Weekly log - 23 through 29

Note: keep in mind most of this was written on a word processor document before ending up here, since I've been out of the 'net.

Mon Mar 23

No Internet, so I decided to do some of the shit I usually postpone for being online. Catch up with some chapters of the books I'm reading, scan my comic book collection for missing volumes and archiving errors, catch up with my word quota, watch some anime that's been sitting in my hard drive since the beginning of times and work on my campaign. When I got tired, I played some old games I never managed to complete 100%, and after I got tired of that, I started the first drafts for what will become the Book of Murphy.

Because I only have faith in three things in life. Death, taxes and ill luck.

It's gonna be marvelous. It's gonna be the pessimist's response to The Secret.

I made dinner today (it was pasta with tomato sauce) since I was really hungry and Mum was too tired to cook. My cellphone's bust too, it won't charge. I tried two different chargers. Kid Bro's is fucked up, and Mum's has cat nibbles all over it, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I asked Mum to brong me my charger back from Pop's on Wednesday.

Tue Mar 24

A friend of mine decided to come by to return a few comic books and we spent the afternoon playing some games. I'm becoming tired of being disconnected from 90% of my friends.

Been trying to tackle Resident Evil: Code Veronica on the past few days. I never finished the bloody game for several reasons. One being, at one point or another, I get out of ammo or healing items. Things were going smoothly this time, I'm older, I know how to drop a zombie and make a run for it instead of getting stuck behind the body, and at this point I dodge dogs pretty well, so that's a few more shots I don't need to make. Then at a certain point, I realized I needed an item which I didn't have... because I left it somewhere behind. I can't access that level anymore, so my only option now is to restart the game from the beginning. Bloody crow. Why don't I fuckin' save in different files?!

Pops is 51 years old today. I called him (not wanting to repeat last week's faux-pas, I decided to leave myself a note and call early in the morning, for good measure) to wish a happy birthday and know if we're gonna have dinner or lunch as we usually do. In the evening, I made dinner again (pasta with peppers, pretty nice says the household. We're eating a lot of pasta these days. If I get a proper tan and learn O Sole Mio, I'll be able to pass for Italian in no time). Then a friend called for a second dinner (strangely enough, pizza) which I was pretty happy to partake in. We hanged out for a couple of hours, telling stories.

Wed Mar 25

Got up in the morning. Put dishes in the washer. Hung clothes out to dry. Fired up Code: Veronica and played a little, until it got old. When it got old, I tried Half-Life until it did, too. I suck at it very much still. Went out to buy bread and smokes. Came back and checked the mail. Bills, and a court letter for Mum. Left everything in the kitchen counter, let her figure it out. made myself lunch: delicious chewable soup. Fired up God of War to vent a little frustration, until it got old. Kid Bro came in, had lunch, went out again. Took a shower. Smoked. Read a few chapters of a book I've had sitting on my shelf for a while, which I never got around to pick up. Smoked a little more. Did some campaign planning for about a half an hour. Wrote some more versicles for the Book of Murphy. Smoked. Went to the ATM at Mum's request. Got a call from Pops. Stared at the walls for a good, long while. Smoked. Picked up the clothes. Put away the dishes. Made dinner. Mum got home, tired and pissed. Kid Bro got home, just tired. Did some more of pretty much everything stated above. Watched Yu Yu Hakusho episodes. Going to bed in about ten minutes.

My days are boring like crow. I've been disconnected from forums, chat and overall virtual interaction, which is pretty much 80% of all the interaction I do. It's been five days, and if I hadn't seen some of the guys yesterday, I'd be going apeshit. I miss my friends. Wednesday's the armpit of the week.

Thu Mar 26

We had dinner with Pops tonight, at the usual spot: a place with a buffet and a lot of food for the taking. Other than Christmas and New Year's, the times when I go out with Pops are the only ones when I get to eat like a mighty beast.

I kept conversation on safe grounds: family and funnies. After several years of dealing with my Father post-divorce, I have figured out these are the two themes less likely to start up an argument between us. They are pretty much the only things we can't disagree at. We spoke about family from his side I never met, either because nobody bothered to introduce them to me, or I wasn't born yet, and funny stuff that happened to me, him or Kid Bro. Talking about Kid Bro, I also made an effort to keep conversation to his side as much as possible. I've spent the past eight or nine years making idle chat by myself, kiddo. It's your turn to contribute a little to make these meetings go by as smoothly as possible.

Coming back home, I browsed a few local newspapers for job ads. Strangely enough, people only seem to post ads on the paper for fucking and giving away dogs. That's all I found: women and dogs for giveaway. More women than dogs.

Fri Mar 27

Well, Resident Evil Code: Veronica is finally finished. Like in most Resident Evil games, my first complete playthrough ranked D. It's probably gonna stick like that, because I don't believe in Easy and Hard modes, and I don't believe in speed runs. Kid Bro says it's because I can't do them, which is bullshit. When it's a game I enjoy a lot, I usually take the time to do the Hard mode. I'm a couple fights away from finishing Project Zero 2: Crimsom Butterfly in Hard mode. And I finish the first game of that franchise in about three to four hours if I don't miss my way anywhere.

I must say that even if I like the franchise a lot, Resident Evil has been disappointing me. It stopped being a survival game. From the original up to Code: Veronica, we have survival games: fetch this, open that, solve the puzzles, keep an eye on your healing items, get this working, find more ammo, shoot only what you need and flee. Then Resident Evil 4 became a shooter. What's this? If I wanted a shooter I'd play Halo, I want a survival game! Where are the puzzled, and all the knick-knacks and thingamajigs we gotta recover, and the stuff you can open with a lockpick... more importantly, where are the fuckin' zombies? And even more important, why are we in fuckin' Spain?!

I'm not particularly interested in the fifth titled either. It's Chris Redfield and crow knows I love him dearly, but not only did it come out in a console I don't own, if it doesn't have zombies and consists in shooting targets, cout me out. Silent Hill 5 is a disgrace, but even that's better. You know what I miss? My Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. I used to own it, but Kid Bro lent it to someone who never gave it back, when he was younger.

Weekend Sat 28 - Sun 29

I started a game of Resident Evil 2 to pass time. Now I know I've aced this before, and maybe I'm noticing a difference because I finished Code: Veronica in the PS2 and this is the Gamecube, it's also an older game... but why is it so hard? I went back and double-checked if I was playing Normal mode, but everything was in the clear. And I run out of bullets easy-peasy.

When I got tired of being maimed by zombies, I went back to my scan of the first Project Zero for any missing ghosts, Hard difficulty, getting the Nightmade difficulty and finishing all missions with rank S. More like rank ASS. I'm convinced some of those are for master gamers, because I can't figure what I'm doing wrong: I have a good time, I don't miss any shots... so?

Anyway, Mum got paid today, so we'll probably be back online soon. So I can post all this online and complain a little more to others and a little less to myself. Mum brought a shortcake home for dessert and said it was time to celebrate: she got promoted and will be having a percentage more money every month. She's in shifts now, so sometimes, she'll be doing nights. She also brought me a phone number off a window near the place where Pops works. It seems they're asking for people there. Guess what they're asking people for.

Come on, just take a wild fraggin' guess.

What job could I hate so much I'd loathe doing it for any money?

Call-center. Still, I'm calling next week. It's the first more or less reliable offer in months. I can't afford not to take it. It's turning my gut inside out, but I can't afford not to take it.