| Life Update |
[Apr. 18th, 2008|05:11 pm] |
Last Friday (was it really a week ago?) was my grandmother's funeral. Although I always called her "Grandmama" from my mom's suggestion "Grandmaman", which definitely suited her desire to be Upscale, Hip and Cultured despite any and all roadblocks. Overall, the event went well: a small, intimate, thoroughly desanitized memorial service at the local Unitarian church, full of relatives I hadn't seen in many years and cousins who were way older than I remembered them. My dad's crazy family is mellowing out with age, much like he has - my uncle Stephen has moved back from Brazil and plans to send his daughter to prep school, my uncle Matthew is almost able to hold conversations and even made some appropriate comments at his trademark earsplitting volume, my lesbian aunt Angela is turning out just like any other soccer mom, etc. Afterwards, we went out for Chinese (in honor of the recently deceased, who would take kids to 7-11 for breakfast instead of making pancakes). It wasn't entirely unexpected, but my dad took it pretty hard, especially since if old Marney can't live alone he'll have to move in with us.
That Saturday, there was the FCS Gala, the big yearly fundraiser for my choir. It was super awkward, since the main attraction was a silent auction, meaning that most of the stuff was way out of my price range and the young hip people were in their 40s. The band was having lots of fun playing jazz standards though, and I got to sing a number as part of a trio doing "I Could Write a Book" (not one of Sinatra's better moments, but charmingly cheesy in trio format). Unfortunately, that number was at 10:30 and I got there at 7:15, so there wasn't much to do except grab repeated munchies and wish I had lots of spending money.
On Sunday, the Royers were once again nice enough to invite Austin and I to the regular college-student lunch, which has since grown to include 20-somethings, ambitious 16-year-olds, and any of the Royers' adult friends who feel like coming. It's a very convivial, social atmosphere, marred only slightly by the high school contingent of raging dorks who, under the tutelage of New Hope's many techie fathers, are just as lame as I was at that age. I hope they are having just as much fun as I had.
The week past has been largely uneventful, although I have been spending way too much money lately, and I did finally cajole my dad into letting me teach him Magic. (Yes, I own Magic cards now, although they are Ravnica block only, on a strict budget, so I don't plan to fall into the Nerd Zone any more than I have to.) Surprisingly, he really liked it - the great moment of the night being when I cast a counterspell on his enormous, unstoppable Cleric after bluffing it for three turns. My dad is a poker fan, and I always try to get him to play my games, but they are very frustrating. I'm beginning to see Magic's appeal as a quick card game with a low number of external rules. Previous game favorites of mine rely on knowing a lot of Things about the game state that aren't immediately apparent from each individual piece of the world, which is very unfriendly and so I'll try to move away from them.
On that note, the Halo legendary map pack (which Austin just picked up) is a lot of fun, although I am bad at Halo and I really dislike their grenade/melee/guns rock-paper-scissors. Normally I am all for subverting the standard FPS model like they do by trying to introduce skills other than aiming at people's heads, but their reliance on "Halo physics" really grates on me. Weird distended jumping, having to collect weapons, relearning how to throw grenades, and nonsensical vehicle driving help to turn a well-balanced, fun experience (that doesn't require you to move faster than a hummingbird with ESP) into a game that actively shuts out people who don't play a lot of Halo. If only it had grenade arcs like Gears of War.
When I become a game designer (I'm actively looking at job opportunities in the field these days, after discovering that my salary prospects are OK as long as I don't become a tester) I will have to make sure not to emphasize reflexes that are specific to my game alone. This is what brought down the Lord of the Rings TCG, which I had a lot of fun with and spent a lot of money on: you think you'll have this gripping adventure with the Fellowship of the Ring fighting a bunch of trolls, but instead you have this complex strategy game based on single combat and managing your Hobbits' stamina, that just happens to be played with cards. |
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