Raithe

Dungeons and Dragons at 40 years old

Because most days I get dressed pretty soon as I get up, and don't jump into computer games for hour after hour..

I felt like not being an adult today. So I stayed in my pj's and darth sideous robe, had a cup of tea, a muffin, and played computer games.

If you ignore the fact that there were so many daddy issues going on, on a case by case basis the individual missions were pretty damn good in ME2. It's just the overarching game plot that it kind of fell apart. You got the slight teaser on that Dark Energy side of things, but that fell through when writers changed. That, and you needed a "bridger" dlc to translate from the end of ME2 to the start of ME3. As a whole, the trilogy had a lot more good, fun moments then bad. It just wasn't too logically consistent, and the finale just never matched up with the expectations that got built up (that and the initial go-round pretty much sucked). Forget the War Assets, forget the shoe-horned multi-player aspect, forget the daddy issues, forget the long elevator rides, forget the planet scanning.... You had a lot of very shiny moments in the three games. By the end of it, you pretty much can say you got your moneys worth out of buying them.

True, but he pretty much acted just like Shepard. Thought he had a purpose and an understanding of the problem no-one else did. Check. Thought the fate of humanity rested on his shoulders. Check. Had a vision of how to solve the situation. Check. Was willing to make the hard calls to get there. Check. Inspired loyalty in the majority of those who followed him. Check. Had no problem breaking the rules to achieve what he wanted. Check (even Paragon Shepard did that). Shepard just did it with a small crew. The Illusive Man did it with a whole organisation and one massive bank roll.

Hm, not sure why but the last half of this week I've been struggling to find my oomph, feeling quite flat, and keep having bouts of exhaustion kick in by early evening.

I wonder if the argument could be made that ME2 throws you into the middle of Cerberus to add a touch more oomph to it, so you can connect to it more then just the "Black Ops that went Rogue" in ME1, and provides a touch more depth for seeing how they lose their way (so to speak) in ME3 by thinking they can control the Reapers, and that's the way to defend humanity. Hm, if you look at it with a bit of squint..actually.. Shepard has a point of view and perspective on what the problem is and how it should be solved. The character is willing to do a whole heap of things to achieve those goals and what they're willing to sacrifice to get to the end. The Illusive Man is exactly the same. He has his perspective of what the problem is and how to solve it. He is Shepard, just one in a mastermind role with an organisation rather then a "lone" wolf with a small crew and single ship.

Hm, it was on weird news stories that it got put up..

Although the increase in electronics makes it a whole heap more difficult to self-repair. Case in point, my dad has a Golf GTI with a mildly modified engine that's got to be going for nearly 30 years old now. Every couple of months he has it up on the drive over a weekend as he has to fix something, but it still runs smoothly. Compared to my mother's Renault people carriers that's just a few years old, but whenever it has a problem it HAS to go to a dealer because there's always fancy electronics involved that you can't fix yourself.

Woke up with a headache. Pretty much stayed in bed most of the morning. Dragged myself out for a cup of tea and some aspirin times. Going to see what my brain kicks over as I try to sort out what I should spend the afternoon doing.

Sounds like a John Ringo book But Ringo normally puts in a fair chunk of humour with it.

Been reading through a few papers, trying to understand things a bit better. Poked at some work, and then my brain just shut down at some point this afternoon. I've been all "okay, I know what I should be doing, but suddenly none of it's making sense and I have no clue where to start." Now it's barely half eight and I'm already yawning for the Olympics. Need a cup of tea and find out where my va-va-voom went.

1) When I die, I want to die like my grandfather--who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in his car." --Author Unknown 2) Advice for the day: If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle: "Take two" and "Keep away from children." --Author Unknown 3) "Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar." --Drew Carey 4) "The problem with the designated driver program, it's not a desirable job, but if you ever get sucked into doing it, have fun with it. At the end of the night, drop them off at the wrong house." --Jeff Foxworthy 5) "If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there is a man on base." --Dave Barry 6) "Relationships are hard. It's like a full time job, and we should treat it like one. If your boyfriend or girlfriend wants to leave you, they should give you two weeks' notice. There should be severance pay, and the day before they leave you, they should have to find you a temp." --Bob Ettinger 7) "My Mom said she learned how to swim when her parents took her out in the lake and threw her off the boat. I said, 'Mom, they weren't trying to teach you how to swim.'" --Paula Poundstone "A study in the Washington Post says that women have better verbal skills than men. I just want to say to the authors of that study: "Duh." --Conan O'Brien 9) "Why does Sea World have a seafood restaurant?? I'm halfway through my fish burger and I realize, Oh my God.... I could be eating a slow learner." --Lynda Montgomery 10) "I think I know how Chicago got started. Bunch of people in New York said, 'Gee, I'm enjoying the crime and the poverty, but it just isn't cold enough. Let's go west.'" --Richard Jeni 11) "If life were fair, Elvis would be alive and all the impersonators would be dead." --Johnny Carson 12) "Sometimes I think war is God's way of teaching us geography." --Paul Rodriguez 13) "My parents didn't want to move to Florida , but they turned sixty and that's the law." --Jerry Seinfeld 14) "Remember in elementary school, you were told that in case of fire you have to line up quietly in a single file line from smallest to tallest. What is the logic in that? What, do tall people burn slower?" --Warren Hutcherson 15) "Bigamy is having one wife/husband too many. Monogamy is the same." --Oscar Wilde 16) "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." --Mark Twain 17) "Our bombs are smarter than the average high school student! At least they can find Afghanistan ." --A. Whitney Brown 18) "You can say any foolish thing to a dog, and the dog will give you a look that says, 'My God, you're right! I never would've thought of that!'" --Dave Barry 19) Do you know why they call it "PMS"? Because "Mad Cow Disease" was taken. --Unknown, presumed deceased 20) "Everybody's got to believe in something. I believe I'll have another beer." -- W. C. Fields

For the general interest.. BBC News - Netherlands Court orders end to Pirates Bay Ban

TheNation - Verizon, FCC and what you need to know about Net Neutrality

This one just amused me.. http://youtu.be/8sx5fDGbVoQ http://youtu.be/2Bls1KKDwmo

I'm not sure why but I spent most of Monday crashing. Felt completely exhausted most of the day, and managed an early night, then woke up this morning and just dozed for an hour before actually stirring myself to face the day.

So Woldan, what do you think of that HIIT exercise regime that's been turning popular/trendy the last year or so? Short bursts of high-intensity interval training several times a week rather then hour long training sessions and all of that...

NYTimes - NSA Puts a furry smiley face on its mission "Just remember kids: Every month should be cybersecurity awareness month. No matter what the NSA tells you."

But exercise is 90% mental. So I'm working on that 90% right now.. and I'll get to the physical at some point in the near future... On a serious note, I find it hard these days to sort out time and money to get to a gym on any regular way. And frankly, if you can't make it a regular occurrence, it's pretty damn pointless. As such, I try to blend in exercises I can do around the house and during my daily routines. So while it might not make a great hour of cardio or anything.. Some walking briskly up and down the hills on extra long routes or circuits when going shopping. Jumping jacks or some other type of basic physical exercise while waiting for the kettle to boil.. Getting out a 100 squats as I brush my teeth. Having some weight near my computer so I can do shoulder raises or such like when I take a short breather from work while I'm sat there.

Clive Owen, Christopher Walken, and David Warner in one piece of cheesy, classic 90's game play.. http://youtu.be/ET6UEXAmc68

I think in general it was pretty much the strongest all the way around. I think the plot/character development was very nicely done. It was the strongest in the series in my opinion. I'd say it was the strongest all the way around for the series.

Reading more background materials, and refining this presentation. Think I've got a better grasp on it now. Also, this month has seen two ex's get back into communication with me at the same time, and both say similar sorts of things which is just a touch weird. One of which apparently has a husband who really dislikes me and who deleted my birthday from all of her calendars. I'm not sure if I should empathise with that, or feel my ego is stroked.

Heh. I think the classic I've heard is the rumours that the 5.56 was designed on purpose so it's more likely to wound then to kill, and thereby result in a further drain on the enemies resources. Of course, that tends to be from the same people who say things like "The USA started going downhill when they began to use weapons that were designed to piss off the enemy rather then kill them."

Wrapped up AC: Black Flag. They do seem to be trying to push the emotional buttons on that ending. The song being sung by the irish lass, the ship sailing into the horizon, the young daughter turning up, I get the feeling they were ticking off a check list.