Post-holiday Lethargy

Thanksgiving turned out great this year, as all four of us kids chipped in to help. Thank the powers that be that I had the foresight to plan ahead and make bread and dessert the day before. We wrangled a 24lb bird for the dinner, which we slathered in herb butter. The gravy was thus very rich, oh yes. As part of my "make things simple" initiative, I also found recipes for slow cooker potatoes and a cranberry chutney. There was also a simplified recipe for a green vegetable with mushroom sauce casserole, roasted sweet potatoes and pears,  However, halfway through the day I experienced a bad episode of vertigo, so I was shoved into the conductor role from the couch as my two brothers and sister finished things. Here is a lovely pinterest menu.

School is wrapping up, it looks like I'll pass with good grades and thus be eligible for graduation from the Dietetic Technician program! What this will mean is that once the school processes my transcripts and classes, they will mark me as "graduated" and I will be able to take the credentialing exam to become a Dietetic Technician. With this national credential I can apply for a position anywhere in the U.S. of A!

Playing games: spent less than two days getting a 100% completion game for Psychonauts, including all the Steam achievements! So proud ^_^.
Other games I've played: Incredipede, Eets Munchies, and Fez. I'm also planning to replay Dust for more achievements, possibly Limbo, and then I think some quality time with Dungeon Defenders. I may bust out my consoles to play some Okamiden, or maybe Wind Waker...oh, I definitely want to reacquaint myself with Tomba, which my brothers got on PS3. It's still a touchy state of mind with trying to relax after so long letting my brain buzz with NEEDTOWORKWHATNEEDSTOBEDONE. I'll get twitchy in the morning, buzz around the house cleaning this and that before remembering to chill out, rest a bit, so as not to suffer another vertigo attack.

This season I seem to be in a better position to go to musical theater shows in town. I had the privilege to see my community colleges's fall musical, Rent with one of my good friends. This performance brought me to tears, as it usually does. The story of these friends throughout a year of struggling with relationships, art, and society in the 90s still resonates quite powerfully, I feel. In addition, as part of my birthday this year, my parents did an awesome thing and took me to The Addams Family Musical at one of the local theaters. This show is something to behold. While one may not think the Addams family is conducive to musical accompaniment, the show was amazingly well done. The plot for sure is much better than any of the film adaptations. There are snippets and amalgams of the Broadway performance on Youtube, if anyone is interested, and musical sites like Spotify have the soundtrack available for listening. Finally, I took my young niece to see the community college production of A Year With Frog and Toad. It was ADORABLE! Not only did the performing arts program make a great musical adaptation of the book series, but it did so in a way that was accessible for young children. The play was a series of short story performances, connected by the friendship of a frog and a toad (played by girls!).

Otherwise, I'm just trying to get back into creative output. I'd love to be making art again.

Before the Storm Hit

I kept meaning to update before school started, but procrastination can be very difficult to overcome. In the weeks leading up to classes starting, I played a lot of games through Steam (Summer Steam Sale, WOO!). Most of these,though, were acquired through the website Humble Bundle, a service that “bundles” electronic media for consumers (mostly video games, but also ebooks and music), allowing them to name the price they want. The site partners with different charities, allowing the purchaser to choose how to divide up the contribution between the creators, the charities, and the website’s fee. It’s a marvelous idea, and I like the thought of getting games being of benefit to the world, and not just between myself and the creators.

UPDATE: They now have a web store that donates to charity!

So, among the great games I’ve played so far are:

Bastion

Dust: An Elysian Tail

Bleed

Thomas Was Alone

Primordia


Superbrothers Sword & Sworcery

McPixel

There are many more now in my Steam Library, and I won’t be playing much in the coming months due to school and work obligations, which is a shame. Except, I think for McPixel and Bleed, each of these games was not unlike reading a novel; there was a lot of depth to the story and overall experience, and a journey I will not be forgetting for a long while. 

Anyhow, besides working two part-time jobs, I managed to score a clinical internship at the local VA Hospital, which, in addition to my two classes this semester, will finally allow me to complete my AAS in Dietetics! Then, I only have to complete the credentialing exam to become a DTR! After that, I only to need to complete one class for my Culinary Arts Certificate, and I will be back in the workforce!!!!!

I am both enthusiastically and dreadfully expectant of that time.

Peace.

Games I Like and Some Thoughts on Gender

In a recent conversation with my older brother, the topic of MMORPGs came up, specifically why I won't play World of Warcraft. Besides the practical problem of not having enough disposable income, the only appealing point of sale for that game to me is the silly dancing all the characters can do. I can quest for meaningless items and grow a powerful character in plenty of other games. In fact, the only MMORPG I ever really got obsessive with is Maplestory, mainly because it was free, and paying for extra things is optional. I even play the Facebook version!

Hold on, that can't be the only reason, I thought. Not only because the game is increasingly resembling the aforementioned WoW, but What else is appealing about it? Thinking to my console collection, which is chock full of such games as Psychonauts, the Shadow Hearts series, Elite Beat Agents, Okami, Resident Evil 4, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, and Meteos, I began to suspect my tastes ran to specific kinds of games. Most of my collection can be classified as ridiculous, mentally challenging, or they tell a good story. Maplestory has colorful, cute imagery, which is balanced at higher levels by monsters that actually look threatening, and enough of a story to keep me interested.

Now comparing this collection to what my brothers tend to get, the differences become rather distinct. They buy games that usually involve shooting things, like Medal of Honor, Ace Combat, and Gears of War. Yes they also get adventure and RPG games, but their collection has a great deal more action-oriented game play rather than those that involve the kinds of mechanics, such as puzzles, found in other genres.

Since earlier this week I was reading about the histories of classics Pac-man and Tetris, which mention how popular the games are with females, I'm wondering how much the types of games me and my siblings play are reflective of gender norms. Even when young, I preferred playing pretend games with my dolls (headless Barbies and Ninja Turtles say a lot for my personal development), rather than running around pretending to be a warrior and whacking others with a stick as my brothers tended to do. Which would make sense, from traditional evolutionary theory. Boys are more rough and active because of testosterone, while girls have better thinking qualities because of their physical capacity in rearing demon-spawn.

But recent psychological research seems to point out that perhaps gender is not innate, but forced on children by society. Ok, that would certainly explain the different cultural notions of gender, such as the Native Americans third, and sometimes fourth gender type. Which only makes certain eras of Western history, namely Victorian and Edwardian cultures, all the more bizarre in their restrictive gender roles. So if it's not gender that guides what types of entertainment one pursues, such as the video games one plays, it must simply be personal preference. Then again, my female best friend and I both have similar taste in games. Perhaps personality types have something to do with it? I mean, if I was anal enough to pursue a physics and mechanical engineering degree at the same time, I'm sure I would want to veg out by blowing up things with various weapons too. However, as I am an artistic type, and much less analytical, I prefer games that challenge my brain even in their simplicity, like Katamari Damacy. Of course, I've also always liked weird things, something my brothers don't always appreciate.