Feeling Ways About Stuff #1

So I recently purchased Mirror's Edge For the xbox 360.

Quite frankly, after experiencing the superb quality of this game I don't think I could play another game containing parkour, and will forever wish that all first person shooters will henceforth allow the player to wall-run-into-a-forward-roll-over-a-railing-into-a-leg-slide-while-blasting-people-with-some-exotic-gun.

Parkour games have come out in the past, but all have been from the third person perspective rather than the first person perspective. This is where I feel Mirror's edge has really made an interesting leap (punny, right?). The gameplay perspective in this game creates a kind of pilot/co-pilot feel, where the player works with the character, Faith, instead of controlling her. Instead of watching your character do the action, the player experiences a sensation of doing the action himself, and from her first step is intensely more connected with Faith and her victories. 

By piloting Faith through her own eyes, the player is limited by her perspective. The primary difficulties lie in seeing where enemies are, how many you are facing, and where you need to go to get away. When crowded alleyways of armed guards are trying to gun you down it creates a seriously tense "run first ask questions later" mode of gameplay. Simultaneous to these tense moments comes the enrichment of finding a route, doing some fancy wall-kicking, and getting the hell away. All the while that connection to the character is reinforced, you either perish together or fail togeher.

All in all, the game was worth its $64 price tag, and with the DLC coming out soon the longevity of this gem is further increased. If you've got a console and are in need of some fun, go stimulate our downturned economy and pick this one up.

Subsistence Methods of a Broke College Student

People keep handing me free food.

Yesterday, I didn't have to sit through my final class starving as usual because one of the students brought in a huge bowl of free tamales. They were authentic, home made, filled with chicken, and delicious. There were somewhere around 50 in the bowl so I didn't feel bad about having two.

Later, my friend (after minimal coercion on my part) bought me a thai iced tea.

Later that day I made some breadsticks at my place of business  before starting work, and

because I work in a restaurant dinner last night was free.

This morning when stopping off at the chinese restaurant that I frequent, the owner lady asked me how my day was going, and then proceeded to comp my pork fried rice.

On the way back from class today, I bumped into another friend who all but stuffed a piece of homemade cake into my hands. It was tasty.

People keep handing me free food. And I like it.

Also, check out the new "Funny Cat Picture of the Week" link at the bottom of the page. This link will be updated every monday.

Like the samurai? Let's call him Yuri. Though a russian sounding name, the construction of 'Yuri' as a word follows the Japanese phonetic rule of 'consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel' where a word must end in a vowel sound unless that word ends with an 'n' sound.

Now Departing Your Comfort Zone

"Yeah, so I was a little upset about it, but in the end It doesn't really matter."
"Well, why don't you do the same?"

"You're right...What are you doing tonight?"

"Going to dinner, why?"

"We should do something."

"Are you being serious?"

"Yeah... Like half. Don't worry, you don't have to answer me. Just think about it."

Bodes pretty well for me, no?

My Car Accident

So last night I was driving home at 1:30 a.m. In the fog. On a narrow road. I was probably speeding. Sounds like a nice stew of circumstances, right?

Out of nowhere this gray and white cat darted at my car, seemingly bent on throwing himself under my driver side tire.

"Shit-"

I jerked the wheel right. The cat kept coming. It was at this point that I remember experiencing the choice of whether or not I should just run him over. Almost simultaneously to that thought I felt awful for thinking it. I jerked the wheel right again, running my car into a ditch. 

Pumping the brakes, I slammed into a slab of concrete with a drainage pipe sticking through it. The sound of the impact was what I had always thought it would be; a sudden smack of metal, plastic, and concrete which, for an instant, consumed everything I could hear. Before I knew it I was stopped.

"Fuck."

A strange stillness ensued for but a second. Through it I saw the cat skittering away into the shadows.

I pulled my car onto the road and got out, flashing my hazards. It was like somebody had slit the Mort-Mobile's throat. Steam rose in the cold air, yellow in the flashing signals, as hot radiator fluid spilled across the concrete from my car's undercarriage. The sweetly humid smell of warm coolant was in my nose.

"Damn."

I got back in and finished the short remainder of my commute. The coolant light flashed, beeping very audibly three times.

"Really?" was my response.

I got home and hugged my cat, thankful he is both an indoor cat, and not nearly as stupid as myself or the feline involved. 

I went to bed.

Now my car is missing a quarter of its bumper. It looks as if it's grinning with a broken tooth. Unfortunately, the last thing my car needs is more "character". 

Yesterday in a discussion among friends, the topic of being resolved over death before it occurs came up. Now it's not my intention to be morbid. In fact, I feel that being resolved about death this way ultimately creates a better quality of life. Yet it requires immense focus and incredible discipline to live like you are dead.

The ability to live only in each moment is a difficult feat to accomplish, yet it's rewards are many. It requires those who hold their lives in highest regard to abandon those egocentric ideals, and fits them with a clear view of the bigger picture. From this vantage one can better understand the position, or function in some instances, that she should most suitably adopt. For when one eliminates personal gain from the equation of life, the virtues by which all people live show through, and in their light it is difficult to be steered awry. Yet only in this light can one truly come to recognize both the personal truth of her life, and also of that which is happening around her. It is here, in the ambiance of virtue, that an individual finds enlightenment, and will know how to advance. For here the light of these truths, no longer dimmed by everyday distraction and personal involvement, shines bright and warm upon the one who has given her life no better thought than the rest.

Yet without that resolution, that understanding that life is fleeting, the truth of light will forever shine dully, and the virtues that unite all people will be hidden, fracturing both our understanding and compassion for one another.

My dream

Last night I had a dream where Flighty by Night brought me a cardboard box containing her dead great grandmother. She was positioned in the box the same way the Inca buried their dead; sitting with knees against chest, arms around knees, wrapped in fabrics. Flighty wanted me to bury her grandmother's dirty skeleton in my backyard, but wanted none other to be aware of it. Of course I obliged. A friend in need is a friend indeed, right?

Pizza to go

I gave my two weeks at the local pizzeria where I work today. This, after I had a trial day working with deaf youths. Quite a career change, and the job isn't even secure yet. I figure I could go out of my comfort zone and do something a bit risky. I don't, after all, want to become too much a creature of habit. We'll see how all of this pans out, and of course I'll keep you guys posted (all two of you).

A Silly Morning

So here I am, December first (Rabbit Rabbit), stressing about a math test, yet all I can think about is this morning.
While feeding my mother's enormous Arabian horses this morning I turned just in time to catch Sinder-Bey, the oldest of the three, letting loose a thick stream of dark brown urine in the immediate area of the hay I'd just thrown down for her to eat. This was the closest I've hitherto been to a urinating horse and now fully understand the expression 'piss like a racehorse'. Come to think of it, I had to move away to avoid splash damage.
By no means will I make the claim of being a 'morning person', in fact I'm probably the farthest from it. Which probably explains why I just stood there like an idiot until she was done, nodded my head, and took my little siblings to school. Now that I've woken up, however I find this experience resounding in my psyche. So much so that I felt sharing it was necessary.