!!
San Diego Comicon is underway, and in conjunction with that, Bioware has finally launched the pre-orders for Star Wars The Old Republic (SWTOR), the MMORPG that follows from previous RPGs Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic and Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords.
I have already mentioned more than once how much I am looking forward to this game. I am sure you can imagine the squee of fangirlish delight I let out when I got that email yesterday morning from SWTORs website letting me know pre-orders had opened. I did not hesitate, I jumped right to their site and hit the big PRE-ORDER button looming on the page. I love how it is set up because form the SWTOR site you can pick the store from which you actually want to purchase your game, and it gives you links that take you straight to that ordering page. So I chose Amazon and headed on over to place my order for the super duper deluxe collector's edition. *grin*
It's a good thing I didn't wait, too. Pre-ordering the game gets you early access to it so there are only a limited number of pre-order copies available for each edition. By yesterday afternoon Amazon was saying that the collector's edition was already unavailable. Though I note that it is available again already. I get the impression a lot of retailers weren't quite ready for the rush of eager fans wanting to secure their copy of the game! If you have any interest in the game, I highly recommend going the pre-order route. You can buy online or through physical stores, whatever your preference. There are some pretty decent incentives for ordering early.
The game is set to ship on December 31, and all copies include 30 days of free game time. No word yet on the monthly subscription rates to keep playing. One of my friends in St. Louis is equally excited and is already talking about getting our guild together!
At Comicon, Bioware also released a new trailer for the game and it just got me excited all over again. Check it out, see if it doesn't make the fanboy/girl in you squee just a little.
This news by itself has almost been enough to make me stop wishing I was in San Diego this weekend.
Almost...
I have already mentioned more than once how much I am looking forward to this game. I am sure you can imagine the squee of fangirlish delight I let out when I got that email yesterday morning from SWTORs website letting me know pre-orders had opened. I did not hesitate, I jumped right to their site and hit the big PRE-ORDER button looming on the page. I love how it is set up because form the SWTOR site you can pick the store from which you actually want to purchase your game, and it gives you links that take you straight to that ordering page. So I chose Amazon and headed on over to place my order for the super duper deluxe collector's edition. *grin*
It's a good thing I didn't wait, too. Pre-ordering the game gets you early access to it so there are only a limited number of pre-order copies available for each edition. By yesterday afternoon Amazon was saying that the collector's edition was already unavailable. Though I note that it is available again already. I get the impression a lot of retailers weren't quite ready for the rush of eager fans wanting to secure their copy of the game! If you have any interest in the game, I highly recommend going the pre-order route. You can buy online or through physical stores, whatever your preference. There are some pretty decent incentives for ordering early.
The game is set to ship on December 31, and all copies include 30 days of free game time. No word yet on the monthly subscription rates to keep playing. One of my friends in St. Louis is equally excited and is already talking about getting our guild together!
At Comicon, Bioware also released a new trailer for the game and it just got me excited all over again. Check it out, see if it doesn't make the fanboy/girl in you squee just a little.
This news by itself has almost been enough to make me stop wishing I was in San Diego this weekend.
Almost...
Thursday, June 30, 2011
My Desk Just Got A Little Bit More Awesome
Some time last frickin' year I found out that two series of collector figures had been announced for the video game Mass Effect 2. The second series, set to come out sometime around December I think, I can't even remember now, was going to feature everyone's favorite Turian, Garrus Vakarian. Garrus!!!
You may recall that Garrus was the NPC I romanced in my playthrough of the game. Because he is awesome. Also, because as it turns out, that romance was hilarious. So, naturally you can imagine my delight to learn I could soon have my very own action figure toplay with adorn my desk. You can bet I preordered that sucker right away. I also preordered the Krogan companion from the second game, Grunt, which was to be released as part of the first action figure series. That group was supposed to come out sometime around August or September I believe.
Then things got hinky. I don't know if the hold up was on DC Unlimited's end or on Bioware's, but release of Grunt and Garrus got pushed back to January and May of this year, respectively. January came and went with no sign of my Grunt action figure and at some point I received a notification that my Garrus order had been canceled because that item was no longer going to be available. Grr. Contacting the seller from which I had ordered Grunt, I learned that it was still scheduled to be released but there was no telling when exactly. I ended up canceling that order, because, well, like I said, things were hinky.
But some time in the last few months, DC Unlimited finally released the first series of Mass Effect 2 figures. My husband is playing through the game at the moment, and it has been getting me excited about Mass Effect all over again. So I finally caved in and went ahead and ordered my Grunt from Amazon last week.
He came yesterday.
He is AWESOME.
So now I have a new guardian for my mishmash of a desk. He goes nicely with the random assorted Lego sets (an Indiana Jones minifig courtesy of my nephew and Darth Vader on a T.I.E. fighter), several Wall-E toys, an R2-D2, and a plastic stegosaurus.
I mean, Wrex, the Krogan from the first game, was pretty awesome. But he had nothing on his younger counterpart who, as the back of the packaging says, lacks the bitterness of other members of his species.
Speaking of the packaging. That was kind of amusing in a WTF sort of way all on its own.
I know it is hard to make out, but those little blurbs in the middle are descriptions of each character available in the first series. The descriptions for Thane and Grunt are hard to argue with, but the one for Tali starts off, "Petite, almost perky...." as if that has anything to do whatsoever with her character. Well, maybe the perky thing, but, I don't think that actually applies to Tali. I guess if we're judging by the standards of other Quarians? Also, don't get me started on the fact that they released a figure for the stock male Shepard only. I guess the vast majority of people who play these games don't bother to mess with the character creator and are therefore satisfied with a figure of the most boring version of Shepard possible. Whatever. (I also assume that this confirms Canon!Shepard as male. Also boring.)
Also, you can just barely see it in the photo, but at the bottom right corner is an add for the 2011 Mass Effect 2 calendar, due out "this September," presumably indicating that all of the packaging for this series was printed up well before September 2010, and yet, the figures weren't released until when? I don't get the comic book industry folks. I really don't. If the rest of the world (even the creative parts--think television productions) ran on the kind of schedule the comics industry did...man, we would be screwed.
Sadly, it appears that the second series of figures has been permanently canceled, which is a complete bummer. But I'll satisfy myself hanging out with Grunt and keep my fingers crossed that maybe someone can be more on the ball when Mass Effect 3 comes out, and that maybe, just maybe, I can still get my Garrus after all...
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| That'd be Garrus there on the left. |
You may recall that Garrus was the NPC I romanced in my playthrough of the game. Because he is awesome. Also, because as it turns out, that romance was hilarious. So, naturally you can imagine my delight to learn I could soon have my very own action figure to
Then things got hinky. I don't know if the hold up was on DC Unlimited's end or on Bioware's, but release of Grunt and Garrus got pushed back to January and May of this year, respectively. January came and went with no sign of my Grunt action figure and at some point I received a notification that my Garrus order had been canceled because that item was no longer going to be available. Grr. Contacting the seller from which I had ordered Grunt, I learned that it was still scheduled to be released but there was no telling when exactly. I ended up canceling that order, because, well, like I said, things were hinky.
But some time in the last few months, DC Unlimited finally released the first series of Mass Effect 2 figures. My husband is playing through the game at the moment, and it has been getting me excited about Mass Effect all over again. So I finally caved in and went ahead and ordered my Grunt from Amazon last week.
He came yesterday.
He is AWESOME.
 |
| Here he is, in all of his packaged glory. |
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| Behold Grunt! Mighty Krogan warrior. Don't piss him off. |
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| No, seriously, don't piss him off, the safety is most definitely not on. |
So now I have a new guardian for my mishmash of a desk. He goes nicely with the random assorted Lego sets (an Indiana Jones minifig courtesy of my nephew and Darth Vader on a T.I.E. fighter), several Wall-E toys, an R2-D2, and a plastic stegosaurus.
I mean, Wrex, the Krogan from the first game, was pretty awesome. But he had nothing on his younger counterpart who, as the back of the packaging says, lacks the bitterness of other members of his species.
Speaking of the packaging. That was kind of amusing in a WTF sort of way all on its own.
I know it is hard to make out, but those little blurbs in the middle are descriptions of each character available in the first series. The descriptions for Thane and Grunt are hard to argue with, but the one for Tali starts off, "Petite, almost perky...." as if that has anything to do whatsoever with her character. Well, maybe the perky thing, but, I don't think that actually applies to Tali. I guess if we're judging by the standards of other Quarians? Also, don't get me started on the fact that they released a figure for the stock male Shepard only. I guess the vast majority of people who play these games don't bother to mess with the character creator and are therefore satisfied with a figure of the most boring version of Shepard possible. Whatever. (I also assume that this confirms Canon!Shepard as male. Also boring.)
Also, you can just barely see it in the photo, but at the bottom right corner is an add for the 2011 Mass Effect 2 calendar, due out "this September," presumably indicating that all of the packaging for this series was printed up well before September 2010, and yet, the figures weren't released until when? I don't get the comic book industry folks. I really don't. If the rest of the world (even the creative parts--think television productions) ran on the kind of schedule the comics industry did...man, we would be screwed.
Sadly, it appears that the second series of figures has been permanently canceled, which is a complete bummer. But I'll satisfy myself hanging out with Grunt and keep my fingers crossed that maybe someone can be more on the ball when Mass Effect 3 comes out, and that maybe, just maybe, I can still get my Garrus after all...
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Stargate Tuesday: Blockade
"Holy crap, we dialed Pittsburgh."
(Spoilers ahead.)
Damn. Those pesky drones are at it again. What kind of people design killer robots and forget to program an automatic "off" command for when the job is done, huh?
Last night's episode, the next to last for the series (*sob*), showed us that the drones have realized that the crew of Destiny is on to them. In last week's episode Rush and Eli realized that the drones were using the ship's stargate dial-outs to follow them. So the crew has stopped using the stargates. Those drones are really pissed that something so technologically advanced as Destiny managed to escape them. They are determined to finish the job.
So, since the crew is no longer using the stargates, the drones have set up a blockade around every star of the class that the ship uses to refuel itself. This leaves the crew pretty much screwed. Eli gets the idea (dubbed "crazy times a thousand" by Volker) to try charging up using a super-hot dwarf star. The idea is that because the ship is programmed to avoid a star with such extreme levels of heat, the drones won't be anticipating the crew to head for a star like that and therefore won't have it blockaded.
The crew will have to evacuate through the stargate for the duration of the recharge because even though Destiny's shields can withstand that kind of heat, it will still get too hot inside the ship for any humans to survive. Rush and Eli convince Young that the risk of using the stargate should be justified because with the drones spread out at all of the nearby stars, it will take them a while to get to whatever planet the crew gates to, and "a while" should definitely be less time than it takes the ship to recharge, get everyone back on board, and bug out.
Eli and Rush volunteer to stay behind to manually pilot the ship through the charge--wearing the Ancient space suits that were found on the ship. Those suits should be able to withstand the extreme temperatures.
Everything seems to go pretty smoothly at the outset. They drop out of hyperspace with only one gate in range and a kino sent ahead shows that the planet was at one time populated (most likely by an offshoot group of the alternate Destiny's descendants) but it is now abandoned. Exploring the abandoned city will give the crew something to do while they wait for the ship to top off its tank.
Park decides at the last minute to stay behind and use the third suit to try to salvage some of the hybrid plants in the hydroponics lab. She believes that some of them have medicinal value and might be instrumental in helping to cure T.J.'s as yet undeveloped ALS. Everything they have already grown will unfortunately be lost when the ship gets roasted and she fears that they may never come across some of those plants again.
So while they approach the star, she and Eli work on harvesting what they can. Rush calls Eli down to the pre-bridge control room (apparently safer than the bridge during this process) and Park is left alone. I felt a grave sense of foreboding at this and vowed to my television that if they killed off Park I was gonna be pissed. I mean, there's only one more episode to go, I will be amazed if they don't start killing people. Just please, not Park!
Sure enough before Park finishes gathering all of her plants the ship seals off the hydroponics lab and neither Eli nor Rush can override it. Eli starts to head down to the lab to try to force the doors open from there but Rush stops him. He tells Park that as long as she is in her suit and gets in the water tank in the lab, she should be safe enough during the whole process. Yeah, okay, sure. Grr, Rush. But they are running out of time before they hit the star and Rush is convincing enough that Eli and Park agree to the plan, if hesitantly.
The charging goes pretty much as planned, but of course all hell breaks loose in hydroponics. Everything is on fire around Park as she climbs into the water, and I find myself wondering what good that is going to do her. If it is really that hot, won't the water boil (it does) and then evaporate (maybe, we didn't get to see that part)? I started to get really apprehensive and mad. Then we see the glass dome of the lab blow out, and Park scrabbles to hold on as the lab decompresses just before the ship finishes charging.
Thankfully, she managed to get herself to the door and is holding on tight. Eli rushes straight there once they are out of the star and is able to pull her back in, though she can't see anymore. Rush believes (or at least says he believes) that the condition will be temporary. Fingers crossed.
Meanwhile, on the planet, Young and Wray decide it will be a good idea to search the abandoned city to see if they can salvage any supplies and/or find out what happened to the original inhabitants. Greer is hoping for a gun store. T.J. wants to find a pharmacy, and Wray is hoping for a new outfit (barring a grocery store).
Greer is, sadly, disappointed in his quest for a gun store, but Young finds a dry cleaners (yay, new clothes for a whole episode!) and T.J. manages to find a pharmacy. They also find drones. Turns out the original inhabitants were wiped out by those pesky machines. Which makes me wonder who was actually responsible for creating them in the first place...
There is some frantic hiding and trying to avoid the drones, and Dr. Jerkface (I learned last night his name is Morrison) freaks out and tries to dial the gate. James breaks his nose knocking him out (good for her) but the damage is done. The drones head for the warehouse holding the gate and the search parties race to beat them there. Luckily Varro thought to bring along a rocket launcher (yay Varro!) and he takes out the drone that makes it to the warehouse (Young, Scott, and Greer accounted for the other one). Unluckily, the activation of the gate brought a command ship down right on top of them. Young decides to risk dialing back into Destiny a few minutes early and they manage to make it back.
Overall the mission was successful, the only injuries Morrison and Park. There wasn't a whole lot of character-building this time out, but it was still a pretty solid and straightforward episode. I feel like it was mostly set-up for next week, but it was really really well-done set-up.
Rush did admit to Young that he kept going over Eli's calculations looking for errors but was amazed he didn't find any. It was such a backhanded compliment I'm surprised Young didn't smack him for it. But you can't have all of the jerks taken down in one episode, I guess.
I did love Volker's little quips throughout the episode. Clearly he is trying to find hope in an increasingly dire situation, and I love him for that. Also, he and Greer seem to be turning into buddies and I really enjoy the pairing--which has an added measure of interesting because of how they both feel about Park. That is one scenario I would really be interested to see play out, but alas.
Well, next week is it folks. Looks like it is gonna be a doozy. The Powers That Be Have already admitted it will be a cliffhanger, which blows, because I have a lot of questions I know will not be answered. Still, I am looking forward to the final outing of this show. Check back next week to find out how it went.
As an added bonus, the full season will be out on DVD (none of this ridiculous half-season nonsense this time around) on May 31. Talk about turnaround. I think ol' Skiffy may be trying to get this shoved out the door and off their minds as soon as possible. Idiots.* Still, DVDs! You can preorder at Amazon here.
*Okay, okay, that wasn't very nice. I shouldn't have said that. I am sure not everyone at Syfy is an idiot. But it does feel like they are treating a long-standing and well-liked franchise a little bit like a guest that has overstayed its welcome. As if they want to get it out of the house so their new BFF (*cough*wrestling*cough*) doesn't find out about their past relationship or something. It's, um, well, it's a bit frustrating to be honest. Sigh. But I am not a television executive. What do I know, right?
(Spoilers ahead.)
Damn. Those pesky drones are at it again. What kind of people design killer robots and forget to program an automatic "off" command for when the job is done, huh?
Last night's episode, the next to last for the series (*sob*), showed us that the drones have realized that the crew of Destiny is on to them. In last week's episode Rush and Eli realized that the drones were using the ship's stargate dial-outs to follow them. So the crew has stopped using the stargates. Those drones are really pissed that something so technologically advanced as Destiny managed to escape them. They are determined to finish the job.
So, since the crew is no longer using the stargates, the drones have set up a blockade around every star of the class that the ship uses to refuel itself. This leaves the crew pretty much screwed. Eli gets the idea (dubbed "crazy times a thousand" by Volker) to try charging up using a super-hot dwarf star. The idea is that because the ship is programmed to avoid a star with such extreme levels of heat, the drones won't be anticipating the crew to head for a star like that and therefore won't have it blockaded.
The crew will have to evacuate through the stargate for the duration of the recharge because even though Destiny's shields can withstand that kind of heat, it will still get too hot inside the ship for any humans to survive. Rush and Eli convince Young that the risk of using the stargate should be justified because with the drones spread out at all of the nearby stars, it will take them a while to get to whatever planet the crew gates to, and "a while" should definitely be less time than it takes the ship to recharge, get everyone back on board, and bug out.
Eli and Rush volunteer to stay behind to manually pilot the ship through the charge--wearing the Ancient space suits that were found on the ship. Those suits should be able to withstand the extreme temperatures.
Everything seems to go pretty smoothly at the outset. They drop out of hyperspace with only one gate in range and a kino sent ahead shows that the planet was at one time populated (most likely by an offshoot group of the alternate Destiny's descendants) but it is now abandoned. Exploring the abandoned city will give the crew something to do while they wait for the ship to top off its tank.
Park decides at the last minute to stay behind and use the third suit to try to salvage some of the hybrid plants in the hydroponics lab. She believes that some of them have medicinal value and might be instrumental in helping to cure T.J.'s as yet undeveloped ALS. Everything they have already grown will unfortunately be lost when the ship gets roasted and she fears that they may never come across some of those plants again.
So while they approach the star, she and Eli work on harvesting what they can. Rush calls Eli down to the pre-bridge control room (apparently safer than the bridge during this process) and Park is left alone. I felt a grave sense of foreboding at this and vowed to my television that if they killed off Park I was gonna be pissed. I mean, there's only one more episode to go, I will be amazed if they don't start killing people. Just please, not Park!
Sure enough before Park finishes gathering all of her plants the ship seals off the hydroponics lab and neither Eli nor Rush can override it. Eli starts to head down to the lab to try to force the doors open from there but Rush stops him. He tells Park that as long as she is in her suit and gets in the water tank in the lab, she should be safe enough during the whole process. Yeah, okay, sure. Grr, Rush. But they are running out of time before they hit the star and Rush is convincing enough that Eli and Park agree to the plan, if hesitantly.
The charging goes pretty much as planned, but of course all hell breaks loose in hydroponics. Everything is on fire around Park as she climbs into the water, and I find myself wondering what good that is going to do her. If it is really that hot, won't the water boil (it does) and then evaporate (maybe, we didn't get to see that part)? I started to get really apprehensive and mad. Then we see the glass dome of the lab blow out, and Park scrabbles to hold on as the lab decompresses just before the ship finishes charging.
Thankfully, she managed to get herself to the door and is holding on tight. Eli rushes straight there once they are out of the star and is able to pull her back in, though she can't see anymore. Rush believes (or at least says he believes) that the condition will be temporary. Fingers crossed.
Meanwhile, on the planet, Young and Wray decide it will be a good idea to search the abandoned city to see if they can salvage any supplies and/or find out what happened to the original inhabitants. Greer is hoping for a gun store. T.J. wants to find a pharmacy, and Wray is hoping for a new outfit (barring a grocery store).
Greer is, sadly, disappointed in his quest for a gun store, but Young finds a dry cleaners (yay, new clothes for a whole episode!) and T.J. manages to find a pharmacy. They also find drones. Turns out the original inhabitants were wiped out by those pesky machines. Which makes me wonder who was actually responsible for creating them in the first place...
There is some frantic hiding and trying to avoid the drones, and Dr. Jerkface (I learned last night his name is Morrison) freaks out and tries to dial the gate. James breaks his nose knocking him out (good for her) but the damage is done. The drones head for the warehouse holding the gate and the search parties race to beat them there. Luckily Varro thought to bring along a rocket launcher (yay Varro!) and he takes out the drone that makes it to the warehouse (Young, Scott, and Greer accounted for the other one). Unluckily, the activation of the gate brought a command ship down right on top of them. Young decides to risk dialing back into Destiny a few minutes early and they manage to make it back.
Overall the mission was successful, the only injuries Morrison and Park. There wasn't a whole lot of character-building this time out, but it was still a pretty solid and straightforward episode. I feel like it was mostly set-up for next week, but it was really really well-done set-up.
Rush did admit to Young that he kept going over Eli's calculations looking for errors but was amazed he didn't find any. It was such a backhanded compliment I'm surprised Young didn't smack him for it. But you can't have all of the jerks taken down in one episode, I guess.
I did love Volker's little quips throughout the episode. Clearly he is trying to find hope in an increasingly dire situation, and I love him for that. Also, he and Greer seem to be turning into buddies and I really enjoy the pairing--which has an added measure of interesting because of how they both feel about Park. That is one scenario I would really be interested to see play out, but alas.
Well, next week is it folks. Looks like it is gonna be a doozy. The Powers That Be Have already admitted it will be a cliffhanger, which blows, because I have a lot of questions I know will not be answered. Still, I am looking forward to the final outing of this show. Check back next week to find out how it went.
As an added bonus, the full season will be out on DVD (none of this ridiculous half-season nonsense this time around) on May 31. Talk about turnaround. I think ol' Skiffy may be trying to get this shoved out the door and off their minds as soon as possible. Idiots.* Still, DVDs! You can preorder at Amazon here.
*Okay, okay, that wasn't very nice. I shouldn't have said that. I am sure not everyone at Syfy is an idiot. But it does feel like they are treating a long-standing and well-liked franchise a little bit like a guest that has overstayed its welcome. As if they want to get it out of the house so their new BFF (*cough*wrestling*cough*) doesn't find out about their past relationship or something. It's, um, well, it's a bit frustrating to be honest. Sigh. But I am not a television executive. What do I know, right?
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Consider Mine Captured
So I officially gave up on The Force Unleashed over the weekend. Not permanently, mind you, but at least for the time being. Here's the thing. Apparently, the game was originally designed for consoles (think Playstation, XBox, Wii, etc.) and not for PC. But the company that made it wanted to cash in on us PC fans as well and so "ported" the original version into a more PC-friendly format.
I was not actually aware until recently (until I started reading up on on the forthcoming Dragon Age II, in fact) that this is actually a really complicated process. Designing a game for one platform (console or PC) creates all sorts of challenges when making a version for the other platform. Apparently this is the largest reason why there is usually a lag between the release of video games on the original platform and the release of the same game for the other platform. The creators have to decide if it is worth it to go through the trouble to update/change the game play mechanics required to release in the secondary format. This is why it is a huge deal that Bioware is releasing Dragon Age II across all platforms at the same time. There was a lot of work that went into making sure the game play experience was workable across consoles and PCs alike.
The Force Unleashed is a good example of how this complicated process can sometimes go wrong. To use the Force in the game on the PC version, you need to use a combination of keyboard keys and mouse buttons/movements. Most of the moves in the game require a specific series of buttons/keys be pressed in a specific sequence with just the right timing. I think overall the designers did a good job of making this work with a mouse and a keyboard, as opposed to with a singular game controller. But there is one spot where this seems to have failed spectacularly, and that is where I got stuck. Pulling down a star destroyer with the Force is a multi-step process that requires you to be very quick and and to be constantly moving your mouse in addition to pressing buttons and keys. This is rather a challenge when you think about how much room the average computer mouse has to maneuver in. You can only push it up so far before you have to pick it up and move it down to the bottom of your desk and start pushing up again. Unfortunately, this kind of screws up what you are trying to do in the game. Apparently, it is even worse if you have a trackball mouse, which, of course, I have.
So, basically, I have the worst possible computer set up of the PC version of the game, which is at a disadvantage already because this specific move (which is required to move forward in the game) really wasn't designed with a mouse in mind, and wasn't ported very well from console to PC. I spent a goodly amount of time on help-sites and walkthroughs and forums, and tried the tricks and tips they all suggested, but I still could not get that star destroyer out of the sky after multiple attempts. I tried using a different mouse, one without the trackball, but then I ran into the space issue. At this point, I am pretty sure it boils down to two things: I did not level up my character's Force abilities in the best configuration to get past this part quickly, and I am not quick enough to take down the waves of TIE Fighters in between attempts to pull the thing down (allowing it to move out of the required position, which means I waste time repositioning it when I could be pulling it down). To me, this says I just need to start over again and be more conscious of how I level up the next time around. I am going to do that, yes. But not right now. I don't think my hand will forgive me if I were to try.
For now, I am just going to put The Force Unleashed back onto the shelf and move on to the next thing. The next thing being all of the downloadable content for Dragon Age: Origins. Bioware recently(ish) released an "ultimate" edition of the game that included the original game, the expansion pack, and all of the downloadable content. This edition actually cost less than it would cost to purchase all of the DLC separately, and then my husband found it on sale, so he went ahead and bought it a little while ago.
Monday afternoon I decided to break it out, eager to play Witch Hunt, a follow-up adventure to the original game. After about an hour and a half spent wrestling with the game--which was telling me that all of the DLC was installed on my computer but unauthorized (It seems that there was some sort of glitch in the install script of the downloadable digital versions, which included ours since we bought it through Steam. Thankfully the Bioware message boards were quite helpful and once I finally gave them a gander I was able to find a quick and easy fix to get the DLC working. I am actually quite proud of myself for this, truth be told)--I was finally able to fire it up and dive back into Ferelden.
I love this game. It is so incredible. I think my favorite thing about the genre of fantasy is that it is designed to capture the imagination, to take you away to a completely different world where anything is possible. If you had told me even two or three years ago that I would be as enamored with a video game franchise as I am with, say, Stargate, I would have laughed you right out of the building. But oh my goodness I am. I am not completely sure what turned me on to wanting to play this game, but once I found out about it, oh I wanted in. Before I ever got a copy of the game I found out IDW was doing a tie-in series of comics set in that world and went ahead and subscribed. By the time I finished the first one, I was absolutely determined to get the game as soon as freaking possible. (I had to wait a little while longer, but since I knew I had a birthday coming up, that made it a little bit easier to be patient.)
As soon as I finished playing the game, I hopped online to see if I could find anything about the sequel. I wasn't entirely sure I was correct that one was in development, but was pleasantly surprised to find out that one was, and was in fact due out in March. I preordered it that very night. I have eagerly been following the news about Dragon Age II, drinking in everything I can, bouncing up and down in anticipation. And it is so close now. So close. That is, in fact, why I decided to go ahead and play the DLC now, since it won't be the length of a full game and it will whet my appetite for what is to come in just a few weeks.
So, I started playing Dragon Age again on Monday. If you keep an ear to the geeky grapevine, you might have noticed yesterday when it exploded with the news that Felicia Day, who I adore, announced that she has been working with Bioware to create a six-episode web series set in the Dragon Age world, taking place, in fact, during the events of the new game. Holy frikkin' cow! I spent much of yesterday bouncing in excitement over this news. Felicia Day. And Dragon Age. Together!
There are all sorts of stories about the news. You can read a story about the series here. There's a celebrity gamer profile on Felicia Day here. Felicia blogs about her own thoughts on the project here. Oh, and Bioware now has a blurb about it on the official Dragon Age II site here. Felicia will also be on Jimmy Fallon's talk show tonight with a sneak preview of the new series, score!
In addition to ramping up my excitement for the new game, as well as getting me all giddy about the web series, yesterday's Dragon Age-related news had another little jewel of information for me. There is an official prequel book to the first game. Actually there are two of them. The reviews on Amazon suggest they (both written by the same author, who was one of the story developers on the game) are actually pretty spectacular. Gonna have to pick those up PDQ in order to sate my thirst for all things Dragon Age.
So, um, yeah. If the purpose of epic fantasy is to capture the audience's imagination, I can only say well done, Bioware, well done.
I was not actually aware until recently (until I started reading up on on the forthcoming Dragon Age II, in fact) that this is actually a really complicated process. Designing a game for one platform (console or PC) creates all sorts of challenges when making a version for the other platform. Apparently this is the largest reason why there is usually a lag between the release of video games on the original platform and the release of the same game for the other platform. The creators have to decide if it is worth it to go through the trouble to update/change the game play mechanics required to release in the secondary format. This is why it is a huge deal that Bioware is releasing Dragon Age II across all platforms at the same time. There was a lot of work that went into making sure the game play experience was workable across consoles and PCs alike.
The Force Unleashed is a good example of how this complicated process can sometimes go wrong. To use the Force in the game on the PC version, you need to use a combination of keyboard keys and mouse buttons/movements. Most of the moves in the game require a specific series of buttons/keys be pressed in a specific sequence with just the right timing. I think overall the designers did a good job of making this work with a mouse and a keyboard, as opposed to with a singular game controller. But there is one spot where this seems to have failed spectacularly, and that is where I got stuck. Pulling down a star destroyer with the Force is a multi-step process that requires you to be very quick and and to be constantly moving your mouse in addition to pressing buttons and keys. This is rather a challenge when you think about how much room the average computer mouse has to maneuver in. You can only push it up so far before you have to pick it up and move it down to the bottom of your desk and start pushing up again. Unfortunately, this kind of screws up what you are trying to do in the game. Apparently, it is even worse if you have a trackball mouse, which, of course, I have.
So, basically, I have the worst possible computer set up of the PC version of the game, which is at a disadvantage already because this specific move (which is required to move forward in the game) really wasn't designed with a mouse in mind, and wasn't ported very well from console to PC. I spent a goodly amount of time on help-sites and walkthroughs and forums, and tried the tricks and tips they all suggested, but I still could not get that star destroyer out of the sky after multiple attempts. I tried using a different mouse, one without the trackball, but then I ran into the space issue. At this point, I am pretty sure it boils down to two things: I did not level up my character's Force abilities in the best configuration to get past this part quickly, and I am not quick enough to take down the waves of TIE Fighters in between attempts to pull the thing down (allowing it to move out of the required position, which means I waste time repositioning it when I could be pulling it down). To me, this says I just need to start over again and be more conscious of how I level up the next time around. I am going to do that, yes. But not right now. I don't think my hand will forgive me if I were to try.
 |
| My warrior elf from Dragon Age: Origins |
For now, I am just going to put The Force Unleashed back onto the shelf and move on to the next thing. The next thing being all of the downloadable content for Dragon Age: Origins. Bioware recently(ish) released an "ultimate" edition of the game that included the original game, the expansion pack, and all of the downloadable content. This edition actually cost less than it would cost to purchase all of the DLC separately, and then my husband found it on sale, so he went ahead and bought it a little while ago.
Monday afternoon I decided to break it out, eager to play Witch Hunt, a follow-up adventure to the original game. After about an hour and a half spent wrestling with the game--which was telling me that all of the DLC was installed on my computer but unauthorized (It seems that there was some sort of glitch in the install script of the downloadable digital versions, which included ours since we bought it through Steam. Thankfully the Bioware message boards were quite helpful and once I finally gave them a gander I was able to find a quick and easy fix to get the DLC working. I am actually quite proud of myself for this, truth be told)--I was finally able to fire it up and dive back into Ferelden.
I love this game. It is so incredible. I think my favorite thing about the genre of fantasy is that it is designed to capture the imagination, to take you away to a completely different world where anything is possible. If you had told me even two or three years ago that I would be as enamored with a video game franchise as I am with, say, Stargate, I would have laughed you right out of the building. But oh my goodness I am. I am not completely sure what turned me on to wanting to play this game, but once I found out about it, oh I wanted in. Before I ever got a copy of the game I found out IDW was doing a tie-in series of comics set in that world and went ahead and subscribed. By the time I finished the first one, I was absolutely determined to get the game as soon as freaking possible. (I had to wait a little while longer, but since I knew I had a birthday coming up, that made it a little bit easier to be patient.)
As soon as I finished playing the game, I hopped online to see if I could find anything about the sequel. I wasn't entirely sure I was correct that one was in development, but was pleasantly surprised to find out that one was, and was in fact due out in March. I preordered it that very night. I have eagerly been following the news about Dragon Age II, drinking in everything I can, bouncing up and down in anticipation. And it is so close now. So close. That is, in fact, why I decided to go ahead and play the DLC now, since it won't be the length of a full game and it will whet my appetite for what is to come in just a few weeks.
So, I started playing Dragon Age again on Monday. If you keep an ear to the geeky grapevine, you might have noticed yesterday when it exploded with the news that Felicia Day, who I adore, announced that she has been working with Bioware to create a six-episode web series set in the Dragon Age world, taking place, in fact, during the events of the new game. Holy frikkin' cow! I spent much of yesterday bouncing in excitement over this news. Felicia Day. And Dragon Age. Together!
There are all sorts of stories about the news. You can read a story about the series here. There's a celebrity gamer profile on Felicia Day here. Felicia blogs about her own thoughts on the project here. Oh, and Bioware now has a blurb about it on the official Dragon Age II site here. Felicia will also be on Jimmy Fallon's talk show tonight with a sneak preview of the new series, score!
In addition to ramping up my excitement for the new game, as well as getting me all giddy about the web series, yesterday's Dragon Age-related news had another little jewel of information for me. There is an official prequel book to the first game. Actually there are two of them. The reviews on Amazon suggest they (both written by the same author, who was one of the story developers on the game) are actually pretty spectacular. Gonna have to pick those up PDQ in order to sate my thirst for all things Dragon Age.
So, um, yeah. If the purpose of epic fantasy is to capture the audience's imagination, I can only say well done, Bioware, well done.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Unintentional Flashbacks
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| Twinkle Hope by dreamcicle19772006 on Flickr |
There has been a trend over the last few years of making new and updated versions of cartoons from the mid-nineties and before specifically for today's children. I don't really get this. I would guess that the theory is that the kids who watched these cartoons back in the day are now grown up and have kids of their own. These parents, upon seeing something from their own childhood will immediately warm to the newer versions and want to share them with their children. But this is actually not the reaction I get from these newer cartoons at all. Instead, I get mildly irritated (sometimes more than mildly, I'll admit) at the tremendous waste of time of this whole idea. As a parent who is actually watching most of the cartoons my daughter watches right along with her, I find these modern versions are usually a very poor substitute for the original thing. Often, they are rehashing original story lines with new animation and voice-acting, and I find that just lazy as well. I know in some cases it is honestly a matter of expanding the existing number of episodes, and both are being offered up to today's children, with new actors and animation a requirement because the originals are no longer available. But a lot of them, in my opinion, are just plain rip-offs, intended to cash in on parents' nostalgia and sell new toys without actually trying to produce a quality product. What these cartoons do is leave me disgusted with the new offering and hungry for the originals.
Take, for instance, My Little Pony.
I have been peripherally aware for some time that there has been an updated line of these toys available for some time now. The My Little Pony toys, television show, and movie were a firm fixture in my childhood in the eighties. I am not ashamed to admit I owned more than my fair share of the pretty ponies. I absolutely loved them, and do still harbor a soft spot in my heart for the memories of that part of my childhood.
That being said, however, I find the new line of toys just a little bit off. Something about them just doesn't sit right with me. They are too stylized. I know, I know, the original line was definitely stylized too. But these new ones are even worse. I think it's because they made them skinny and gave them ridiculously oversized eyes (even more so than on the originals).
When I was buying the first tube of trainer toothpaste for my daughter to use with her first real toothbrush (after she had enough teeth that the little finger mitt was definitely no longer an option, which meant no more buying the kit that came with the toothpaste included), I did end up going with the My Little Pony toothpaste, despite my issues with the new version of the franchise. Mostly this was because the other tube, with Thomas the Tank Engine, was either blueberry or bubble-gum flavored, as opposed to the Pinkie Fruity Flavor of the MLP tube. It just sounded better. It's not like my daughter is the one applying the toothpaste to the brush yet, so I wasn't too worried about it.
Last night, however, I gave in to a mild case of the Mondays and decided to pick up dinner from McDonald's rather than cook anything. I forgot to ask for the toy for ages three and under (okay, that's not entirely true, I may have forgotten on purpose, because McDonald's three and under toys are kind of crap, at least Chick-fil-A has board books for the little ones), so she got a My Little Pony toy. (I think it interesting to note here that as I was just typing "My Little Pony" I first typed "Phony." That is not the first time that happened in the course of researching and writing this entry--not even the second or third. Guess what that says about how I feel about the new line.)
Most of the time, I actually don't let my daughter have the toys out of her kid's meal. But when I do (always after a thorough inspection for small and/or hazardous bits), it isn't until after she's done eating. So during dinner last night I was looking at this toy, and reading the happy meal box trying to figure out her name and "personality" (her name is Pinkie Pie, she's fun loving and friendly, and has balloons on her butt, that's about it). I decided to go ahead and let her have it, and she played with it for a little while after dinner (I actually didn't hand it to her straightaway, but set it down with her other toys and she stumbled across it later) and then moved on to attempting to demolish my crochet project.
As I was giving Baby Girl her bath last night, though, and putting the toothpaste on her toothbrush, I looked at the tube and realized that the pony pictured on it is the same pony she got in her happy meal, balloons on the butt and all. Go figure.
The whole thing got me remembering my own childhood experiences with My Little Pony. Looking around online, I see that several straight to DVD movies have been made featuring the new ponies, but even if I do concede and let my daughter have more of those to play with down the road, I think we'll be sticking with the original cartoons, thank you very much. Amazon has the movie for only about thirteen bucks, so I think we'll be adding that to our collection pretty soon. They've also got the first season (which looks like the bulk of the series) of the television show on DVD as well. Might be a worthy investment. With a few exceptions, I have been pretty disappointed in what passes for cartoons these days, so I have been stockpiling some old school stuff (sadly, some of it well before my husband and I even started trying to have a child) for Baby Girl to watch. We've got the entire series of She-Ra and Powerpuff Girls, as well as a season and some random episode collections of Fraggle Rock, and a few other cartoons as well.
I'm gonna raise my kid right when it comes to cartoons. She'll watch the good stuff, and I'll be right there watching it with her. There won't be any of these crappy updated substitutions if I have anything to say about it. I mean, don't even get me started on what they've done to Strawberry Shortcake...
Friday, December 24, 2010
Sandra Boynton's Christmastime (Part Seven)
Conclusion
Coming Down From Christmas
"Wee fish ewe a mare egrets moose, wee fish ewe a mare egrets moose, wee fish ewe a mare egrets moose, panda hippo gnu deer!" --Sandra Boynton
Boynton wraps up the ever delightful Christmastime by discussing the hard fact that once Christmas has come and gone, we are all left with a little bit of emptiness in our hearts. The season is such an immersive one that we are all bound to feel a little bit bereft when it has ended. But as always, Boynton has the solution to the problem she presents. She suggests that with careful planning, and a bit of thinking ahead, you can easily make Christmas a season to be enjoyed for the duration and remembered fondly when gone, without that pang of regret. Be careful when making your plans, however, because she feels that being overly prepared is as much the cause of post-Christmas letdown as not being prepared enough. She advises that the three most common training errors leading up to Christmas are as follows:
Overtraining: Be careful not to wear yourself out when making your preparations and plans for Christmastime. This is very easy to do and can lead to diminished enjoyment of the season overall, and not just an overwhelming sense of disappointment once Christmas is done.
Overreaching: Likewise, keep your expectations simple and as realistic as possible, especially if you are the person in charge of Christmas in your household. Quite often people are disappointed after Christmas because they have set themselves up to be so. Remember to enjoy each moment as you are in it, and try not to be constantly looking ahead to what is yet to come, just in case it doesn't.
Peaking Too Soon: The earlier you start "celebrating" Christmas, the longer you have to keep up your spirits, and the harder it becomes to sustain those happy Christmastime feelings. Especially in the face of everyone else you may have to deal with day in and day out. Wait as long as you can (without making yourself insane) to start the decorating and the shopping and the celebration, and you'll have a better chance of enjoying the season more than you would if you try to stretch it out. Getting just the right amount of holiday cheer is the best way to feel relaxed and at peace once it passes you by.
She also cautions that no matter how much you enjoy the season, even the best of us are likely to watch Christmastime pass with at least a smidgen of relief. And that's okay. It is a crazy season, as fun as it can be, and it is probably a very good thing that it only comes once a year. If you're still feeling blue when the tinsel is cleared and the presents are put away, just remind yourself, that it does, in fact, come once a year, which means next year you get to do it all over again!
And that finishes off Sandra Boynton's Christmastime. I hope you have enjoyed reading these posts as much as I have enjoyed sharing my thoughts on my favorite holiday book with you. If you stumble across a copy, or feel like venturing onto Amazon's Marketplace, I highly recommend picking it up. It is a quick read and one sure to strike a note with each member of your family. As I can attest, it is also an excellent book to grow up with, keeping the true spirit of the season alive while capturing all of the ups and down that inevitably accompany it. My daughter will definitely be growing up with this book as a part of her holiday tradition, I can tell you that.
And with that, I bid you a very very Merry Christmas, my friends! I hope you have a truly wonderful holiday. See you back on Monday!
P.S. Don't forget to check out the new installment of Gronk here! It is the first of a run of a few weeks of guest strips, actually, because the artist/writer Katie Cook just made a new human this past week (huzzah to her!), but it is still pretty cute. Enjoy.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Sandra Boynton's Christmastime (Part Four)
Chapter Three
Gift Giving
Yet Another Consumer Tip: Before you place your gift order with any mail-order catalog company, make sure they have a policy of NO UNAUTHORIZED SUBSTITUTIONS. --Sandra Boynton
Boynton starts off her chapter on Christmas presents by declaring that the giving of those presents is truly one of the greatest joys of the season. Of course, coming up with an idea for, and then procuring, each gift is another matter entirely. As is actually affording those great gifts you stumble across. In the current economy I think it is definitely fair to say that the truth still rings clearly in that idea.
I have said before that I am amazed at how relevant this book has managed to stay over the past twenty-three years, while still containing a few glaringly dated snapshots of the general mindset in the eighties. This chapter is an excellent example of both concepts, to be sure.
Much like in Chapter Two, where Boynton discusses sending cards out of obligation as opposed to genuine friendship or affection, she also delves into gift-giving for the same reason. She acknowledges that these gifts of obligation are not even remotely in the running to be joys of the season, and does submit that you could decide to forgo these gifts in order to save money, time, and effort, as well as to bolster your conscience. She comes back from that suggestion, however, with a snarky comment about your pride in making the right choice sustaining you "through the loss of your job, wrath of your relatives, and the substantial deterioration of mail delivery, trash collection, and car servicing throughout the coming year."
Okay, I'm not gonna touch the thing about relatives with a ten-foot pole, the expectations and practices in every family are different, and even I can admit there might be some obligatory gift-giving there, depending on just who you might be related to. As far as the "loss of job" thing, I am going to hazard a guess that the obligatory gift to one's boss was an eighties thing. Mostly because every time I read this part of Christmastime I get a picture in my head of Chevy Chase hopefully holding out a present to his boss in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and being directed to place it on table with the twenty or thirty other clearly identical gifts (and I still really want to know what that gift was, because it was shaped so oddly, mostly for humor, I am sure, but still).
Look, I worked in an office environment for almost eight years, and I had several bosses come and go in that time. I gave (most of) my bosses a card each year, and every once in a while someone might take up a collection to get a group gift for a boss, but only once did I ever personally give a gift to one of my managers, and that was because she was the best boss I have ever had and I really wanted her to know I actually appreciated her. The suggestion that someone might actually get fired for failing to kiss up properly in the form of a Christmas present really rankles me. I am sure Boynton meant it for humor, but for some reason it just rubs me the wrong way. It also leaves me desperately hoping that the reference truly is a dated one.
As far as the thing about giving gifts to mail carriers, trash collectors, and mechanics, well, do people actually do that? This is something outside of my realm of experience. Is this just an old tradition that has lapsed? Is this something that occurs among the wealthier set? I really don't know. As far as mail carriers and trash collectors, I am not even sure we have the same people do this job day in and day out for our street, it seems to change frequently, and I do not have personal contact with these people, why would I give them a gift? I do have a pretty much steady mechanic, but he is paid quite well for his services, and honestly, the better he does his job, the less I see him, so again, why a present?
So I don't know if those particular trials of gift-giving are irrelevant to today or just to me personally, but either way, that is pretty much the biggest point in the book where I fail to identify with Boynton's narrative. I'm not gonna pretend I still don't get a giggle out of the illustrations on that page though. So, moving on.
For people who don't feel up to passing on the obligatory gift-giving, or people who just aren't quite able to financially fulfill their gift-giving dreams, Boynton suggests that this is as good a time as any to start picking fights with your friends. You can always apologize next year. Or you could re-gift items that you've received and never used. She cautions to be careful to keep track of who gave you the item you are re-gifting, so as to avoid any unnecessary awkwardness (another wonderful little illustration). But in the end, she reminds you that the greatest gift you can give to those people who really matter to you is of yourself.
Avoiding the Two Most Common Christmas-Gift Pitfalls: From September onward, do not allow your children to watch any television whatsoever. Keep some undesignated gifts in reserve, for anyone who might have been inadvertently overlooked. --Sandra Boynton
Next up, Boynton tackles the subject of actually shopping for gifts. She posits that back then, as is still the case now, the idea of venturing to the mall for a spot of Christmas shopping is really something to be dreaded. There are just so many reasons why this is a BAD IDEA, for the shopper's sanity and peace of mind, as well as holiday spirit and pocketbook. Remember that this book predates the institutionalization of Black Friday. I would be curious to see an updated version containing Boynton's thoughts on that, to be sure. However, she also posits that if you approach Christmas shopping expecting it to be a horrible experience, it will be. If you approach it as a challenge to be met, then you are likely to come out of it with a feeling of accomplishment, and while the process may not have necessarily have been enjoyable, at least you won't be holding a grudge against your loved ones for making you venture out into that mess in the first place. She also notes that there are a few rare creatures who simply enjoy the whole process of Christmas shopping, from start to finish, though she is as baffled by those folks as the rest of us.
Funnily enough, she doesn't mention those people who start their Christmas shopping in January and are already done by the time November and December roll around. Perhaps she was holding to the old saying, "if you don't have anything nice to say..."
As always, Boynton suggests a few alternatives to braving the malls and other bricks and mortar stores. The first is making gifts by hand. She doesn't have much to say about this particular route (other than a snarky mock-magazine cover claiming to hold patterns for crocheted sports car covers and patterns for all of the clothes being worn by the royal family this holiday). She simply acknowledges that it is an alternative, though one not everybody necessarily has the ability to take. As a crocheter, I will admit I do tend to make at least a few of my gifts each year, so I will add my own two cents on the subject. Don't make presents unless you really a) want to, b) know what you are getting yourself into, and c) truly love the person you are making something for. Making a gift by hand doesn't necessarily save you any money (you have to buy the supplies, and yarn and fabric aren't exactly cheap). Nor does it save you time or effort, which, in fact, it actually requires more of. I don't want to discourage those who wish to make the gifts they give out, I just want to make sure that they understand what they are signing on for when they start down that road.
The other alternative Boynton gives is to mail-order presents. She has a whole spiel about how, as long as the items you order are in stock, and as long as you order them in plenty of time to allow for shipping, this is the "carefree" way to go. Though she has her doubts about either of those things happening successfully, not for any lack of preparation on the buyer's part, but due to the mail-order companies themselves. The example of a "typical" packing slip she provides is certainly entertaining, suggesting that many companies will just send you whatever they have laying around the warehouse when they find they are out of the item you ordered, or not send you anything at all but still charge you for it.
Now, this is another one of those points where Christmastime lives in the past, as entertaining as it might be. Certainly people still order things rather than go out and buy them in person, but these days we get them from the internet. Even if we are ordering from a catalog we received in the mail, most of us do the actual ordering online. Most online stores do not charge you until they have shipped your item, allow you to track your packages online once they have shipped, and won't let you order an item that is out of stock. In the event that an order goes through and the item ends up being back-ordered, you are notified immediately so you can cancel that order and get something else. Companies like Amazon have made a lot of us much more confident in ordering our gifts with a simple point and a click rather than going out into the crowds to try to hunt them down. I won't lie to you my friends, more than half of the presents I bought this year came from Amazon. So while Boynton views mail-ordering as a huge pain in the rear (which, I am sure it was, because I do remember those days, believe it or not), it has been replaced by a bigger and better system that for this girl, who does most of her shopping online anyway, makes the holidays much easier to get ready for.
She wraps up the chapter with a few bits of advice on wrapping presents. Mainly, she warns that, tradition or no, waiting to wrap all of the presents until Christmas Eve is a BAD IDEA. This part is actually one of my favorite blurbs from the book. She advises having all of your gifts wrapped in the store (which I would counter with suggesting just wrap them as soon as you get them in the house once you've got the kid distracted doing something else). She then goes on to comment about how relaxed and peaceful you'll feel on Christmas Eve knowing that all of the presents are beautifully wrapped and waiting to be put under the tree...until you realize that none of them have been labeled and you have forgotten what is in them. The illustration that accompanies this is one of the best in the book, showing the family on Christmas morning each quite surprised at their gifts: The mom (trying to hide her amusement at the situation) with a hand puppet, the dad absolutely delighted with his toy firetruck, and the absolute bemusement on the faces of their children (an astronaut helmet for the teenage daughter, a hat and tie for the young son, and a "Little Miss Lovely" doll for the teenage son). It is a priceless beautiful moment. Also, you should probably remember to label your Christmas gifts as soon as you get them wrapped, whenever that might be.
Buying Christmas Wrap*Two consumer tips for the price of one!*Read the Square Footage on the Label: Price and roll diameter are unreliable indicators of paper quantity.Beware of Excessive Square Footage Claims: The weight of the paper is also a factor in true value. --Sandra Boynton
Tomorrow: Christmas Traditions
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Sandra Boynton's Christmastime (Part One)
Do you know who Sandra Boynton is? If yes, then you understand how incredibly awesome she is. If not, then you should go to her website right now right this very second and check it out because Oh My God Your Life is Missing a Vast Array of Awesome!
Okay, do we have that all rectified now? Good. Moving on. While Sandra Boynton got her start designing greeting cards, and will probably end up being best known for her incredibly wonderful books for children, for me, the definitive thing that is Sandra Boynton will forever and always be her 1987 book Christmastime. There are many Boynton products I remember from my childhood (my mom's hippo-covered address book stands out in memory), but one year, she got this book, and I don't know if it was the same year or later that I picked it up, but once I did, it was all over. To me this is the definitive holiday book. Nothing says Christmas to me like Boynton's always fun, often silly, sometimes surprisingly practical, and forever entertaining offering.
A tradition my mom, sister, and I had when I was growing up was to gather around before bedtime on Christmas Eve with cocoa (or coffee) and read a selected Christmas story before each opening one present and then heading off to dreamland. Sometimes we would each pick a story, sometimes we would take turns from year to year. When it was my turn to pick, I always, without fail, would pick my favorite excerpt from Christmastime. While not technically an actual story, it never fails to put me in the holiday spirit, or to put a smile on my face.
This book has long been out of print, sadly, but I have periodically waded through the interwebs to try to find an affordable copy in good condition (I have never even considered asking my mom to relinquish her copy). This year, I finally hit the jackpot. (Have I mentioned how much I love Amazon Marketplace?) Of course, the getting of this book couldn't be easy. I ordered it over three weeks ago and the seller promptly shipped it the next day, only to have it returned two weeks later with recipient's address label torn off. She promptly sent me a message and repackaged and reshipped it, and this week it finally arrived. I barely had time to pet it lovingly before my husband whisked it off into the bedroom for some nighttime reading (he came from a pro-Boynton family as well, this is one of the many reasons why we were made for each other).
So this holiday season, I want to share with you some of the awesomeness of this book. Including today, there are seven blog-posting days left before Christmas (wow!), and including the introduction, there are seven chapters in Christmastime. So from now until Christmas, I am going to be sharing the awesomeness of this book with you, a chapter a day. I hope you enjoy this series. I am super excited about it. So, without further ado, here we go!
In the introduction to Christmastime, Boynton sets out to give her readers an idea of what this book is about--that period of time when people begin to embrace the spirit of the season, diving headfirst into the holidays or putting it off until the very last second. The pages are full of her iconic illustrations, humorously showing hippos and pigs and cats and other animals going about the getting ready to welcome Christmas into their homes.
She acknowledges that the Christmas season has become something so drawn out (even way back in 1987--it amazes me how relevant this book has remained between then and now) that it is easy to go in the opposite direction of the expected reaction, becoming dispirited instead of embracing the holiday season, or even becoming completely overwhelmed. She knows that even when our loved ones try to make us feel better about the frustration that the season can bring, sometimes they only make it worse. Of course, then there are also those people who go out of their way to make other people feel bad about themselves.
She advises her readers to let go of unrealistic expectations and to just go with the flow. She suggests getting back to basics, finding the simple joys in the holiday season and just focusing on one or two of them, such as decorating a tree, caroling with friends, being content to be surrounded by loved ones, or even embracing their inner Scrooge.
She closes out the introduction by reminding us that a cheerful attitude is the key to enjoying the season, and that if we can hold on to that, then getting ready for Christmas becomes its own joy in and of itself.
Tomorrow: Decking the Halls
Okay, do we have that all rectified now? Good. Moving on. While Sandra Boynton got her start designing greeting cards, and will probably end up being best known for her incredibly wonderful books for children, for me, the definitive thing that is Sandra Boynton will forever and always be her 1987 book Christmastime. There are many Boynton products I remember from my childhood (my mom's hippo-covered address book stands out in memory), but one year, she got this book, and I don't know if it was the same year or later that I picked it up, but once I did, it was all over. To me this is the definitive holiday book. Nothing says Christmas to me like Boynton's always fun, often silly, sometimes surprisingly practical, and forever entertaining offering.
A tradition my mom, sister, and I had when I was growing up was to gather around before bedtime on Christmas Eve with cocoa (or coffee) and read a selected Christmas story before each opening one present and then heading off to dreamland. Sometimes we would each pick a story, sometimes we would take turns from year to year. When it was my turn to pick, I always, without fail, would pick my favorite excerpt from Christmastime. While not technically an actual story, it never fails to put me in the holiday spirit, or to put a smile on my face.
This book has long been out of print, sadly, but I have periodically waded through the interwebs to try to find an affordable copy in good condition (I have never even considered asking my mom to relinquish her copy). This year, I finally hit the jackpot. (Have I mentioned how much I love Amazon Marketplace?) Of course, the getting of this book couldn't be easy. I ordered it over three weeks ago and the seller promptly shipped it the next day, only to have it returned two weeks later with recipient's address label torn off. She promptly sent me a message and repackaged and reshipped it, and this week it finally arrived. I barely had time to pet it lovingly before my husband whisked it off into the bedroom for some nighttime reading (he came from a pro-Boynton family as well, this is one of the many reasons why we were made for each other).
So this holiday season, I want to share with you some of the awesomeness of this book. Including today, there are seven blog-posting days left before Christmas (wow!), and including the introduction, there are seven chapters in Christmastime. So from now until Christmas, I am going to be sharing the awesomeness of this book with you, a chapter a day. I hope you enjoy this series. I am super excited about it. So, without further ado, here we go!
Introduction
Getting Ready For The Holidays
"Christmas comes only one day a year, on December 25. But Christmastime is much longer, starting when the stores put up their Christmas displays and ending on January 1st, when everyone joyfully welcomes in the new year, and then regrets it." --Sandra Boynton
In the introduction to Christmastime, Boynton sets out to give her readers an idea of what this book is about--that period of time when people begin to embrace the spirit of the season, diving headfirst into the holidays or putting it off until the very last second. The pages are full of her iconic illustrations, humorously showing hippos and pigs and cats and other animals going about the getting ready to welcome Christmas into their homes.
She acknowledges that the Christmas season has become something so drawn out (even way back in 1987--it amazes me how relevant this book has remained between then and now) that it is easy to go in the opposite direction of the expected reaction, becoming dispirited instead of embracing the holiday season, or even becoming completely overwhelmed. She knows that even when our loved ones try to make us feel better about the frustration that the season can bring, sometimes they only make it worse. Of course, then there are also those people who go out of their way to make other people feel bad about themselves.
She advises her readers to let go of unrealistic expectations and to just go with the flow. She suggests getting back to basics, finding the simple joys in the holiday season and just focusing on one or two of them, such as decorating a tree, caroling with friends, being content to be surrounded by loved ones, or even embracing their inner Scrooge.
She closes out the introduction by reminding us that a cheerful attitude is the key to enjoying the season, and that if we can hold on to that, then getting ready for Christmas becomes its own joy in and of itself.
Tomorrow: Decking the Halls
Friday, November 26, 2010
I Am Taking the Day Off
I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving! If you are braving the Black Friday crowds and hunting out good deals today, I wish you luck. I kind of think you're crazy (it's called, Amazon, folks), but, still, I wish you luck. Happy hunting.
Me? Well, I have spent the past two days cleaning, running errands, and cooking. So today, I am taking the day off. Other than tending to Baby Girl and getting some writing done, I am just going to chill. This shouldn't be terribly difficult seeing as how our lovely sixty and seventy degree weather seems to have abandoned us. I know my husband wants to try to start getting some of the Christmas decorations up, so yes, I will help him get the boxes down from the attic. But in return I am gonna make him sit down and watch some Stargate Atlantis with me.
I have a few DVDs from Netflix waiting to be watched. Just so you can get a sense of my own personal brand of schizophrenia, they are: Hello Again, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and the second disc of the complete series set of Crusade. I may or may not watch some of those. If I don't, I will probably give in to the siren call of Towers of Midnight. I am about halfway through and man oh man things are heating up.
I am also making some pretty good progress on the sweater I am currently crocheting. I have gotten the main part of the body and one of the sleeves done. So if I give in to the movies, I will definitely be trying to get the second sleeve done.
And there you have it. That's my day. Fun, no? I hope you and yours are happy and blessed. Have a wonderful weekend folks.
Word Count Update: 47,799 out of 50,000
Me? Well, I have spent the past two days cleaning, running errands, and cooking. So today, I am taking the day off. Other than tending to Baby Girl and getting some writing done, I am just going to chill. This shouldn't be terribly difficult seeing as how our lovely sixty and seventy degree weather seems to have abandoned us. I know my husband wants to try to start getting some of the Christmas decorations up, so yes, I will help him get the boxes down from the attic. But in return I am gonna make him sit down and watch some Stargate Atlantis with me.
I have a few DVDs from Netflix waiting to be watched. Just so you can get a sense of my own personal brand of schizophrenia, they are: Hello Again, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and the second disc of the complete series set of Crusade. I may or may not watch some of those. If I don't, I will probably give in to the siren call of Towers of Midnight. I am about halfway through and man oh man things are heating up.
I am also making some pretty good progress on the sweater I am currently crocheting. I have gotten the main part of the body and one of the sleeves done. So if I give in to the movies, I will definitely be trying to get the second sleeve done.
And there you have it. That's my day. Fun, no? I hope you and yours are happy and blessed. Have a wonderful weekend folks.
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| Yay! Weekend! |
Word Count Update: 47,799 out of 50,000
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