Across the room,
I stop and stare,
I wonder is it me
you are smiling at.
The lights go dim,
and then I think,
should I go
over there?
The music slows,
my feet go cold,
a shiver down my spine.
The night moves on,
it comes to an end,
I’m all alone again.
I wish I could hit rewind.
“Did you hear?”
Old Ma Higgins
is at it again,
the cookie crumbs
the fresh
baked buns.
Her dainty dress,
she’s not
makeup-less.
Fresh bought roses,
she’s on her tip-toes!
“Ah. Someone is in
love again.”
How I’ve been getting increasingly busier lately. It’s kinda like an exponential curve of work. Things pile up. I’m still breathing though. Getting through things.
Life has been great by the way my dwindling readers. Things have been peachy.
Lets start with work. Some of you might know that I’ve been tutoring the A Levels syllabus for a few years now. One of my students, one that I won’t mention, was scoring in the 50s in his middle year exams. He’s latest exam, he came up top in his year group. Quite stoked about it. Even though I know it’s 99% him, and almost none of my doing.
Uni is uni. For the most part I quite enjoy all the papers this semester save one. Industrial automation, a fourth year paper, that is quite the pain in the butt. At least we get to program a robot to cut out Styrofoam cars at the end of the semester XD. Holidays are coming around too. Something to look forward to.
On the relationship front, I definitely wish I did better with keeping up with some old friends, I try. Okay? Been meeting new people. For the most part the people around me have been cool. Awesome bunch to hang with.
O yes. Got a new pair of runners for indoor use. New Balance Zip.
Looks quite neat. But to be perfectly honest. Asics is king with support and shock absorbing. Just that New Balance is considerably cheaper I guess. And didn’t feel like forking out that kinda money for a pair of Asics. Shoes in NZ aren’t cheap… Bah. I wish I could get a pair of Kayanos or GT2110s from Malaysia right now… wishful thinking. Definitely prefer Asics to New Balance, I don’t care what people say… stupid New Balance sales people. They’ve got the fit, but in every other aspect, it’s not that great. And I just realized I was ranting on about shoes. Stopped going to the gym and picked up running. Had some progress, then regressed a bit. This post seems a lot more like me droning.
Today, by which I mean yesterday, I invited (read: coaxed) two of my friends to watch a movie. In case you haven’t guessed, I am being sucked into a vortex of geekdom (and add that on top of posting in a site called… Azngeek) and planned to watch Star Wars. In the last minute, I changed my mind and got tickets for Wanted because I sensed that animated people tagging each other with bright glowing sticks will not appeal to non-geeks. Displease my friends I must not…
Now that’s where the post-worthy material comes in.
Problem: There are three of us and I have a pocketful of vouchers that read: “Two tickets for $20″.
Solution: Simple. See that guy over there all alone, getting a ticket? Ask him to team up with you so you can get cheap tickets. Hahaha, yeah. Behind me, there is a group of 3. Great. I’ve got more than enough vouchers! Really. I then proceed to offer them one of the vouchers anyway for talking to me deigning to talk to me. I like to please karma. Hah!
Result: I ended up paying extra money for the third ticket. (Actually, one of my friends did. I’ll make it up to him one day.) And guess what? I got even more of those vouchers. I gave away all my old ones to a couple. So the key is to not team up and people will gladly take them. If you so much as offer an alliance, they will be completely defensive and reject any further offers from you.
I have a fascination for old games. Some of them like Star Control 2 and KGB because I played them while I was young. Some like XCOM because veteran gamers worship them and I heard so much of them I finally gave them a whirl, some 10+ years after they were made. I wouldn’t get on my knees and worship the holy 5¼-inch magnetic halo for being artifacts harbingering bliss on earth but the games are remarkable. More than what you can say for modern games which have a simple trend: Longer development time, greater development cost, less content.
Old games do tend to have a common trait. They are Hard. Perhaps a better way of putting it is the game does a good job of killing you. Just think of Hugo and the number of ways you can break the game. Have an elephant sit on the stream. Drop your matches into the river. Fall into a 2D cliff. Really.
Perhaps the difference between old and modern games is that after that happens, you are more compelled to start over than thrash your keyboard.*
______________
* This doesn’t apply to everthing. Metal Gear 1 and Metal Gear 2 are both annoying I think. Dropping players to the beginning and forcing them to go through all the traps again without warning is not cool.
In a way, I need a change
From this burnout scene
Another time, another town
Another everything
But it’s always back to you
Stumble out, in the night
From the pouring rain
Made the block, sat and thought
There’s more I need
It’s always back to you
But I’m good without ya
Yeah, I’m good without you
Yeah, yeah, yeah
How many times can I break till I shatter?
Over the line can’t define what I’m after
I always turn the car around
Give me a break let me make my own pattern
All that it takes is some time but I’m shattered
I always turn the car around
I had no idea that the night
Would take so damn long
Took it out, on the street
While the rain still falls
Push me back to you
But I’m good without ya
Yeah, I’m good without you
Yeah, yeah, yeah
How many times can I break till I shatter?
Over the line can’t define what I’m after
I always turn the car around
Give me a break let me make my own pattern
All that it takes is some time but I’m shattered
I always turn the car around
Oohhh…
Give it up, give it up, baby
Give it up, give it up, now
Now…
How many times can I break till I shatter?
Over the line can’t define what I’m after
I always turn the car around
All that I feel is the realness I’m faking
Taking my time but it’s time that I’m wasting
Always turn the car around
How many times can I break till I shatter?
Over the line can’t define what I’m after
I always turn the car around
Don’t wanna turn that car around
I gotta turn this thing around
A toast,
To the dieing breeze,
the wilting trees,
To the setting sun,
an end of a season.
To the laughter
of little girls,
dancing with their
pretty twirls.
To the park fights,
of little boys,
stealing toys!
To an end of an age.
A second decade.
I’m getting old.
Allow me to speak freely,
and say the words of
how I love thee,
more than the depth,
the height, the breadth,
in which my soul knows,
more than my everydays,
my tomorrows,
my yesterdays.