A Bit of Gobbling Before Turkey

Well, it's been a while, dear blog o' mine, but I'm back.

The world has been a rather busy though moderately forgiving place of late, and I still have a mountain of work ahead of me in the coming few weeks; tomorrow (technically today, i suppose) will be the beginning of the last push to climb this monster. Fortunately, the past few days have been mostly relaxing thanks to the just-in-the-nick-of-time arrival of Thanksgiving break.

I'm not sure if it was the workload or something else, but by the time this past weekend had rolled around your humble blogger had entered a rather nasty patch of the ol' melancholy. Even going out did not reverse these effects--quite the reverse, in fact. It was not the jolliest of birthday weekends, and the prospect of spending eight working hours with the most anal-retentive person I have ever met on my actual birthday was not exactly the type of thing to bring me out of this little slump. But by the end of the 19th of November, I'd eaten a good meal and managed to regain some perspective on life.

In the interval of time between then and now, I've discovered two new joys:

The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler -- I'd heard plenty about Chandler and, with some excess time and money to kill, I decided it was about time to find out about the master of "hard-boiled" detective fiction myself. I'm only about half-way through, but I think I may be hooked. I've already been somewhat inspired; I've had a film noir idea kicking around my head for a while now, and reading this has convinced me that it's time to move forward. Next semester, "Alternative Narrative," it's going to be a noir.

Mass Effect -- Last year, when I made the decision to go with the Xbox 360, this game was a major deciding factor. The preview videos showcased the spectacular graphics, and Bioware has one hell of a reputation for making great RPGs. Some less than enthusiastic stories about the world that was created, and my growing anathema for shooter mechanics, had me just about ready to write this one off no more than a couple weeks ago...then I saw the new trailers. And then I saw the reviews. And then I said to hell with it and bought the damn game. It may not have the most original universe--pretty much every semi-successful sci-fi brand of the past thirty years is reflected in some aspect of the game's design--but I'll be damned if it isn't engrossing. Hell, even the shooting is fun again because there's an actual story and strategy that goes into it. If you have a 360 or just know someone with a 360 that you can play on...go buy this game. Now. You won't regret it. That is, unless you don't like games with stories. Or games in general. Or grandma.

Anyway, that's a decent summation of the past few days. Down then up with much relaxation. But all good things must come to an end, and tomorrow I've really got to start writing my struggling little heart out. Ironic that during Thanksgiving break, the day I finally buckle down to begin my work is none other than Thanksgiving itself. Of course, as long as I eat hearty then the holiday is still fulfilled, is it not?

Thanking my lucky stars. You probably know who you are.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.