Oddball Update

Since I frequently seem to utilize this space for rambling about a series of unrelated topics, I figured it might be a good idea to standardize the titles of such updates so they are easier to pick out of a lineup — specifically, my Archives page, where the only hint you get as to whether a post is of any interest to you is its title. And so, welcome to the first edition of Ramblings. Dateline: June 3rd, 2006.

“All Other Priorities are Rescinded.”

I watched Alien again this past week, for the first time in many years. It was the remastered Director’s Cut DVD with extra footage and what-not, and it looked truly stunning. Another great film in the Alien series, that. Actually, perhaps I should say “the” other great film, since it (and its sequel, Aliens) were in a totally different league than the third and fourth installments…a league of non-suckitude, to be precise. Anyway, I enjoyed seeing Ash spitting milk all over the place, Ripley cursing (which still seems weird, somehow) and all those really, really old computers that were supposed to look high-tech! Definitely dated, but great stuff nonetheless.

Continuing the Alien theme, I carried out one of my theats from the last update and actually reinstalled Aliens vs. Predator 2, the PC game. Wow…maybe it’s just me, but it has not exactly aged well. Sure, it’s built on basically the same tech as NOLF which was a great game in its time, but somehow it just seemed antiquated. Which is strange, because when I first played AvP2 I remember being completely sucked in by the total immersion. I guess newer tech has spoiled me. I actually did play for an hour, just for old times’ sake, then uninstalled it.

Working All The Time

My workload has been pretty heavy pretty much since the beginning of the year, and there’s no sign of it letting up just yet. During my day job I’m bogged down with huge, tedious projects that seem to never get any closer to finished no matter how much you peck at them. On the side, I’ve dealt with sometimes three or four extra projects simultaneously. It’s down to just one now, after wrapping up this season’s bikini website revisions earlier today. My sole remaining project, meanwhile, isn’t too far along yet. The timetable is aggressive and this is only phase one of two.

Truth be told, I’m getting exhausted. More mentally than physically, but the physical toll is beginning to creep in. Some of it I brought on myself, sneaking in an hour or two of PC gaming, story writing or web browsing when I should otherwise be sleeping. But with no time for such things otherwise, I’ve felt compelled to steal from the wee hours lately. It hasn’t been good for me, and never has that been more clear than today. I’m tired, my left eye is irritated and swollen and I’ve had a headache since this same time twelve hours ago. I’m about ready to hit the sack and sleep it off — God knows I need it.

I’ve already shut off the “incoming work” valve, but it’ll take at least a couple more months of effort before I can bail all of this standing water out of the boat. After that, I’m planning to put the side jobs on hold until we move into our new house. Moving is a big job in and of itself, and it needs to be my top priority when the time comes. I’m hoping my friends up north will be able and willing to take charge of the prospective jobs I know I’ll be asked about during those months. There are some organizational things our team needs to discuss on that front, first.

June is PC Gaming Month

Assuming I can grab a few hours here and there to enjoy it, I’m going to make June the official Oddball PC Gaming Month. That is, the month in which I embrace my PC roots and play the hell out of some old favorites from recent years, including Doom 3 and its expansion pack; F.E.A.R. (reviewed right here at Oddball Update last year); Painkiller; and even some new classics, like Half-Life 2 and the just-released HL2: Episode 1, as well as the freaky Call of Cthulhu I mentioned a couple posts back.

After several straight months of Xbox360 enjoyment, the supply of exciting new games for the console seemed to dry up, and I found myself wandering back to PC land. Rather than go ultra retro-grade, I reinstalled games from more recent memory, including the ones above, and was pleasantly surprised to find nary a crash in sight when I got back to playing them. Taking advantage of this special time in my PC’s lifecycle, when it has apparently decided not to fuck with me, I’ve reclaimed that PC game fascination and realized that yes, when things work, PC games often do beat the hell out of console schlock.

It will be with great pleasure that I finish off HL2, thoroughly creep myself out with F.E.A.R. and take another run through the UAC Mars Base in Doom 3. As some of the greatest PC titles in the last three years, these A-list names are the kind of games you keep around, going back for more every time the memories begin to fade. (No, I didn’t mention System Shock 2, one of the best games of all time, but only because I went back through that one not so long ago!)

That’s all for today. Tune in next time for another random assemblage of loosely related thoughts.

Categorized as Randomness