Epaminondas

I can't get into the console games. I guess if I didn't have a computer, I might get more into it. I'm still plugging away at Kona. not very fast, but still having fun. Time is running out and I need to find something more substantial to chew on before the salt mine reclaims me.

Perhaps a bit late and my mental acumen is somewhat diminished, but I can attest to the roving bands of coyotes around these parts. Sometimes, when I'm out walking at night, I hear them yipping loudly in their packs. I live in what might be considered a suburban area, but in southern California with the cities growing together, I think that's pretty narrow of a description. After all, the larger urban areas look by and large the same and I've spent substantial time in both. Nope, if you have mountains around your city in SoCal, you have coyotes around and maybe bob cats or cougars. Anyway, I see coyotes sometimes out on the street in the predawn or twilight hours. I've had cats my entire life. I love them. However, house cats socialize, in my decades of having multiple cats at any given time, best when they're exposed to each other as kittens. If you have an adult cat and bring younger ones home, the older ones tend to dislike and drive away the younger ones and so they live together, but don't socialize. Kittens brought up together tend to socialize very well, nap together and play without drawing blood. My one major caveat is that I only have female cats. I did save a male once that my wife insisted on keeping, but he was an outdoor cat the whole time.

I've gotten into Kona again. Not as far as I had before I reached the end of the playable part before completion, but I've poked around. Not a bad game. I like the quirky French Canadian accent of the narrator and the locals. I'm off to see the doctor's office for the first time since I restarted. I should be able to poke around much more now that the game's finished.

Arcanum was actually a pretty good game. I don't remember all that much about it, but I remember I enjoyed it. I don't think it was really any better than that Lionheart game that everyone panned. ...And I talked my way past the last encounter (and a lot of encounters) in Lionheart (or whatever it was called). I enjoyed Pillars 1. I enjoyed it a lot. It didn't make my top ten, but I did like it. If Obsidian doesn't get stuck in an Eternity rut, then I think another new setting would be great. I have yet to play Tyranny past the prologue, but I'm hoping I can try it again soon and see if it really grabs me this time. Nevertheless, whether or not I end up loving either Tyranny or Deadfire, I'd rather have a new idea than a sequel, spiritual or not. Except maybe the Lovecraftian game finally done right. That could work also.

I finally got back into just a little bit of gaming last week. I loaded up this sort of horror based walking sim called layers of fear to play with the wife. It's well done. hardly any puzzles or such, but it's still entertaining and the wife and I can enjoy it in short bouts. However, I have one glorious week of free time. Yeah, I need to fix some things around my house and change oil in the cars, (and make 10 gallons of brew), but other than that, I'm gaming, baby! To tide me over for today, I think I'll take a new look at KONA just to see if it was worth the dime I spent on it during development. After that? Who knows? Finish whichever dishonored game I'm playing? Buy something new? I. have. time! Woo Hoo!

So, I'm something called an ELM program. That stands for Entry Level Masters in nursing. The short'n skinny? I got my BAs a long time ago and I'm going into nursing after having lived a life of complete uselessness. The first part of the program, about 17 months, is licensure and ends in a BSN. Four semesters of class followed by one 16 week semester which is nothing more than studying for Kaplan in preparation for the NCLEX (although there's a 7 week period at the beginning for residency). During the last 9 weeks, after residency is over, you can start on your MSN studies although you're required to work in a clinical settings (ie hospital) while you're getting your MSN or they boot you out of the program. Altogether, it's a pretty tough program. Not the hardest academics I've faced, but it's pretty taxing on my aging grey cells nevertheless. Anyhow, today I took my last final: pathophysiology. First, let me get bragging out of the way. 4.0, baby! I know I know! Who cares about grades in the long run? Probably no one, but why not get good ones if you need to get them at all? Second, and more importantly, other than playing some sort of walking sim with the wife, I've been gameless for months. Hell, I didn't even play that until the end of last week when I knew I only had Patho on my plate. Today, I'm going to join my glorious gaming brothers and load up something new to play! Hot damn!

Yesterday, I had a patient who had several post-surgery issues. He had his call light on and I went in to see what he needed. He'd been constipated fifteen days, and he finally had a bowel movement after surgery. Because of the amount of feces and straining, I think he stimulated his vagus nerve which lowered his blood pressure precipitously. He wanted to go back to bed and I helped him up, which caused something called orthostatic hypotension. It immediately made him start to pass out. I held him up and calmly called out for some help and one of the mobility techs and a classmate came in and we got him in a chair. I took his blood pressure and it was 62/40 with a MAP of 52. You know what that means? Here's a hint, it's not good! I didn't leave the patient, but I did send people out to get my mentor nurse. I don't think she took the situation seriously until she got into the room and realized how low his blood pressure was. She immediately called the physician, and called again when he didn't answer. This guy was in serious danger. I guess I don't want to build it up too much, but it's gratifying that I didn't panic and kept my head. It's probably one of my few talents. I tell you what, I always say "don't panic," and I didn't, but I was... shall we say, a tad anxious. With all of five clinical days at the hospital doing things like injections, IVs, and vital signs, I can already think of things I could have done better. Things I should have done and maybe a couple of things I shouldn't have done. Still, after having one patient die on me right before I went in to do his vitals and having this patient almost tank on me, I'm actually at peace with my decision. I love clinical and I love my patients, even the ornery old bastards.

On eternity.obsidian.net you need to go to 'Username' - 'Manage Pledges' and confirm your pledge there. Once it says your pledge is confirmed there, you can redeem the code under the same area but 'My Products' (If either/neither is present, contact Obsidian) I didn't have the time to look into this until today, when I was convinced I would have to email support. As it turned out, I was just being stupid. Thanks so much for the assist. I'm now ready to download when it ships. I sincerely appreciate it, Silent Winter.

I signed in and I can see my pledge, but I can't seem to access the code. Hmmm, maybe I'll email Obsidian customer service. Thanks for responding, Silent Winter.

Hey, I backed this product. I think for the basic game, but I'm not sure now. Anyhow, I didn't think I needed to link it to my Obsidian account, which I didn't have at the time. Now it's a mess. I need to look to find the order confirmation and receipt, but will I have to link that order to an account here? It's not like I have *any* time to play the game for the next year or so, but I want to have it in my steam account at least.

Ha! PS:T takes first, Fallout 2 beats 1, and a great game I didn't vote for made it into the list (bloodlines)! If only BG2 had only been five with the Fallouts ahead, it would have been a perfect ending. Great job, algroth. Seriously, lots of fun and a pleasant way to waste some time. Kudos to you, man. This has made the time I've spent here well worth it. Keep up the good work, man!

So is the fact that you're a big jerkface!

I have as yet not played Alpha Protocol. It's supposed to be quite good. I would have liked to see New Vegas make it higher, but 8 is a decent showing. If I'm still a die hard Obsidian fan, it would only be because of MotB and New Vegas. I enjoyed Pillars quite a bit, but it was still disappointing. They kept the clichéd part of fantasy gaming, the elves, dwarves, and whatnot, and tinkered with the good part of fantasy gaming with combat that was too claustrophobic and rushed. It's a great system in theory, but simply lackluster in play and I'm certain was almost completely opaque to the majority of gamers. Didn't stop my from throwing a few shekels at Pillars 2, but I haven't even been following the development. Still, the excitement of the Pillars 1 development campaign was an experience like no other. I didn't vote for KotOR 2 because it really dropped off. Fun experience, and much more suspenseful and grim than 1, but not up there in the top 25. Looks like we get down to the same ol same ol of duking it out between Fallout or Fallout 2 being better, but there's no guarantee that either one will be the top dog in this particular list.

Yeah, colonization is a fun game. I picked it up on gog or steam a while back since my original is long gone.

Sadly nothing since I've been sick as a dog. Moreover, I have so much school work that piled up while I was ill I won't be doing anything other than that until the first day of class. Oh well, when I get the chance, I'll be finishing off Dishonored 2, Emily run. I'm at the second to the last scenario, at the palace setting up a meeting with my old friend, the duke.

I voted for Civ the original. I remember using a hex editor to make my settlers invulnerable with unlimited movement and won the game on my first turn by hunting down enemy settlers and killing them off. So much to do with the original civ. Then they went and made... granaries? barracks? Sometimes that was free of upkeep in the first game and they decided to tinker, the bastards! Still, I've had a lot of fun with various civ games over the years. I do think it's chintzy that super Sid decided not to give even a nod to the board game, which is truly awesome in it's own right. Yeah, I'm sure he'd never heard of it before he made his game. <.< X-com the original is simply splendid. Time to plan your next plebiscite, algroth? Maybe categories like "Which villain/hero is most clearly compensating for personal deficiencies?"

Well, I had a big one on this list and there were others could displace something else on a different day. IWD 1 and Portal for sure! I could not vote for MotB, but I'm damned glad folks did. It's one of the best games of all-time and really captures the feeling of P:ST better than any other game since, including ToN. It is a gem.

Brother, the story of my life!

Sorry, Pidesco, he does have accomplishments that even Never Trumpers applaud. Gorsuch, the Keystone Pipeline, regulatory roll-back, and the tax bill are accomplishments. They are accomplishments that the left might despise, but they are accomplishments nonetheless. For there to be a sincere debate, it would help if the left would concede that Trump has actually followed through with several campaign promises. You might not like them, but there it is. NB When I say sorry, I don't mean sorry to speak the truth, only that the truth can sometimes be harsh and, for that, I am sorry.

DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so, For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow, Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me. From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee, Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow, And soonest our best men with thee doe goe, Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie. Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell, And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well, And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then; One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally, And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die. John Donne Amazing how much our beasts become our family, especially for those of us not lucky enough to have children?

Marshalling my most cogent arguments: Bannon is a tool. yeah, so is Trump, but Trump has actually accomplished things. Bannon is just a dirt-bag who's shamelessly angling for glory. I'd bet he won't even be a ripple after the 2018 elections and, unless the Dems win big, he won't even be much of a ripple. I know there's unreasoning hatred for Trump, and dude brings it on himself, but he has accomplishments that people beyond his hardcore base cheer (sometimes even bravely enough to do it in public). Bannon has had some interesting and even good ideas, but he's worse than Trump. At least with Trump we all knew he was captive to his own vanity. With Bannon we're faced with someone who believes his vanity is patriotism. I'd take any one of you sorry wretched bastards who votes in every election, pays his taxes, and serves on juries all in anonymity over Bannon's self serving and self deluding brand of 'patriotism' any day. That said, no hard feelings and no sour grapes. Let the left laud the man they once despised and let Bannon bask in his fleeting glory. My take is that it will be short lived, but what do I know? We'll see whether I have a point eventually, I guess. Of course, if I'm right, most folks won't get the reference to Bannon because they'll have all but forgotten about him. A fate that wouldn't bother me at all but would be tragic in his eyes, to be sure.

Bioshock! Nice. Also, I thought I HalfLife 2 in my list. Must have been the first one I included, but 2 is probably better so it should have gotten the nod. Then there's Heroes of Might and Magic III, which probably should have taken the place of one of the three submissions I made for Might and Magic titles. Three RPGs and no Heroes was something with which I struggled and I'm still not sure I made the right choice. I wasn't a fan of Ultima VII, but I was a huge fan of the earlier ones and Quest for the Avatar deserved a place on my list. If there deficiencies in my judgment, it's good to see there are others to smooth out the wrinkles.

I had a college friend who introduced me to Kingdom Hearts on her console. It looked fun, but I didn't have the console and never got the game, but it looked cool. It's old though, if I'm right, because that was a long time ago.

I loved the single player in Diablo 2 and, in fact, almost preferred to play it alone. That was never true of Diablo, where I would always get lan parties going to play. I remember one time there were... five? Maybe four of us all together in the dining room together playing Diablo. Diablo 2 had a lot going for it. Diablo 3, however, I detest with an inhuman intensity and I wish I hadn't bought it. I'm sad that the only game I voted to the list is Blood Money so far. A lot of games that were really close, but the only one I voted in so far is Blood Money. I thought maybe X-com, but it was the remake, not the original.

Oh, yeah, I read this stuff on my phone while I'm waiting in line or whatnot and my comprehension isn't all that great. I also think it's great when you just want to plow through more bad guys and the good guys are getting in your way. Nothing is more realistic in computer games than people who are ostensibly on your side hindering your efforts and sometimes trying to get you to help with schemes against other people who are ostensibly on your side. It's like dinner at my in-laws all over again.