Camper Van Beatdown
Warning: long post ahead
You know those occurrences in your life that you can remember for years to come, and always wish you had handled differently? I think I picked up another one of those on Thursday night. Denise and I went to see Camper Van Beethoven at Blueberry Hill down on the Delmar Loop, a popular section of downtown St. Louis. I enjoyed the hell out of CVB, although I was only able to recognize two songs: "Take the Skinheads Bowling" and "Pictures of Matchstick Men". I prefer the original Status Quo version of the latter. While I was of course previously familiar with them, CVB's heyday was over by the time I branched from punk and metal into alternative, so I'd never really given them a listen. It was thoroughly enjoyable stuff, both for the audience and the band, so far as I could tell. Thanks to Johnny Crabcakes and Mrs. Crabcakes for inviting us along. That wasn't the occurrence in question, though.
As we were leaving, I saw a young emo-looking couple arguing on the sidewalk. This being near one end of the "Loop" section of Delmar, they pretty much had it to themselves, and were obviously having it out, standing about six feet apart and yelling at each other, with the guy gesturing wildly about something. As we passed them, the guy suddenly ran at the girl, kind of grabbed her by the neck and shoulders, and threw her to the ground. I said, "Holy shit, that dude just threw that girl down, what an ass!" What I wish I had said was, "Baby, pull over, I've got to beat someone within an inch of their worthless fucking life." I haven't been in a fight in probably six or seven years, but judging by the clumsy way that dude threw the girl down, I could have sent him to intensive care pretty easily. Or shown a bit of self-restraint, and just stopped him. Sadly, if I did beat his ass, he would probably have sued me and won.
I really want to find out what happened, but the St Louis Post-Dispatch apparently only updates the police blotters once a week. Hopefully, she got back up, kicked the crap out of his skinny ass, and called the police herself. If you happen to be the guy I'm talking about, feel free to email me if you need a beating, as I would appreciate the closure. Further bulletins as events warrant, so probably none at all.
· · ·
In other news, I felt a bit like I was getting a cold that night, and sure enough, I woke up the next morning with a full blown case of bleah. It's probably God's way of saying, "I really wish you had just beaten that guy within an inch of his worthless fucking life". I came into work anyway as I had a meeting that morning, but I left at 2 o'clock, as soon as the meeting was over. I knew I would be spending the whole weekend sitting on the couch anyway, so I stopped at Gamestop and picked up The Bard's Tale for the PS2.
Geek sense tingling! The original Bard's Tale was one of the first computer games I ever played, and I still have fond memories of it, especially that one room in the castle with four stacks of 99 barbarians each. Computers were so blazingly fast back then that I would set up all of my characters to do attacks on as many enemies as possible (hooray for Mangar's Mind Blade!), and wander off for an hour or two until the next round of combat was ready to start, leaving my computer to bleep and blip as it gleefully dished out psychic annihilation to several hundred barbarians. We're talking a Tandy 1000 here.
So of course, when I heard they were remaking it, I was pleased, even though I understood that it would probably only marginally resemble the original, in both appearance and gameplay. And it did indeed live up to my expectations, being extremely fun and often funny. My only real complaint was that it ended too soon; I finished it between Friday afternoon and Sunday afternoon. Granted, that's all I did, and I barely slept. I've typically stuck with racing games on the Playstation, specifically avoiding any type of RPG, but now that I know they can work, I might have to look into some of the others that are out there.
Speaking of racing games, I don't know if I've mentioned it, but Burnout 3 is the damn bee's knees. Launching a nitrous-boosted fire truck off of an overpass and plowing into the oncoming traffic below at 150 mph is something everyone should experience at least once in their life. It nearly brings me to tears of pure unadulterated bliss just thinking about it. I must thank Jon for initially bringing the game to my attention via the singing of its praises, and DR's evil overlord Bubba for contributing mightily to its purchase via his overly generous appreciation of my helping him move.
· · ·
Finally, I did the unthinkable today. I let go of Lock Mastery. GM Ildran emailed me with some relevant information, and asked how it was going and whether I needed any help. I suddenly found myself very tempted to just hand the whole project over to him, and after a brief discussion, he agreed to take it on. I don't really know how I feel about that, yet...it's an odd mixture of relief and disappointment.
One of the main reasons I've stubbornly held onto it this long, despite managerial suggestion-bordering-on-insistence that I hand it off, is that I don't like to feel like I've failed at something. In a way, I have let down these players of GemStone IV, many of whom I consider friends. I guess reality finally settled in that I was doing nobody any good by holding on to it, not my rogues, not Melissa, and certainly not myself. C'est la vie, as they say. Ultimately, I think it was a move in the best interest of everyone. I get my life back, the rogues get a finished LM, Melissa gets happy players, and Ildran...well, almost everyone, I guess.
If nothing else, it got the lockpicking, disarming, and guild systems some badly needed rewrites.
DO NOT forget to vote tomorrow!
Currently listening to: "How Many More Times", Led Zeppelin
You know those occurrences in your life that you can remember for years to come, and always wish you had handled differently? I think I picked up another one of those on Thursday night. Denise and I went to see Camper Van Beethoven at Blueberry Hill down on the Delmar Loop, a popular section of downtown St. Louis. I enjoyed the hell out of CVB, although I was only able to recognize two songs: "Take the Skinheads Bowling" and "Pictures of Matchstick Men". I prefer the original Status Quo version of the latter. While I was of course previously familiar with them, CVB's heyday was over by the time I branched from punk and metal into alternative, so I'd never really given them a listen. It was thoroughly enjoyable stuff, both for the audience and the band, so far as I could tell. Thanks to Johnny Crabcakes and Mrs. Crabcakes for inviting us along. That wasn't the occurrence in question, though.
As we were leaving, I saw a young emo-looking couple arguing on the sidewalk. This being near one end of the "Loop" section of Delmar, they pretty much had it to themselves, and were obviously having it out, standing about six feet apart and yelling at each other, with the guy gesturing wildly about something. As we passed them, the guy suddenly ran at the girl, kind of grabbed her by the neck and shoulders, and threw her to the ground. I said, "Holy shit, that dude just threw that girl down, what an ass!" What I wish I had said was, "Baby, pull over, I've got to beat someone within an inch of their worthless fucking life." I haven't been in a fight in probably six or seven years, but judging by the clumsy way that dude threw the girl down, I could have sent him to intensive care pretty easily. Or shown a bit of self-restraint, and just stopped him. Sadly, if I did beat his ass, he would probably have sued me and won.
I really want to find out what happened, but the St Louis Post-Dispatch apparently only updates the police blotters once a week. Hopefully, she got back up, kicked the crap out of his skinny ass, and called the police herself. If you happen to be the guy I'm talking about, feel free to email me if you need a beating, as I would appreciate the closure. Further bulletins as events warrant, so probably none at all.
In other news, I felt a bit like I was getting a cold that night, and sure enough, I woke up the next morning with a full blown case of bleah. It's probably God's way of saying, "I really wish you had just beaten that guy within an inch of his worthless fucking life". I came into work anyway as I had a meeting that morning, but I left at 2 o'clock, as soon as the meeting was over. I knew I would be spending the whole weekend sitting on the couch anyway, so I stopped at Gamestop and picked up The Bard's Tale for the PS2.
Geek sense tingling! The original Bard's Tale was one of the first computer games I ever played, and I still have fond memories of it, especially that one room in the castle with four stacks of 99 barbarians each. Computers were so blazingly fast back then that I would set up all of my characters to do attacks on as many enemies as possible (hooray for Mangar's Mind Blade!), and wander off for an hour or two until the next round of combat was ready to start, leaving my computer to bleep and blip as it gleefully dished out psychic annihilation to several hundred barbarians. We're talking a Tandy 1000 here.
So of course, when I heard they were remaking it, I was pleased, even though I understood that it would probably only marginally resemble the original, in both appearance and gameplay. And it did indeed live up to my expectations, being extremely fun and often funny. My only real complaint was that it ended too soon; I finished it between Friday afternoon and Sunday afternoon. Granted, that's all I did, and I barely slept. I've typically stuck with racing games on the Playstation, specifically avoiding any type of RPG, but now that I know they can work, I might have to look into some of the others that are out there.
Speaking of racing games, I don't know if I've mentioned it, but Burnout 3 is the damn bee's knees. Launching a nitrous-boosted fire truck off of an overpass and plowing into the oncoming traffic below at 150 mph is something everyone should experience at least once in their life. It nearly brings me to tears of pure unadulterated bliss just thinking about it. I must thank Jon for initially bringing the game to my attention via the singing of its praises, and DR's evil overlord Bubba for contributing mightily to its purchase via his overly generous appreciation of my helping him move.
Finally, I did the unthinkable today. I let go of Lock Mastery. GM Ildran emailed me with some relevant information, and asked how it was going and whether I needed any help. I suddenly found myself very tempted to just hand the whole project over to him, and after a brief discussion, he agreed to take it on. I don't really know how I feel about that, yet...it's an odd mixture of relief and disappointment.
One of the main reasons I've stubbornly held onto it this long, despite managerial suggestion-bordering-on-insistence that I hand it off, is that I don't like to feel like I've failed at something. In a way, I have let down these players of GemStone IV, many of whom I consider friends. I guess reality finally settled in that I was doing nobody any good by holding on to it, not my rogues, not Melissa, and certainly not myself. C'est la vie, as they say. Ultimately, I think it was a move in the best interest of everyone. I get my life back, the rogues get a finished LM, Melissa gets happy players, and Ildran...well, almost everyone, I guess.
If nothing else, it got the lockpicking, disarming, and guild systems some badly needed rewrites.
DO NOT forget to vote tomorrow!
Currently listening to: "How Many More Times", Led Zeppelin
1 Comments:
Woo! A little late here, but a good post overall. I know all too well the feeling of "Ugh, I SHOULD have done [thing here which would have rocked someone's world]." Of course, the next time something of that caliber happens, it'll probably end the same way; me doing nothing.
Good stuff with Burnout3. Unfortunately the xbox love trial ran out, so no more climbing the ranks for me (woo, 1404 was my top rank!). Games are funny though... the more you like one, the faster you burn out on it (pun not intended, but go me!). Here's hoping that HJ proves to be something that can keep your interest as well as keep you fed.
-Jon
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