Besides the fact I needed two days to recover from my birthday celebrations, this week could be summed up in one word – average.
This is how average my week was – I was able to stand in front of my television and time how long it took to start up. I’m not kidding. It took 8 minutes, an alarming amount of time, but it does seem like my first full-time work “go on, spoil yourself” purchase is on its last legs. Samsung came out to check on it and said I would need to replace two boards and that they would send me a quote. Exciting times this week, people. I could’ve sworn I just heard a collective thunk of heads onto desks out of sheer boredom.
Incidental music in films. I’ll write about that for a little while. Watching Thor, you would not have been remiss to not have noticed this, but the scene where Thor and Stellan are drinking at the bar, Foo Fighters ‘Walk’ is playing in the background. This scene happens right after Thor has realised the limitations he faces while exiled on earth and the possibility that he will be stuck there forever, ie, coming to terms with the chance that he will have to live out a simple existence. The lyrics, playing in the background…
Learning to walk again
I believe I’ve waited long enough
Where do I begin?
See, I don’t have that much of a problem with incidental music in films. At least these days it’s a bit more reserved, unlike the glory days of say, Flashdance and ‘Maniac’ by Michael Sembello. That’s one thing I kind of miss about the ’80s, songs being written specifically for films. Kind of like Cyndi Lauper’s The Goonies ‘R Good Enough. I mean, who in their right mind would actually write that song? Or Joe Esposito’s You’re the Best and The Karate Kid (You know, when he actually learnt karate, not kung fu – not that I’m bitter or anything). That last example was a particularly awesome level of cheese, though. You could put that song on before anything to get pumped up about it – changing your socks could never be more epic.
As part of my self-allocated birthday gifts, I purchased a video game – Shadows of the Damned. Wait, I should clarify this statement – from a retail store in Australia. Anyone who shops online will now how much of a rarity this actually is these days, because, well, we get fucking pantsed when it comes to pricing of video games here in Australia. Call it what you will, justify it anyway you want – economies of scope, person per capita, export taxes, stingy retailers, greedy game companies – it’s fucked. But yes, on this rare occasion I was able to get a relatively brand-new release from a retail store for cheaper than I could online. I was flabbergasted. Shocked. Appalled. Magically transported into an alternate universe where beans wear hats and swallow gumdrop-shaped pieces of stardust. Anyhow, back to Shadows of the Damned.
For those of you in the know (and those of you not in the know) this game is a collaboration between two of the greatest minds in video games today – Suda 51 and Shinji Mikami. The game is balls-out crazy. Imagine a very simple scenario whereby the protagonist’s girlfriend is taken to hell and he has to rescue her. Simple, right? Yeah, until you start having to feed strawberries to babies faces in order to unlock a door. That’s just the tip of the nutso iceberg. The further you descend into hell, the nuttier mcnutsalot the game becomes.
While on the topic of video games, I finally got around to checking out Mana Bar that recently opened on Brunswick Street. I’d heard a lot about the place and was pleased at the idea of a video game-themed bar being open in Melbourne. I was concerned, though, that because I’ve become so jaded as a gamer, that I might get no joy from it whatsoever. After my first visit, I’m not quite sure where I stand. On one hand, the company I was with there was awesome, so the experience was awesome because it was four of us sitting around drinking and playing video games. What’s not to like about that? The time we were at the bar, however, there was nobody else around, which kind of make it feel like I was playing video games and drinking, but I just wasn’t at home. Hmmm, I’ve decided that more visits are in order with awesome company before I make up my mind on whether I am for or against such an establishment existing.
See, video games have always been a rather niche market – no doubt most people have played a variety of video games over their lifetime, but for me to describe the absolute joy that was spent playing The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on the SNES for the first time or indescribable hours spent playing Diablo II online would not compute to everybody, nor could I accurately convey the experience I had in a way that it could be regarded as meaningful for those of you not hip to all things electronic.
The reason this blog entry is a little later than previous ones is because my laptop decided to stop charging on Friday night. It’s not a problem with the power supply, something has gone wrong with the DC-IN socket. I can hear you all screaming, “Why is this of any importance at all?”
Well, because I had two assessment pieces due today. One of these assessment pieces had been completed in its entirety on said laptop.
What’s that, Paul? Panic in…
3.
2.
1.
…
Seriously, I wish I understood exactly why I don’t ever really stress out. Here I was, faced with a situation that I really didn’t think I could overcome, so what do I do? Decide to relax for the night and worry about it the following day, which left me less time to actually solve said problem. A solution presented itself that I won’t bore you the details of, but needless to say, everything turned out fine and both assessments were done and handed in.
Work has been relentlessly busy of late and I’m currently group leader for three different groups at uni, ensuring that lines of communication remain open, deadlines and task allocations are being met. Yet what do I do? Treat everyone as kindly as I can, smile politely, laugh, enjoy my life and carry on.
I.
Don’t.
Get.
It.
I can handle stressful situations just fine. This is OK. But for situations that should cause a definite spike in my stress levels, causing a flurry of swear words to be emitted faster than those generic sound effects in a chaotic Shaw Bros. fight scene, I just kind of shrug and think about doing something else until a realistic solution presents itself or I come up with one. Stress just doesn’t seem to register at the moment.
I think the only solution at this point is to throw me into a war zone with no weapons carrying a ghetto blaster pumping out Harold Faltermeyer’s Axel F so loud I’m wearing soundproof headphones so I don’t end up going deaf. And when the bullets start flying, I dance a merry jig.
OH! Something I almost forgot to mention, my gradual return to fitness is carrying on well. I just need to get back on a damn basketball court already. Since March this year, I’ve lost 6.5kg. I know that may seem like a long time to lose a relatively small amount of weight, but to be honest, I’ve only had time to really work out once a week and the rest is a steady balance of good sleep, good eating (except for last Saturday – kebabs at 3:30am after a ridiculous amount of alcohol having been consumed) and remaining active.
Considering the title of this entry, I still managed to rack up 1,300 plus words. Wordwanking FTW.