run from the terror of…the Brown Sound!

I wish I was more relaxed when bathroom calamities happen outside of the house. The little dude wants to do well, but fast-moving surprise stool can catch the best of us off-guard. I was slow to notice that  his walk to the bathroom quickly became a strange waddle, and when we got into the bathroom and the severity of the hull breach was  evident, I was a little too tense. Maybe panicky? It’s hard to be calm when you are desperately trying to limit your direct poop contact. So, I got stressed out, Max was stressed out, and we eventually sorted everything out.

I think I eventually returned to comforting dad mode, at least I hope so.  It was a classic “oh the public shame” of poop on the floor and a nude from the waist down boy, but that’s just my social anxiety talking (technically, I think it’s my mother’s anxiety that was drilled deep into my psyche, but let’s leave blame for some other time). I have to relax and accept that, like rain, some poop must fall. That is why backup pants are a must.

Fun fact: the line “some rain must fall” is from The Rainy Day, a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.Also, Wadsworth is a fantastically comedic name.

Game Review- How “Mafia 2” bummed me out

I will not resort to a terrible Italian accent for this review-you and I both deserve better. And that’s what I felt about this game in general. I deserved to be treated nicely by any game I spend time with.

It is undeniable that Mafia II is a beautiful game, but with problems. The city is visually detailed and rich, but the faces are waxy and creepy. The soundtrack is authentic to the time periods in the game, but there’s just not enough music. The gameplay mechanics are serviceable, but are unnecessarily complicated at times. On these points alone, I would normally recommend a game. Unfortunately, there are two big problems that sink the experience for me.

First, the beautiful city they’ve created has very little to do in it. A sandbox is useless without toys, and this game has you going from point a to point b in the story line with no interesting distractions to wander off and follow. The “grand theft auto” series has spoiled me with choice, so a game that tries to fit in the same “sandbox” genre but doesn’t deliver the goods is a big disappointment. Where were the side-missions, the lists of cars to collect, the friends to entertain, the properties to buy?

Secondly, the plot itself made me feel like my character was a dim-witted thug destined for an ignominious death. Not only was his best friend stupid with urge control issues, leading the main character in a cycle of rash actions and missions to rescue his dumb ass, but at every juncture where a smarter character would make a choice to avoid trouble, your character shrugs his shoulders and goes along with disastrous ideas.  He is never clever, and the end of the game is depressing and unrewarding. I want to play as the hero, not as the doomed stooge.

On the plus side, one of the collectible things in the game are vintage Playboy magazines, and boobies are nice. 5.5 out of 10.

But there really is a wolf this time!

From an early age, I have been adept and willing to worm my way out of any commitment that I don’t want to fulfill. Oh, the times I have used illness as an excuse to avoid some kind of work or social obligation. And when I couldn’t muster up the courage to offer the sickness excuse in advance, I’d fall back to simple avoidance. In the words of Homer Simpson: “I’ll hide under some coats, and hope that somehow everything will work out”.

Well, that was years ago, and I’ve been trying like hell to stop ditching things because they’re hard, like my battle with phone talking.  But if it turns out that I legitimately have to cancel something, I feel compelled to tell whomever I’m cancelling on that, this time, it’s for real.  Sigh.

It’s not as if anyone out there has a in-depth attendance/truancy chart for me. No one is taking notes and waiting for me to slip up, well, no one except me, and self-persecution is ridiculously unproductive.

The specific activity being cancelled, for those who are interested, is Max’s dental appointment tomorrow. He has a nose and head full o’ snot right now, and was running a touch warm last night. Usually, a cold takes a few days to run its way out of him, so he’ll still be a mucusoid menace tomorrow. Going through the sedation and dental work tomorrow morning would be a terrible idea, and even if we didn’t cancel, the dentist would probably send us home if we walked in the door with a sniffling and coughing child.

Unrelated matter: still making little to no money, and getting a little antsy about that. Of course, sitting in front of the computer and trying to will the universe into giving me money isn’t panning out, but a mild panic is keeping me from seeing the best course of action. Okay, deep breaths and calming music time.